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Those Pesky Bosendorfers!

209.179.247.15

Posted by Bambi B on November 16, 2002 at 12:45:47

In Reply to: In love with Bosendorfer posted by Beethoven on November 15, 2002 at 13:22:36:

Pianos are as different from one to another as any instrument. This makes them subject to careful choice for a particular kind of music. At Steinways on 57th NYC and going from one to the adjacent, I tried every B in stock and every one had a different emphasis- some brighter some darker, some with a bass emphasis, etc. There were B's that would be better for Bach or Mozart or Chopin or Prokofiev or jazz or chamber music and then some that would be more generic and suit a lot of styles. But, aren't generic, consistent things the opposite of artistic choice?

The Japanese pianos seem more consistent one to another but therefore not as interesting as a potential pallette of sounds. Andre Watts played Yamahas for several years and these were sometimes mentioned in reviews as detracting from the performance.

With Bosendorfer, generally tend to be a slightly brighter than Steinway, concentrating on an articulate sound with a very good balance top to bottom. There have been a number of Bosendorfer exponents since 1828. How about:

Franz Schubert Frédéric Chopin Anton Bruckner Richard Wagner Franz Liszt Carl Czerny Johann Strauß-Sohn Johannes Brahms Hugo Wolf Franz Lehár Gustav Mahler Anton Rubinstein Ferruccio Busoni Arnold Schönberg Richard Strauss Alban Berg Anton von Webern Ernst Krenek Gottfried von Einem Herbert von Karajan Wilhelm Backhaus Leonard Bernstein Alfred Brendel Gerhard Oppitz Paul Badura-Skoda Friedrich Cerha Oscar Peterson Friedrich Gulda András Schiff André Previn

I personally think that the Hamburg Steinway C (7'6")is the best all-rounder. Of course these are $XXX,XXX.

One of the best examples of the musical importance of piano choices was the Levin/ Hogwood 5 Beethoven concerti on original period pianos. The timbre in emsemble with other period instruments is very convincing.

Too bad about your Jeffry Kahane experience. I heard him a couple of years ago in Mozart concerti and it was quite enjoyable. Kahane placed the piano with his back to audience to conduct and the strings players were all standing (except the cellist and one expecting violinist).

Cheers,

Bambi B

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