Historical Pianos

[Phillip Ford]

>For Historical piano buffs...
>
>http://www.hecherpiano.com/start_e.html
>
>Nice :)
>--
>Richard Brekne

Thanks Ric.  A nice site indeed.  The man has some interesting things to say.  Also apparently he's quite a good pianist.  I might have to look for one of his CDs.

Here's one quote from the site which might be of interest:

"The variety of different pianos, which could still be found around 1900, was displaced by a boring uniformity. The modern piano is the result of a development, which increased in the USA in late 19th century and which swapped over the whole piano-building and -playing world. So it happens that almost all modern pianos sound more or the less similar, because they are built following the same principal rules of construction. One may 
object to this opinion that the modern piano is the last step of a 
"darwinistic" process. At the moment we can watch industrial 
massproduction, in which cultural dullness and global greed are mirrored."

I also found his views on restoration interesting.  At odds with some on this list.

Phil F