See below Joel's comment: >FSSturm@aol.com wrote: >> >> A couple weeks ago, I tuned for Alicia Dellarocha (did I spell that right?) >> when she was here in Albuquerque, on tour with the Cincinnati symphony. >> >> Dellarocha's only complaint was that repetition in the octave 5-6 area was >> not rapid and reliable enough. She demonstrated to me what the problem was. > >With Alicia deLarrocha, the thing to notice is that she wants the >repetition down at the ***bottom*** of the key travel. She wants it >fast and she wants it consistent. We have worked with her several times >and when she gets what she needs, the smile on her face is reward >enough! > The consistency is sometimes a problem on a piano with front rail punchings that are too soft. After a good deal of playing with different things, I have wound up using the Renner-supplied Bosendorfer punchings. What makes them superior is that they will maintain a consistent keydip with a variety of "touch" (read "hardness of blow") - the result is that you have a sound (sorry) foundation on which to build the rest of the regulation. Ms. deLarrocha also exhibits the same problems of many other older pianists, her hands are beginning to be somewhat crippled from arthritis. Thus, while she still has incredible control in some had positions, others are either too painful to use, or simply do not work. She is still early enough in this process that her Ravel is still _quite_ wonderful. On the other hand, if one watches her play passages with lots of repeated notes, she is not longer as far "into" (read "toward the fallboard") as she used to be - thus, the regularity of the keydip/aftertouch is even more important for her than it used to be. I want to see what else Joel has to say about this.... Best to all. Horace Horace Greeley hgreeley@leland.stanford.edu "Always forgive your enemies, nothing annoys them so much. - Oscar Wilde LiNCS voice: 725-4627 Stanford University fax: 725-9942
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