merits of the square pianos

[Steve Pearson]

Nope, sorry.  All I need is another musical instrument in the house to forget to dust.  But I do have a lovely two manual harpsichord I would love to sell to some early music afficionado.  Really  kicks (expletive deleted).  
Steve

>>> Jon Page <jpage@capecod.net> 05/06 6:26 PM >>>
At 02:50 PM 5/6/99 -0700, you wrote:
>Herewith some opinionated opinion from a piano tech who is also a string
player.  (definition of a string player: someone who hangs around with
musicians).
>The subject of the Square Piano as a viable musical instrument gets to the
core of a number of issues, not just histerical (sp) tunings.  Many years ago,
I played with a local chamber ensemble which took on some 19th century
American
music.  For the piano, we opted to use an old square grand.  The make escapes
me, but it had been lovingly restored by a local afficionado of those
behemoths.  The immediate reaction on the part of the pianist was something
like, "Oh my....this sounds like (expletive deleted)."  We string players, as
well as the quartet of singers engaged for the occasion were at once intrigued
and then relieved that we didn't have to work so hard to be heard.  The
somewhat lighter,  relatively transparent tone made balancing the small string
ensemble as well as the vocal quartet as simple as could be.  Eventually the
pianist was convinced as well. She was able to cut loose a bit more, and
didn't
always have the feeling she would have been better off in the next r!
>oom. I believe it was Nicholas McGeegan of Philharmonia Baroque orchestra who
was addressing this subject in an interview on public radio several years
back.  He was speaking of harpsichords, but the same logic applies to the
square, or the fortepiano, or whatever.  While not an exact quote, here is a
close approximation:  "There are problems associated with using period
instruments with instrumental ensembles.  Fortunately, they are the right
problems."     Anyone who has ever played a Beethoven Piano trio with a 9'
concert grand knows the problems of balancing violin and 'cello with the piano
are nearly insurmountable. So much energy is spent in trying to balance the
three hopelessly missmatched instruments one wonders what ends up
sacrificed to
simply achieve balance, that would have fallen quite naturally out of the
music
had the instruments  been on a more level playing field.  It is not a question
of whether music can be made in these circumstances, rather the nature and!
> character of the problems associated with making the music happen
>JMHO, 
>Steve Pearson
> 

Thanks for shedding this light on the subject,
Want to buy a square grand?
<g>