[pianotech] Earl Wild

[Kazuo Yoshizaki]

Earl Wild was one of my favorite pianists too. I didn't know the story
about the Steinway representative, so I was always wondering why a
legendary classical pianist in America became a Baldwin artist. When I
worked for Tanglewood as an assistant technician in 1998, I serviced
his SD-10. It was a real pleasure, and I was looking forward to seeing
him everyday, but he got sick and canceled his trip (Byron Janis came
to perform for us instead, which was good too).

Yoshi

On Fri, Jan 29, 2010 at 1:47 PM, David Boyce <David at piano.plus.com> wrote:
> I just heard today that Earl Wild died last Saturday.  He was 94 and kept
> working up until a week before his death.  Wild was of course one of the
> great pianists, a Romantic master.  After an unfortunate snub by a Steinway
> representative early in his career, he eschewed Steinway pianos. His
> recordings on his beautiful plummy Baldwin was a good advert for Baldwin
> pianos. I see that his last recording session was on a Kawai though.
>
> I hope list members don't mind me going a bit off-topic with this
> non-technical post. But its nice to remember the foremost exponents among
> those who keep us in business, and whose mastery of the instrument that we
> love (and sometimes loathe!) is complete.
>
> Best regards,
>
> David Boyce
>