---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment I bought a CD some years ago..."Steinway Dynasty" Jerome Lowenthal performs on 10 Steinways old and new... from an 1857 square grand, the "Centenial" Concert Grand...(was that 1875?) a turn of the century upright, et.al... 10 different pianos recorded in the same "space"....will give you an idea. I think it is out of print. Also, I should say friend of mine has an 8'4" 1864 Steinway concert grand (cross strung). In those days you could still get a straight strung grand if you wanted one. It was "refurbished" with teflon action in the late 70s otherwise, the (shimmed) original board/bridges are intact....new (heavy, modern) Steinway hammers... it has a very, very heavy stiff action. Almost unplayable. The damper underlevers were updated at that time as well w/teflon bushed underlevers. The new underlevers "intruded" so far forward that the key ends had to be notched out to eliminate binding against the keys...(boy did that feel weird!)... Well, you have a lot of control when playing slow... :-)) The capstans, (a retrofit?) are not even front to back...many touch wood on the back edge of the wippen underfelt. These need to be moved/or the whippens need to be moved back. New brass action rails were installed, and could be moved out to increase the spread, if I thought it would help. If I ever get time away from pianos I'm making money on, I'll look into it. It sounds pretty much like a modern Steinway,except it very woody tonality but is very resonant I have heard this sound in other old pianos besides Steinway. This is hard to describe. The treble is sweet, and a bit weak due to not being able to get good strike point because the hammers are way too thick up there. They need to be shaved a lot slimmer to work right, but then, the tone will be quite different...more brilliant. The original soundboard was shimmed and the original bridge is intact with no cracks! The original pinblock is tight as can be, but with 4/0 pins. It did not need to be plugged, or anything. Now that's quality! I holds tune extremely well, (but it is not in a practice room,either). It is agraffed all the way up to note 85. The piano has a pretty robust tone, with a big bass. The owner doesn't have the money to make those improvements. Personally I think these "improvements" are questionable, and would recommend refurbishing an antique action with original parts if possible. The CD recording I mentioned above, has fine examples of the older styles of Steinway pianos. You can get it on Inter- Library Loan, though your local college/univ library. West Music here has a Centenial concert grand, for a lot of bucks it can be yours...(like $150,000), cause they claim it is one of only 3 in the world. Believe me it is NOT a revelation as far as historic performance/composers go. It sounds like a modern piano. There are many 'innovations" obvious to the careful observor, but it is so close to sounding like a modern grand I doubt very much you'll hear much difference between it, and a.... Knabe.... Another CD you all might enjoy is "A Golden Treasury of Historic Pianos" with instruments from 1800 - 1845. The 1800 Rosenberger FortePiano is really beautiful. Here you can hear the differences these early pianos could make. The pianos are lightly strung, and hammers are covered in buckskin. Label= Amon Ra CD-SAR64 I might have gotten this from Berkshire Records. I think I have a recording of someone playing Liszt on Erard, (which sounds like a clattery Everett made in Canada, I think.) Also available on CD is a recording on a restored 1880s Steinway D @Bayreuth that Wagner owned and probably also played by Liszt. Restored by Hamburg Steinway, it is mostly modern in sound but with that extra woody resonance, gone from modern musical instruments, it seems. That, atleast give some revelation as to a different sound aesthetic. By the 1880s, the pianos were pretty much sounding like they do today, except for maybe the Broadwoods or perhaps Bosendorfer w/Viennese Actions. All these CDs can probably be gotten interlibrary loan, and dupped w/your friendly computer/CD burner. As far as Liszt goes, he owned at one time or another many brands of pianos. He wrote many endorsements on their worth, among them: Chickering,Bosendorfer,Erard,Bechstein,Steinway, Ibach. Perhaps the upright at Weimar.is an Ibach. There are several accounts in various books of how he taught and on what pianos he played. Fascinating reading. His last pianos at Weimar were an upright, and a Bechstein concerrt grand. He played the upright to demonstrate on, and his pupils performed on the Bechstein. There are some photos that can be seen of him seated at the upright. Perhaps the Decca recordings of Jorge Bolet on Bechstein concert grands give you some idea, and then, perhaps not. Please don't ask me to document everything...I'm already staying overtime ....I'm not goint to research all this again. It is in the books on Liszt for you to read. Liszt at the upright: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/joel.puissant/perse/liszt.html http://www.freud.org.uk/Theory5.html http://www.mycomposers.co.uk/?page=composer&surname=Liszt http://www.classical.net/lps/images/big/lon-liszt.jpg the early square piano (can you imagine???!!!)... http://www.arts.arizona.edu/mus330b/images/liszt-02.jpg perhpas you'll want to look at: 1860 Steinway (like my friend's)... http://www.liszt.it/steinwaynew.htm http://www.periodpiano.com/Stock/default.htm Liszt's Erard http://www.metmuseum.org/news/newspressrelease.asp?PressReleaseId=%7B98ED1CDA-5015-11D5-93F5-00902786BF44%7D sorry for thils windy post... Richard ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/caut.php/attachments/52/81/d8/54/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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