Hi list For the past 5 months one of our students at the UiB has been down in Australia studying for his masters. This is one of our <<star>> students, he has released a CD of his own that has recieved some very high reviews over here. His name is Torgeir Solsvik. Torgeir is one of those students/pianists that takes an interest in constructive dialogue with pianotechnicians, and through his years as an undergraduate at UiB has been a valuable resource for me. Just before he traveled to Australia, we had talked quite abit about the the Stuart and the Overs instruments, and he was very enthuastic about trying out both, promising to give me a full report when he gets back for Christmas break. About six weeks ago he had his first real good session with the Stuart instrument, and had some very positive comments. The instrument was quite different from the piano as we all know and love it today, and he seemed quite intrigued with its unique tone character. Impressions I have of this instrument being reminiscent of Forte instruments from the 19th century were strengthed by many of his comments. On the down side he notes that the instrument does not handle forcefull playing as well as he would like. As is probably to be expected with an instrument that so deviates from the normal sound of pianos, his comments are mixed and seem to reflect some degree of uncertainty as to how he should approach playing it. Just last week however, he sent me another flurry of emails. He had met our Ron Overs and had a chance to play one of the Overs grands, no. 3. His enthuasiasm for this piano was overwhelming and with no holding back. He was particularilly impressed with the level of control available in the Overs action. "I really didnt believe such an experience was possible", he wrote and continued "His (Overs) action is absolutly a stroke of genius" Torgeir is a fellow who I know absolutely has a very good and very conscioius grasp of what he is playing, and how it performs. He is a pianist who is able to express what he senses in terms a piano technician can understand much better then most, which also reflects positively on his level of awarness. This is one of the reasons I was so delighted to hear he was on his way to Australia in the first place, as I knew I would get some very high quality first hand feedback about both these instruments. I will be able to talk more with him when he does get back in a couple weeks, and I look forward to hearing more from him in the next 5 months as he returns to Australia to continue his studies. He will get a chance to expand his experiences with both instruments, and will no doubt get a chance to play the Overs no 4 instrument which is due to be finished in the not so distant future. Anyways... just thought this might be of interest to some of you. Cheers RicB -- Richard Brekne RPT, N.P.T.F. UiB, Bergen, Norway mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html http://www.hf.uib.no/grieg/personer/cv_RB.html
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