[CAUT] Steinway "sound"

[Laurence Libin]

I've have voted for the Chickering without even listening because I imagine it would have had the most pronounced character--call it warmth. But the problem with sampling individual notes, it seems to me, is that it overlooks how the instrument sounds musically, with lots of notes contributing to an overall effect greater than the sum of its parts. And the Chickering wouldn't have been my choice for Boulez, say, or Prokofiev. 
Laurence. 
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Dan Rembold 
  To: caut at ptg.org 
  Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2011 3:29 PM
  Subject: [CAUT] Steinway "sound"


        Some years ago James Arledge did a blind hearing test for a pretty good-sized group of us techs at a PTG meeting in Nashville.  He had sampled notes from about a half-dozen pianos--C2, C4, and C6 if I remember correctly.  

        The pianos he had sampled were a 1903 Chickering, an older rebuilt Steinway, a newer D, a Yamaha C6 and I think a Baldwin L.  All had been prepped and voiced pretty much equally, and James used his weighted key depressor to get a consistent attack on each note.

        We were asked to listen and blindly select which one we thought would be the most ideal piano tone.

        After a good half-hour of eliminations, we all selected unanimously--you guessed it--the Chickering.

        DR 

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