[CAUT] Steinway "sound"

[Dale Erwin]

  As it is with so  with professional wine tasters,  so it is with folks with professionally trained ears. There is a higher degree of sensory focus.
  Yes, there may still be subjectivity but I believe there could be such a test of ears as proposed.
   Often I hear a piano on the radio. & most of the time I am sure  when its a Stwy. Other time I'm not sure. True , most of the time these npr radio concerts will have a larger preponderance of Stwy Ds recorded on them but its the odd ones I can't guess.  I think it is because I am so familiar with the sound of a  N.Y. factory prepared by the CD dept or other competent tech.  A German D nope..... , but N.Y. usually

 

Dale S. Erwin
www.Erwinspiano.com
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-----Original Message-----
From: Fred Sturm <fssturm at unm.edu>
To: caut at ptg.org
Sent: Tue, Feb 15, 2011 9:19 am
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Steinway "sound"



On Feb 14, 2011, at 6:11 PM, David Love wrote:


Yes, we have been there and I think I knew what you were getting at.  At some risk I think there is a sound.  It can vary some of course, but I would characterize it generally as open and deriving from a soundboard assembly that leans to the lighter side.   The rebuilds that I hear that really differ are not necessarily those that employ different bellying methods (cc versus RC&S) but those that vary the overall stiffness of the assembly by use large cutoff bars, heavier rib scales, steeper grain angles and/or scale changes which collectively tend to produce a less free and tighter sound.  Not a bad sound but a more controlled one in which the upper end (fff) is more restricted.  Now I think I better bow out and let the retort’s fly.



   I think these comments are spot on. I don't have the experience to be able to tell what the soundboard changes do in isolation, as the "Frankensteinways" I have played have had additional changes as well, but the overall effect has been, for those I have played, as you describe. Calling it a more controlled sound with a more restricted high end is a good way to put it. As a pianist, it is as if you go from a race car to a luxury sedan. Maybe more comfortable and controllable, but less exciting and with less possibility of sudden change or big contrast.
  But I think you have to include a number of other factors in the so-called "Steinway sound" (maybe the late 20th century Steinway sound is more precise): characteristic front and back duplex; relatively high inharmonicity from the scale; lacquered hammers that are on the heavy side. All these together with the fairly light CC board tend to favor high partials at attack, depending how the voicing is set up. And that is where I hear a more or less characteristic sound that contrasts with other makes and models.

 

Regards,
Fred Sturm
fssturm at unm.edu
http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/FredSturm

 


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