---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment Its amazing. A Tasmanian devil in sheep clothes ! Found their site at: www.stuartandsons.com Some sound samples at www.beethoven-sonatas.com Greetings, Edward Meijer Netherlands Michael Gamble heeft op maandag, 10 nov 2003 om 20:04=20 (Europe/Amsterdam) het volgende geschreven: > "Purer" Australian piano sparks musical discord > A Tasmanian farmer's son who claims to have created a piano with a=20 > purer sound than the Steinway - the instrument of choice for the=20 > world's greatest pianists - is dividing the music world, writes Paul=20= > Ham. > Wayne Stuart's piano has become a source of national pride for=20 > Australians, but its tone has provoked confrlicting responses from=20 > musicians. > Withonly 20 built so far, the Stuart is slowly winning converts around=20= > the world. One is at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in=20 > Cardiff; another is owned by Rowan Atkinson, the comedian. > Stuart, who chose to become a cabinet maker instead of helping to run=20= > the family farm in Devonport, Tasmania, had a childhood fascination=20 > for the piano. In the 1970s he trained as a piano technician in Japan=20= > and studied at the Bechstein factory in Germany. The industry, he=20 > decided, was "bankrupt of ideas". > He said his goal was to "take the piano away from the 19th century.=20 > There's a lot of noise in a Steinway and it gives poaople the=20 > impression of power. But in fact it's not powerful - it's just noise". > His pianos, which cost =A356,000, have strings clamped in a vertical=20= > rather than horizontal position. The result, Stuart enthusiasts claim,=20= > is a less "muddy" sound that lingers longer than that of a=20 > conventional piano. > With a range of eight octaves, thanks to nine additional keys, and an=20= > extra pedal, the piano certainly stands out. Stuart has also used his=20= > cabinet-makling skills, cloaking his instrument in maple, beech,pine,=20= > spruce and red cedar. It is being developed with the help of Robert=20 > Albert of J Albert and Son, one of Australia's largest independent=20 > music publishers. Albert has invested =A3650,000. > Australian pianists such as Simon Tedeschi and Gerard Willems have=20 > selected Stuarts for recent recording sessions. Willems, who also=20 > lectures in keyboard studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music,=20 > has made the first Australian recording of Beethoven sonatas and=20 > concertos using a Stuart piano. > However, he confessed that the unusually clear sound of the Stuart=20 > might put off some pianists as it makes their mistakes all too > = evident. > Even in Australia the instrument has its detractors. Michael Brimer,=20= > the Sydney-based professor of music, said he was disappointed by the=20= > homegrown rival to the Steinway: "It sustains the sound. But I find it=20= > almost does that for too long." > Stuart has some way to go before he can challenge the 5,000 pianos=20 > produced every year by Steinway, but he is undeterred by criticism. > "The 20th. century was probably the period of greatest technological=20= > change and the piano makers just ignored it." he said. > Copied from the Sunday Times, part 1. section 26 WORLD NEWS > Michael G (UK)=A0 <image.tiff> > ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 4317 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/0d/73/7b/83/attachment.bin ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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