Diane in Wonderland? ----- Original Message ----- From: Diane Hofstetter <dianepianotuner@hotmail.com> To: <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: Saturday, November 18, 2000 9:04 AM Subject: EXTREMELY large upright > How about an upright that is 9.84' high and weighs well over two tons? It's > called a "Klavins" after its inventor, Davids Klavins of Bonn, Germany. > (Interestingly the German word for upright piano is Klavier.) > > It is straight strung, has one continuous bridge, a Renner upright action > and keyboard, and a concert hall constructed specifically for it. The > pianist climbs a flight of stairs to a balcony where he sits at the > keyboard, the action directly in front of him. Were you to photograph only > the portion of the instrument above the balcony, you might almost think you > were looking at only a very large upright. But beneath the balcony you see > another five feet or so of strings, soundboard, bridge, plate... > > I have a CD of Michael Ponti playing Mussorgskij, Chopin and Liszt on it. > The sound is awesome. When I first heard it, I did not know what instrument > was being played and at first thought it might be a piano, but certainly not > like any piano I had ever heard before. The bass is huge. > > Michael Ponti is quoted as saying "The unique size of the piano has an > overwhelming effect on me. When I sit at the Klavins and play, it seems > incomparably more impressive than anything I have ever experienced before." > > There is a whole page in the CD booklet about what he was trying to > accomplish with the instrument. I believe I was told that he made the > instrument as his project for his German Klavierbauer certification. > > Too bad I can't send some kind of music attachment! > > Diane > > Diane Hofstetter > 245-M Mount Hermon Rd. > Scotts Valley, CA 95066 > ph 831-438-6222 > fax 831-430-9741 > dianepianotuner@hotmail.com > > _________________________________________________________________________ > Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. > > Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at > http://profiles.msn.com. >
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