<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16414" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY> <DIV><SPAN class=000105420-18032007><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#0000ff size=2>At our Chapter meeting this past week, Dave Liljedahl played a Chopin etude on an 1883 Chickering grand that Frank Lundak is restoring.  I can't tell you the particulars of the restoration, but I'm sure Frank would be more than happy to fill you in (no email, however).  </FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=000105420-18032007><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=000105420-18032007><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#0000ff size=2>I was very taken by how distinctively different that piece sounded on the Chickering, and there were moments when I felt as though I was actually hearing Chopin for the first time.  Dave followed it with some jazz, and for that I certainly would have prefered a modern piano.  But the Chopin was pretty durned wonderful on the Chickering.</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=000105420-18032007><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=000105420-18032007><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#0000ff size=2>Annie Grieshop</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=000105420-18032007><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN><SPAN class=000105420-18032007><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=000105420-18032007> </SPAN><FONT face=Tahoma size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org]<B>On Behalf Of </B>David Boyce<BR><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, March 18, 2007 2:57 PM<BR><B>To:</B> pianotech@ptg.org<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: Chopin's piano<BR><BR></DIV></FONT> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid">I bought The Times yesterday and came across the article on Chopin's piano while sitting in the coffee shop.  I thought it was great that they gave a two-page spread in The Times to an article about a piano!<BR><BR>Like Terry, I wondered how accurately the sound would be preserved.  It was the perhaps over-dramatic headline "Chopin's true sound can be heard at last....."  that had me thinking skeptically of flattened soundboards etc.  The article doesn't state what restoration work has been carried out on the piano but as it is part of the Cobbe Collection it will have been properly cared for and presumably restored as necessary.<BR><BR>Journalists like to find an "angle" for a story, and the article perhaps plays up the "At last - Chopin as Chopin heard it!" angle.  Surely any surviving well-maintained high quality grand of Chopin's time is likely to sound more like what Chopin head than a new modern grand.  <BR><BR>That doesn't answer, of course, what sound Chopin would have LIKED to hear, or whether his music is BETTER on a modern grand or on one of his time.  Personally, I go for the modern concert grand every time!<BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>