1865 Style 2 S&S

[Stéphane Collin]

I must second you in this, Ric.

But when you say "On the other hand, some might think that what it looses in 
value as a piano, it gains in value as an antique.... ", I definately 
couldn't help saying that an antique instrument, well restored, can be a 
good piano (I mean a good medium for an artist to output his poetry).
I hear you all thinking "oh my ! here he comes again !"
Just wanted to remind (sure, everyone knows that) that all the nice and 
durable music for piano written before the late Franz Liszt was written on 
such instruments here called antiques.  I just can't believe that such a 
great piano genius (I mean someone who proved to understand soo deeply how 
to make a good vibration out of it) as Chopin was, would have been satisfied 
with a poor instrument (or even could have developped his exceptional 
ability without it).  And when I hear a good 1840 Pleyel nicely and 
respectfully restored, I get confirmation that Chopin was not dumb.
No, power of sound, speed of repetition, evenness of tone, length of 
sustain, etc. are not the only criteria for judging the quality of an 
instrument (to me at least, but who am I ?).  They are just the qualities of 
the standard instrument that we know.
Bloody standardization !  Never will I exchange a well maturated and 
appropriatedly selected bordeaux wine for a coke.

When I hear about redesigning a 1865 Steinway, I get the same feeling as if 
some promoter would upgrade a cathedral into a disco, replacing the stained 
glass by double glazing (for heating efficiency purposes).  Still impossible 
in my country.  For how long ?

Stéphane Collin.




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard Brekne" <Richard.Brekne@grieg.uib.no>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2004 1:52 PM
Subject: Re: 1865 Style 2 S&S


> On the other hand, some might think that what it looses in value as a 
> piano, it gains in value as an antique.... Then there is the historic 
> instrument market, and as far as I can see, that is just going to get 
> bigger and bigger as we get closer to Galapagos.
>
> just a thought
>
> RicB
>