<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>CA PTG Convention</TITLE></HEAD> <BODY>That's IlvedsOn to you...for what I could hear in the din= of the Piano Fair the M&H was very nice.   I= thought the new M&H 9 fter was tinny= sounding...probably not prepped...Dale's was beautiful but again= too much noise...I was unable to hear either of the= concerts... David IlvedsOn <DIV style="PADDING-RIGHT: 5px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px;= PADDING-BOTTOM: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 3px solid;= PADDING-TOP: 5px"> <HR> Original message From: David Andersen <BIGDA@GTE.NET> To:= Pianotech <PIANOTECH@PTG.ORG> Received: Tue, 15 Feb 2005= 09:23:26 -0800 Subject: CA PTG Convention Hey, kids------- Got back yesterday (Monday AM) at= 4:30---driving up the Tejon Pass in the slow, SLOW lane in a= low-power U-Haul truck with my fantastic, HEAVY M&H CC= strapped to the right side of this POS, under-powered dog, which= had already left me stranded earlier that night with a dead= battery in a rest stop right in the middle of frickin’= nowhere---hey: are we having fun yet? That said, the= convention, for me and especially for my booth-sharing brother= in crime Dale Erwin, was a luminous, triumphant time.  His= rebuilt, new-board 1928 Steinway D, side by side with my= old-board Mason & Hamlin CC, were really kind of the buzz of= the show, and on Saturday I was witness to one of the best= concerts I have ever heard---on  Dale’s D. It was in a= 400-seat, sweet little auditorium, and the program was Gershwin,= played by a world-class pianist, Richard Glazer, who has= dedicated his professional and personal life to the music of= George and Ira Gershwin. To say that Dale’s D was= triumphant, shining, beautiful, powerful---it doesn’t quite get= it. A concert grand’s true power to amaze doesn’t come out= unless the artist is capable, and loving the instrument.. It= crashes; it screams; it whispers; it sings. The true power of= THIS piano was evident from the first note of the concert to the= last----it was certainly one of the two or three best= instruments I have ever heard in concert in 40 years. I was= completely, and I mean completely blown away.  So was= everybody else in the room; before the last number, the pianist= turned to the audience and said something to the effect that= this was a truly great piano, that it could do anything he asked= it to; that it had shown him colors and tonal shadings he had= never heard before; that it almost played itself; that he was so= inspired that he would now play the entire “Rhapsody in Blue”= suite, uninterrupted, and “give it my best, my all.”  Wow.= I have never heard anything like it in my life. The audience= would not stop clapping and yelling. My friends, there= is a true artisan in Modesto, California.  To be able to= make a piano sound and feel this beautiful, not only in the= shop, but on the stage, is the work of a rare, rare artist.=  I am humbly grateful to be the friend, student, peer and= collaborator of Dale Erwin. This was Dale’s FIRST attempt= at installing a new board in a D, which makes it all that much= more mind-blowing. In the near future, and for as long as= he’s working, artists and appreciators will beat a path to this= man’s door from all over the world, begging him to let them put= their fingers on his beautiful spawn. God willing, I’ll be= there smiling and sticking my head inside the pianos to feel and= hear the beauty. Gotta go to work; more= later. Dave Stahl, David Ilvedsen, Jurgen Goering, Carl= Meyer, Vladan, Terry Miller, Bob Davis---great to see you= pianotech list guys....and Ilvedsen is actually a good, good= player; tell ‘em about my big beast, Dave.... Best to= all.... David Andersen Malibu, CA= </DIV></BODY></HTML>