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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Hi Paul:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>I agree with your comment on the Russian Pianos. Reminds
me of other things made in the old Soviet Union, like for instance, Lada cars
and the like.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>As far as technology goes, I find there are musicians who
prefer to play on acoustic pianos. Yes, they are making better and better
electric-type pianos, but I don't think the present uiprights and grands will
ever become museum pieces or become extinct. There are situations where
electronic is more adaptable to living conditions, like apartments. On the other
hand, I cringe when I see institutions replace solid uprights with inferior
electronic "toys" that have special effects. I guess they have their place, but
they can never replace the good old-fashioned acoustic piano.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Thanks for your article.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Wayne Williams</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=pmc033@earthlink.net
href="mailto:pmc033@earthlink.net">pmc033@earthlink.net</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">Pianotech List</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, August 07, 2006 11:02
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Is thePiano sell-off the sad
coda to Soviet dream ?</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV> Judging the quality of some of the Russian pianos
imported here, who can be surprised they are being given away. (No names
will appear here.) There were some I'd wished had been thrown in the
fireplace.</DIV>
<DIV> The situation reminds me of times we went through
before radio and phonographs were introduced to the masses. All those
large upright pianos we loathe today were the sole entertainment, and people
gathered 'round them for the music they enjoyed. I wonder how many
piano teachers went out of business because of the proliferation of new
technology. I'll bet the piano business would still be booming
today, and more people would be learning to play them than ever. It's
easier to plug'n'play than spend years to learn to sit'n'play.
</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> Paul McCloud</DIV>
<DIV> San Diego</DIV></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt Arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=wwilliams11@nycap.rr.com
href="mailto:wwilliams11@nycap.rr.com">Wayne M. Williams</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To: </B><A title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">Pianotech List</A></DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> 08/07/2006 6:30:25 AM </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Is thePiano sell-off the
sad coda to Soviet dream ?</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT size=2>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Dear Kent:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Thanks for the article.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Freedom has its advantages and its challenges.
With the fall of communiisn and the toppling of the Berlin wall, there came
many catatrofic changes is the old Soviet Union. One thing we needto realize
is a government, no matter how well meaning, can force its way upon its
citizens, culturally and otherwise. It is up to the people themselves to
dedicate themselves to the value of a piano, just like the reat of the
world. Isn't it about time that Russia joined the workld community and
shared its talent with the rest of the world/ Sure, monay of these musicians
should stay and try to make Russia a better country, but you can't force the
issue. That's the price of freedon. People make both good and bad decisions
about their musical lives, but that's what life is all about ,isn't
it. There must be a reason(s) why so many pianists and other musicians
flock to the west. Ws only have to hope they will return to their motherland
and try to make it a ! better place to live for everyone there. In the
meantime, we need to encourage these pianists in their development as
artists as they live in the west. And, by the way, how good are these
uprights in Russia? Are the quality pianist in need better built
instruments? Some food for thought .</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Wayne Williams</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Schroon Lake</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=kswafford@gmail.com href="mailto:kswafford@gmail.com">Kent
Swafford</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">Pianotech List</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, August 06, 2006 10:23
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Piano sell-off the sad coda
to Soviet dream</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><IMG src="cid:BDC9E818-FE6B-4106-A22B-663361CC2CD1@local">
<DIV style="MIN-HEIGHT: 18px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 16px Arial"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Arial
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">Sun 6 Aug
2006</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Arial
size=6><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 24px"><B>Piano
sell-off the sad coda to Soviet dream</B></SPAN></FONT></P>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Arial
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">MURDO MACLEOD
(</SPAN></FONT><A href="mailto:mmacleod@scotlandonsunday.com"><FONT
class=Apple-style-span face=Arial size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span
style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">mmacleod@scotlandonsunday.com</SPAN></FONT></A><FONT
class=Apple-style-span face=Arial size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span
style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">)</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Arial
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">STALIN,
Khrushchev and Brezhnev all dreamed of a Soviet Union populated by
dedicated citizens, working all day to build the Socialist dream and
studying the high arts in the evenings.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Arial
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">They
encouraged piano production in order to boost culture among the people and
upright versions of the instrument became the norm in the country's myriad
blocks of flats.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Arial
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">But now they
are being sold in their thousands, many just being given away, as Russians
decide they need room in the post-Soviet era for more than music
practice.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Arial
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">Pianos are
being forced out by Ikea furniture and Japanese stereo systems as young
professionals turn their back on their parents' dreams of having a
classical pianist in the family.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Arial
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">The scramble
to get rid of the instruments is seen as the latest blow to Russian
cultural prestige in the wake of high-profile artists opting to ply their
trade abroad and even taking foreign citizenship.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Arial
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">Last month,
Russian-born opera singer Anna Netrebko received an Austrian passport. She
complained that her Russian nationality meant that she had to endure the
tiresome and "humiliating" process of applying for a visa for each of her
numerous international performances.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Arial
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">In addition, a
number of the stars of Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet have publicly admitted they
may leave their home country because of tough new national service rules
which will do away with exemptions for artistic
performers.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Arial
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">Moscow-born
Evgeny Kissin, who featured at the London Proms last week, practised for
hours on the piano in his flat as a child. He played so long and so loudly
that his neighbours called the police who, on being told Kissin was
practising for a concert in the Kremlin, let him alone. Kissin is now an
internationally renowned performer.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Arial
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">Once one of
the Soviet Union's most lauded pianists, Lola Astanova was born in
Tashkent in 1982, now the capital of Uzbekistan. She began formal classes
at the age of six. At eight she started touring as a concert pianist. But
by 2001 she was based in the United States, saying: "I left my motherland
because it is better to be a complete failure in democracy, than an icon
for millions in despotism."</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Arial
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">Scottish-based
pianist and classical composer, Sally Beamish, said: "There is no
substitute for having instruments to hand in the home. I have never had
much time for this 'musical talent is in the blood' notion, the key to
developing musical talent is giving people the option and the
opportunity."</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Arial
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">The fact that
so many international stars are now based outside Russia or the former
Soviet Union is seen as a blow to national prestige. Netrebko admitted
that she had been called a "traitor" by Russian colleagues over her
decision to take Austrian citizenship.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Arial
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">A study by the
Moscow Times newspaper showed there were 357 pianos in the capital being
offered on a popular online sale site last weekend, with 2,000 through the
same service for the rest of the country. The study did not include the
thousands more estimated to be on offer in the numerous free classified
advertising newspapers which are popular throughout the whole of the
former Soviet Union, and the small ads notice boards which adorn most
streets, even in small villages.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Arial
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">Many pianos
are being offered for free, with the would-be buyer being expected to come
round and collect the instrument, itself no small task in a nation where
multi-storey tower blocks with unreliable cargo lifts are
common.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Arial
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">One
unrepentant Muscovite, Darya, said of her decision to get rid of her
piano: "It's been in my flat for a long time. How it got there I don't
know. I don't need it. I don't play."</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Arial
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">A piano
teacher complained: "This country used to promote knowledge and real
culture. Now it is geared to producing stupid people who just care about
money. I feel so sad that the only way people will hear our classics is
when parts of them appear in pop songs from America."</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Arial
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">The pianos
became a common item of furniture from the 1950s until the fall of
communism as dozens of upright piano factories churned them out for the
masses. At least one in three households is estimated to have had a piano.
While the typical price tag was about two to three months' wages, the
pianos were much more affordable than other luxuries, such as cars and
consumer electronics. In the early 1980s, when a typical wage was 200 to
250 roubles, a good quality piano could be had for 650 roubles, while a
colour TV might cost 800 roubles.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Arial
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">In addition to
the easily available pianos, tuition was cheap. The typical cost for a
child would be the very affordable one rouble 20 kopeks a month. That
bought a 40-minute class six days a week for a month.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Arial
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">The pianos are
being mostly replaced by fashionable new furniture, often from
foreign-owned companies. Ikea has five Russian stores, three in the Moscow
area alone, and is to open another three this year, including a second in
St Petersburg and one near the Ural Mountains.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Arial
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px">However, those
fearing that Russia is on its way to becoming a cultural wasteland can
take solace in the nation's TV, which has turned to lavish productions of
literary classics instead of cheaply dubbed foreign soap
operas.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Arial
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px"><B>Related
topic</B></SPAN></FONT></P>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Arial
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px"><B>This
article:</B></SPAN></FONT><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Arial
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px"> <A
href="http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1138652006">http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1138652006</A></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 16px"><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Arial
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updated:</B></SPAN></FONT><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Arial
size=4><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px"> 05-Aug-06
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