<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<meta content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type">
<title></title>
</head>
<body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000">
<div class="moz-text-html" lang="x-western"> Wouldn't it be great to
see Chris argue his point with Malcolm Bilson. Might turn into a slug
fest! :-) Having lived here in Ithaca (the land
of historical performance practice) for some time, I find listening to
music performed on historical instruments interesting at least for an
academic standpoint. And, occasionally it is a great musical
experience. Cornell has a couple of pianos from the mid 1800's that
sound
very good and when played by a skilled pianist, can be very rewarding
to hear. Just my humble opinion.<br>
<br>
Don<br>
<br>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"> I may as well take this opportunity
to come out of the closet and reveal my bias, actually a pet
peave, just to be fair. In case anyone wasn't catching the drift, I
have almost no use for historical instruments. I can't imagine any
musician of the day, say Franz Liszt, looking for "the good old piano."
Most often professional pianists, unless they are looking for novelty,
or are overcome with this absurd nostalgia for "original instruments,"
look for the best new piano they can find. 'Cause the design is up to
date and the parts are new and it plays like they expect. Everything
else is ANOMALY. And unless your customer is of that ilk I'd stick to
I-95. (I do make one notable exception and that is reproductions. They
make for wonderful "Historical" concerts although I do think the
whole concept is a bit hysterical). Of course Stephen, be attentive to
what Bill Shull and others are warning of cause this isn't I-95, but
get as close as you can and a "NORMAL" customer will be happy. And BTW,
sorry Bill, we're full at MARC and printed for this year, but I have
forwarded your shameless self invitation to Steve and Paul and will put
in a good word for you.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Best to All,</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"> Chris Solliday </font></div>
</blockquote>
<br>
</div>
</body>
</html>