On Feb 22, 2011, at 12:29 AM, Jim Busby wrote: > Should performers rule in how our concert hall pianos sound? Well, > as long as they have a choice between more perceived power, control, > and timbre change, as you said, then like it or not, they do. > (perceived at the bench. Pianists don't seem to care what it might > sound like in the hall even if told that it's better out there). > After years at the bench this IS their reality) This (performer > selection) seems to be what has caused the "homogenized" piano sound > Laurence mentioned. Interesting topic. I think it is useful to distinguish between the concerto (or large hall) instrument and the solo concert (usually somewhat smaller hall) instrument. For the concerto, there is no question, it has to cut through. Concerto instruments must be very much towards the strident side - or at least the penetrating side. It is simply a fact of life that only higher partials will be heard distinctly enough to work in the standard romantic large orchestra scene. I don't particularly like the sound (especially up close), myself, and it is a real balancing act trying to maintain the edge and spice that is needed while backing away from pure ugly and metallic. But you need to remember that this is a special case, of a specialist performing in a specialized venue. It is like the horse for the steeplechase: not a good choice for a nice ride around the park, in fact you are likely to be thrown if you don't have the skill, but in the right hands it leaps the hedges and the streams and does amazing things. The acrobatics required of the concerto pianist mean that effort must be minimized, effects and extra volume must be instantly available with mostly speed and agility, not extra physical effort. One of my early and painful experiences with voicing in a public venue came when I decided to make an ugly sounding instrument have a more "beautiful" character. I expected nice compliments. Instead, what I heard was "What has happened to the piano?" in a tone that left no doubt that this was not a compliment. I learned from that and from many other experiences that one needs to tread very lightly indeed in mellowing out the concerto instrument. For the recital instrument, it is a somewhat different story. There, a recent post by Doug Wood put it very nicely: maximum possibilities. And that does mean some stridency at the top end, that the voicing gradient continues to rise past FF (even if it begins to distort). It also means clarity and a very definite range of tonal color, preferably enhanced by a separate una corda color. But it does not mean an overall strident tone, and a pretty large range of tone quality can be quite acceptable, as long as the range and clarity are there, or at least that is my experience (which happens to coincide with my taste). Regards, Fred Sturm fssturm at unm.edu http://www.youtube.com/fredsturm
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