And now, for some piano geekery - Bösendorfer

Cafe Society
1

Hey, everyone - I just wanted to post something about one of the cool fringe benefits of my current gig.

Some background - I’ve been slaving away at piano for a few years now, and it’s a challenge. Part of the challenge is just finding the time to practice, and then trying to make that practice effective. For me, coming at it relatively late (I started 5 years ago), it’s been kind of Sisyphusian - get it to a certain level, and then it slides back.

A book I found very helpful was Playing the Piano for Pleasure by Charles Cooke. (I also loved ‘The Piano Shop on the Left Bank’ by T. E. Carhart and ‘Piano - the Making of a Steinway Concert Grand’ by James Barron - thanks again, WordMan, for the recommendation.) One of the things in the Cooke is his personal story about trying to make sure he got that hour a day in, no matter where he was or what he was doing. So, I’ve been trying that when I’m not at home. Sometimes, I’ll rent a digital keyboard when I’m away, sometimes I find practice studios, but I try to get that hour a day in.

When I was in Montréal for a week, I talked my way into McGill University’s practice rooms. That was an experience - somehow or other, every one of the practice rooms had a grand piano in it. I played three different Yamahas and two different Steinways. All of these pianos were in really bad shape from being pounded away at for hours at a stretch, but it was interesting that they still had very different characteristics. One of the Yamahas had the brightest sound I’d ever heard, and it had just flabby action - sneeze and some of the keys would go down and produce a chord that was harsh and treble enough to make your eyes water. The two Steinways were the ones that had held up the best - one of them had strange cracks on the outer rim, like it had been dropped at one point, and yet, the action was firm and the sound quite mellow. It just made me sad to see these instruments in this condition and setting - it was clear that no one loved them or took care of them. They were like mules in a mine - there to be worked until they dropped.

So, to come to my original point - the theatre I’m working at right now has a Bösendorfer for its concert piano, and because we’re not using it in the show, it sits in its own humidity controlled room, and anyone in the cast is welcome to get on the schedule to play it. I’ve been practicing for 2 hours a day on this magnificent instrument, and it is heaven! There is no model number that I can find - it has the extra keys (it goes down to an ‘F’ natural instead of the usual ‘A’.) with a cover for those who find the extra keys distracting. For those interested, I don’t use them very much at all, but the extra resonance they give when the sustain pedal is down contributes to the massive tone that the piano has. (Throwing in the extra low ‘F’ at the end of Debussy’s ‘Page d’album’ is really cool, though!)

We’ve had discussions about guitars where people recommend getting the best instrument you can afford rather than worrying about whether you are worthy of the instrument. I can heartily second this advice when it comes to pianos as well. I have no illusions - I am playing at about a Grade 8 RCM level, and making progress slowly, but it is inspiring to play this instrument. The tone quality, the difference between playing with or without the sustain pedal, the beauty of the soft sound, the roar of a full-bodied fortissimo, it’s all there.

Among the great revelations I’ve had on this instrument - Brahms! Now I get the sound he was after when he wrote chords with huge spans and marked them pp - he wanted the full resonance that the pedal gives, but he wanted it gentle. The Chopin c minor Prelude is just a blast, trying to get the first 4 bars loud but still beautiful, and the remaining 8 soft and softer but still with tone behind them.

I’ve been going nuts on the repertoire - I won’t get to see my piano teacher for another couple of weeks, but I’ve been playing through everything I’ve ever worked on just for the thrill of hearing what it sounds like. Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Debussy, Piazzola, and some jazz arrangements by George Shearing, Matt Dennis and Oscar Peterson.

I feel like when I was a teenager with my guitar - I’ve stopped caring about how bad a player I am because even my clams have a beautiful tone. It has made up for the fact that I have no internet outside of library hours. I’ve got to get me one of these…

And that’s all I get to say before closing.

2

I’m very happy for you.

I hope you can somehow arrange to take your lesson on
the Bosendorfer.

Your teacher might be jealous for life that you able to spend
so much time practicing and revelling in its magnificense. :smiley: :smiley:

3

An Octavian, possibly?

4

Nice OP!

Ha, the first time we saw Tori Amos in concert, at a tiny little club called Schubas, she was playing a broken electric portable (Yamaha, I think). She had to keep stopping, then crawl underneath to adjust something.

The next time or the time after, I forget, she had signed an exclusive deal to play only Bösendorfers. I’m sure she was in heaven.

5

Oh, I know that feeling, taking a piece onto a decent instrument for the first time. I keep on making the same mistake, giving pupils something by Schumann or similar, with an exquisite rippling undercurrent of an accompaniment. And then I try and play it on some poor suffering upright. :smack:

6

Very very cool - nothing like having enough know-how to take advantage of a top-tier instrument.

One other book you’d dig - Piano: A Grand Obsession bt Perri Knize. Her search for why her perfect instrument sounds the way it does.

Play on!

7

I’ve played a couple of Boseys. Sound just pours out of them, even at the hands of a hack like me.

8

I thought I remembered one with 4 extra keys. Are there some, or is my memory playing tricks?

9

This is what I wrote in a another thread about pianos earlier this year:

I’ve loved pianos all my life, and I’ve read a fair amount about them, how they evolved and how they’re made. About eight years ago I had occasion to buy a new grand piano. So in addition to studying up on all the instruments in my price range, I also went to all the piano stores in about a 75-mile radius and played every instrument I could, including every name you’ve ever heard of, and many you probably haven’t: Kawai, Baldwin, Boston (a Steinway design built by Kawai), Estonia, Schimmel, Steinway, and even the 10-foot, $100,000 Bösendorfer Imperial (which was unfortunately not in my price range!). (Googling around, I just found this site. The second picture down may be the actual instrument I played, because that was the store I went to, and the date he mentions is about right.)

Now, I’m not a great musician. I’d rate my skills slightly above a monkey banging on the keys. (On my best days.) But even the dumbest monkey could tell that the Bösendorfer was miles beyond any other instrument. The touch, the tone, was just magical. It made me feel like I was Van Cliburn.

10

There’s a nice story about how the extra keys were added to the
top of the line Bösendorfer.

I can’t tell it right because I’ve forgotten the composer’s name and the
piece he was creating.

I’m sure a Doper or two can do the tale proud.

11

I’d like to hear this - M. Le Ministre, any ideas?

12

According to Bosendorfer’s Web site,

13

Nice. When I was at school we picked up a pair of Fazioli grand pianos for the music school. Due to the enormous size of the instrument they were able to stretch the bass strings much longer than usual.

The piano absolutely pulled the breath right out of your body in the lower register.

14

According to the Wikipedia article , it was Busoni who convinced them to extend the keyboard in order to facilitate the piano transcription of Bach organ pieces. Many organs have pipes up to 32’ to produce an ultra-low ‘C’. Other than that, I can’t give you much more information until I’m back home and go through all the stuff that’s in storage (we just sold our house while I’m up here; never a dull moment!). I seem to remember something in the Grove Dictionary about the development of the piano, relating who exactly started extending the keyboard to its standard 88 key length. Certainly, it was Bösendorfer who first started experimenting with adding extra notes on the bass end. This one I’ve been playing must be a Model 225, because of the 92 note keyboard.

And, although I know no one asked for it, here is a link to a recording of me playing the Mendelssohn Andante Sostenuto on it late last night. Ignore the playing, ignore the fact that it was recorded with Garage Band and a built-in microphone, just listen for the full tone the instrument has when you ask it nicely.

Best wishes, everyone.

15

Dear Folks: Please forgive the resurrection of a not-quite-dead yet thread. Today is our last show, and therefore (probably) the last time I get to play this piano for a while. (I might be able to sneak in tomorrow morning if the Technical Director just happens to be in the shop, but on a Sunday morning after a closing night party, I’m not betting on it!)

So, I recorded one other piece on it this morning. The interesting thing about this is that I’ve only been playing this piece for about two weeks - in other words, it’s something that I took from sight reading to its current level on this piano. Warts and all, still at Tempo di Learno (eg. hovering somewhere between half and two-thirds the ideal tempo; using rubato like drywall mud to cover the cracks in the structure…) but something this piano inspired me to play. And yes, I did slip in the ultra-low F on the last note.

Hope you enjoy - Debussy - “Page d’album”

Fixing the link from the last recording I posted - the Mendelssohn should be here - Andante sostenuto, op.72, #2

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Fucker. I’m 47years old, and I haven’t touched a Bosendorfer yet.

– Uke, proud owner and player of a Baldwin baby grand

17

Both of your recordings are very nice, Ministre, but I just want to say for anyone who listens to them and thinks, “Well, it just sounds like a good piano,” that you really have to be in the presence of the Bösendorfer to fully “get” it. There’s an amazing velvety richness to the tone and a power to the dynamics that Ministre’s admittedly limited recording technology and your own computer speakers just can’t adequately convey.

And the “real” Bösendorfer experience only happens when you actually play it yourself. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a crappy piano player. But in trying out all the different pianos I was considering buying eight years ago, as soon as I touched the Bösendorfer I realized that all pianos divide into two classes: the Bösendorfer and everything else. Even a chimp like me, who couldn’t tell ritard from a retard, could tell that this was different, better, magical. It responded to your touch in ways that no other instrument did. Anything you played sounded terrific, and it made you just want to keep playing and playing.

If I were a millionaire, I’d definitely buy a Bösendorfer. The only thing that might stop me is the knowledge that I’m not a good enough pianist to use the capabilities of the Yamaha DC3A 6-foot grand I already own. But you can’t become a millionaire and still have a conscience, can you?