[CAUT] Olga Kern Recital

[Avery Todd]

List,

Below are some e-mails from a good local tech 
who's done some concert tuning work here in Houston.

I'm really NOT trying to "blow my own horn" but 
in my experience, it's so rare that university 
techs get kudos like this, I just thought I'd 
pass them on. So, please forgive me for doing 
this. Besides, I guess it's basically my 'swan 
song' here as far as major events are concerned! :-)

The prep work was done in Dallas and the 
instrument (CFIII) was moved down here for Abbey 
Simon and Olga Kern. All I did was tune, voice 
2-3 notes that were sticking out and adjust the 
pedal play a little at Abbey's request.

Avery

This one was on the pianotech list, so some of 
you probably saw it this morning!

Olga Kern played last night at University of 
Houston, Moores Opera House.  By some strange 
twist of the fates my wife and I ended up third 
row, center- maybe 12 feet from her.  Oh my 
gracious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   I flinched a 
number of times when she crashed into the keys 
with a force I've not often seen.  It wasn't one 
of the school pianos, so had to be adapted to the 
environment. Evidently Yamaha sent a tech to do 
the action work, but Avery Todd did the 
tunings.  I have heard a very few tuners in 
Houston whose work enters into the realm of 
"art", and Avery certainly is one of them. I 
could have a ball just sitting quietly at a piano 
he's tuned and listening to intervals and sounds 
and balance and all that stuff.    I had to hope 
that some little thing might go the tiniest bit 
out, thus proving that no piano can be perfectly 
tuned, and after an hour and a half of incredibly 
powerful playing the tuners in the crowd might 
have noted a note or two struggling to slip a 
bit.    It was a totally "wow" kind of evening, 
not only aesthetically in terms of music, but in 
having some small idea of the level of intuitive 
work and experience required to present an 
instrument so fabulously.    Kudos to those who 
can regularly walk in those rarefied technical realms with confidence.

The next two came to me privately.

1. I would have been so devastated if Olga Kern 
had managed to brutalize that piano all evening 
and NOTHING go amiss


  Ah, I was not 
disappointed!  Tiny, noticed only by the very 
few, there were some notes which took a toll , 
tiny though the toll was,  at her 
brutality


.  How many tunings did you put into 
it and how much time?  Did she "bang in it" for 
you before you did final tunings. Inquiring minds 
want to know.  She was incredibly hard on it, and 
it was rock solid.  I was amazed. I suspect it 
was in pretty good shape when you got it, but 
still it was soooooooooooooo close to perfect to 
take that kind of pounding


.  So, I'd like a 
blow by blow account if you have a mind for 
it.  Three encores, standing ovation at the 
intermission. She was spectacular- oh and she 
could play the piano too





..  :-)

2. I'm seriously interested in the shape of the 
piano when you got it and what you did to 
it.  The brutality with which she attacked at 
times made me flinch.  If you could attain that 
in one or two total tunings, I think I should go 
hide in a hole somewhere because I fought to hear 
the tiniest thing slip, and in the end there were 
a few tiny things, but it was almost as if the 
tuning had been nailed down.  Sooooo,  do you 
think enough about what you do when tuning to be 
able to articulate how it is your body/mind 
manages to sense when "stasis" has been 
reached?  Every time I get a good piano, 
especially if it is close and the tuning is only 
tweaking, I am struck by the many ways I can mess 
up each and every note because there are so many 
variables going on.     I had to rib you a bit 
because of the very high calibre of the tuning. 
My wife even commented about listening to the 
top, its clarity and "in-tune-ness".    So, since 
you're about to escape the pressures of that kind 
of life, please pass on gleaned wisdom.

Avery  
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