Re:..." he could not get a satisfactory pianissimo.'....Ric...he was referring to tone, and not the ability to control PPP playing...right? Dan Dallas Yes, that was his claim. He meant that the dynamic range as a whole was too much on the bright side. Interestingly, the pianist he referred to also was referring to tone issues. She meant that Steinway's should have a crystal like colour (read quite bright) at all levels of play. For her the colour of the instrument should remain quite a bit more constant regardless of how loud or soft she played. I think I have both pianists pretty well pegged in terms of what they are after.... but one never knows for sure :) That said, and interesting as the above contrast is, I am really most interested in hearing more on the lines of just how strong a pianist needs to be to get the most out of an instrument. If Jeff Tanners post is representative... then it strikes me that there is something else going on then just the velocity / momentum of the hammer. Jeff is probably no overly light handed person yet he reports a heavy weighter being able to induce a buzz that no one else could... that would seem to indicate that very very strong hands can indeed get more volume/energy out of the instrument then less strong hands. Yet the physical limitations as I understand them... and as has been discussed several times here and on pianotech would seem to prohibit this. Head scratching time agin :) Cheers RicB
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC