A Bosendorfer good for Scriabin, really?
When I’ve heard them in the hall (quite rare I’ll admit), they’ve been fairly colourless, particularly the one Lisitsa played a little while ago.
Yes, I agree. As much as I would like there to be alternatives I’ve never heard an instrument I think can compete with a modern Steinway, other than at very specialized cases like the Schubert sonata I highlighted a couple of weeks ago. But this shows that Steinway’s dominance might not only be due to them being the best, but also due to shady business practices. I guess they’re not a tech company, but if you sell more pianos you have more money and can invest more in research, buy patents or companies you rely on to better control manufacturing, attract better people, and in general just expand to offer better service compared to competitors.
Bösendorfer pianos are usually nice but some registers can sound a bit thin, maybe you do them more justice by putting/playing them in smaller venues, not in larger halls.
I don’t know it seems ok that they rejected him after he said RR = someone else. We all know what RR means in daily parlance. Aren’t these artists contracted to particular pianos?
Hahaha Jesus fuck. I do really hate the Steinway monopoly, I get so tired of hearing them all the time. Sometimes I wonder if we didn’t simply get so adjusted to their sound that it makes us believe we need that sound every time and always for all music.
On another note: surfing and replying on dasdc is a fucking bitch on mobile
For me the thing is precisely what Brew says - if you’re close in front of a really good Steinway the amount of color coming from that instrument is just remarkable. They’re glorious creations, whereas with Bösendorfers you tend be stuck with a single timbre no matter what you do. But I agree Steinways can be a little strident and especially with the relatively sharp tuning in place today, and in music where you’re prepared to trade color for a more mellow sound I guess a Bösendorfer can be a good substitute. But it’s really only in Schubert I’ve felt that way - even in Bach/Mozart/Haydn I definitely prefer the Steinways.
I guess it was tactless of him, but if Steinway had agreed to provide him with a piano, he had selected one and they had even transported it to the hall I think it’s just incredible that they walk in there and take it back only hours before the concert is about to begin because of something he said to a reporter. I think it feels more like mafia practices than something a respectable (?), leading instrument maker would be doing. They surely knew they might very well ruin the concert, and not only for Ohlsson but for ATH and the 1500ish people who planned to attend.
I’d just like to take this opportunity to say that Garrick Ohlsson’s Chopin Mazurka set is nonpareil. And, overall, he’s criminally underrated.
Ok. Carry on.
Well I do feel a dilemma here. Any decent Steinway almost plays itself (too bad their action goes to shit a lot sooner than you’d like). You’ll hardly run into surprises, and everything goes as planned. Which is a good thing! But I’ve always loved getting to know pianos and learning to play them. Seeing how doing stuff differently has a completely other outcome on different pianos. That’s just something I’ve missed from playing only on Steinways.
I have yet to come across a Yamaha concert grand I really liked, though.
I agree Steinway is the best all rounder. Entered a Comp sponsored by Fazioli a few years - ran through the pieces on a Faz and on the Steinway sitting next to it. Steinway all the way. Can’t say Fazioili aren’t a well made piano but I don’t like them. They explode.
There was a Bosendorfer in a showroom here a few years ago. The 185 I think. For Schubert, Chopin or anything ‘singing’ composer, absolutely gorgeous. Could not imagine anything harder hitting working on it.
Same place had the latest 280 a few weeks ago. They’ve specifically addressed the all-round issue with this and there is definitely a difference. The top was really bright and it had a more ‘general’ sound. What I found odd was the action. It really felt like something completely different to the point I would actually need time to adjust to it.
Also, Yamaha owns bosendorfer now?
Kawaii seem to have dropped off the radar a bit. Never liked them much anyway. I remember a dude trying to sell me on the carbon fibre action…meh…
I liked da new Yamaha CFX in da NYC Yamaha salon when trying out for da Liszt comps in 2010 and this year too.
They’re extremely even in register - no audible transitions between the registers- to the extent that some passages sound like a fucking MIDI.
Wonderfully regulated pedals, a focused tone which is “smaller” but projects very well.
The level of craftsmanship on any average CFX just blows any average Steinway D away, tru.
That said - I’d probably prefer to play on da Steinway D - you can use some of it’s kinks to your advantage, plus it has a wetter sound tru.
OK OK… I’ll admit it. I like Yamaha because the concert models are all made in Japan and that is really HOT 
They have a Shigeru Kawai at the con in QLD, I played that badboy once and I think it was okay.
I can’t see why any pro would choose to play a regular kawaii however.
For Yams, they are just a pretty neutral piano, no real thinness or variabilty of tone between registers, but not a particularly beautiful sound either.
There’s an s6 at the Con. When it was new, it’s was freaking amazing! Gorgeous sound. Of course now, it’s been run down and they won’t pay for it’s upkeep so it sounds hideous.
Which conservatory?