[CAUT] tone color

Dale Erwin erwinspiano at aol.com
Thu Feb 24 08:57:16 MST 2011


Ok Fred
Can  we agree that It sounds like you are as close to your opinions as others are to theirs.  Now were all even.  Lets give it a rest. Its gettin ugly.
 FWIW I didn't even know Ron then. As I said earlier. I'm not a fan of the Emperors new clothes in any genre of anything  and am quite willing to call spades spades.
 FWIW its worth. I called it as I heard it.

 

 

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: Thu, Feb 24, 2011 7:48 am
Subject: Re: [CAUT] tone color


On Feb 23, 2011, at 8:33 PM, Ron Nossaman wrote: 
 
> I heard one of my pianos in a big room for the first time in > Rochester, with the B, and it really floored me. I thought it was > absolutely gorgeous. 
 
Ah, so now we hear that what I had suspected all along is even more extreme: only in 2006 heard one of your pianos in a big room for the first time? Wow! An extreme case of working in isolation from the real world experience interacting with performers and venues. 
 
> Listening, I got the impression the pianist was looking for the > bottom of the pianissimo, deeper with each pass, and never found the > limit. I asked him about it later, and he confirmed, but said he was > used to much more top end power. Dale Erwin leaned in and disagreed > with him, saying it had plenty of power out in the room. Thanks Dale. 
 
And when someone said something a little negative, well, fortunately friend Dale was there to say "It sounds OK to me from here," so everything was hunky dory. No need to pay any attention to criticism. 
 
> 
> So that's what we have. If you must have a piano that sounds like > what you're used to, keep buying pianos you're used to and > rebuilding them like you're used to, and never deviate. I see no > point in redesigning pianos that reproduce what's already available > everywhere, and don't intend to try. I REALLY like the sound these > things produce, and if I can find enough customers who like them > too, I'll keep doing them. 
 
Hey, more power to you. If you can find a successful niche, go for it and I wish you all success. There is probably a market somewhere of people looking for the bottom of pianissimo. I know there is a market of people looking for mellow instruments, for varieties of tone color on the dark end of the spectrum. 
 
OTOH, I have to say that this is an example of the armchair philosopher to the nth degree, filled with authoritative opinions about everything but with next to no actual experience in the real world (in this case, the real world of the concert hall). I'd suggest you stay out of the concert piano business until you actually have a successful track record. 
 
Regards, 
Fred Sturm 
fssturm at unm.edu 
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." Twain 
 

 
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