[CAUT] Toughest piece for piano stability?

Susan Kline skline at peak.org
Mon Nov 8 00:33:44 MST 2010


On 11/7/2010 12:47 PM, Paul T Williams wrote:
>
> What is the most powerful piece you've ever voiced/tuned for? 

There was the time Constantine Orbelian played the Schnittke concerto on 
the SD-10 at Newport ....

There were a few performances by Leon Bates, various big pieces.

There was the time the nice Chinese man who had studied in Leningrad 
played Rachmaninoff Variations on a Theme of Corelli ...

There was the symphony concert with three different Russian pianists, 
each playing a different concerto ...

There was a piece by Olivier Messiaen which had pages and pages of loud 
passage work in the very top register of the piano ...

And this afternoon a wonderful Croatian pianist (Martina Filjak) played 
three sonatas by Soler, two Chopin Ballades, a Prokofiev Sonata, two 
Scriabin Preludes, and finished with Islamey by Balakirev.

But you know, I think that the piano and the pianist both have a lot 
more to do with how the tuning survives than the pieces played. Martina, 
for instance, had a tremendous dynamic range and certainly didn't hold 
back; but when I tuned early this afternoon after she had practiced, I 
realized that she just was not the kind of pianist to throw anything 
very far out.

Now that I think about it, all the performances listed did not mess up 
the tuning much at all. I think I must be blanking out on the ones which 
did ...

Susan Kline




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