Piano Manufacturers and Brands: A discussion!

My husband talked primarily classical trumpet. Before going to Wisconsin he had played first trumpet in the Lyric Opera Orchestra and subbed with the Chicago Symphony Under Reiner. He was also one of the founders of the international trumpet guild 

My interest in pianos has been severally restricted only by my lack of copious amounts of money and a proper home(s) to put these instruments in.  Responding here is therapy for me as I love to dream.  Please don't wake me up as reality is pretty depressing.  If the above two issues could be addressed this is what I would do based on what I know today.

My dream is to own a minimum of five pianos but would settle on just five if times were hard as a presumed billionaire.  These are in order of my current preferences:

1) Bösendorfer:  290 Imperial and / or 280VC and / or 230VC

2) Fazioli: F278 and / or F228

3) C. Bechstein: D-282 and / or C-234

4) Steingraeber & Söhne:  E and / or D-232

5) Steinway:  Hamburg D 

6). I would love to own a Blüthner, Schimmel, or Seiler once I had the above.

Full disclosure:  I do not live in an area where any of these pianos are accessible or available (especially in the concert grand sizes I would want.). I have not had the opportunity to play any of the models listed.  However, I have been researching and gathering information for a lifetime.  I have owned a Steinway B (New York) for more than 22 years and a Steinway Model 1098 upright before that for about 8 years.  Before that Baldwin uprights and grew up on old uprights of various no names.  Today, as of three months ago, I play on a Bösendorfer 225.

The most important thing I know about any piano you own is that any brand can shine if you have the right piano technician on your payroll (plus you have to have some knowledge yourself to know what you want within tasteful realms).  This, even if you live in a large city with representation of all the big names is still not a given.  In fact, I'm confident to say that finding someone to make your piano sing as it should is maybe the most rare thing.  Today, I know very few in the new school who can tune by ear.  Next, most have no idea how to regulate the action and fewer even can voice properly.  To be fair, I don't mean that no one broadly knows how to do any of these functions.  They do.  I mean those who walk on water and KNOW how to deliver what you ask of them and not just performing some generic procedure.   A piano whisperer, so to speak.

The next most important thing is the room.  Many people point their finger at a brand and say things (good or bad) and leave it at that.  I believe the room is essentially the culprit to blame in most cases closely following if not equal to the technician issue in importance.  Of course, everyone here probably has the same problem.  Our homes are what they are and so this problem is big and not easily fixed.  Currently I am trying to look into fixing some problems with room treatments to try and improve the situation even in a small way.

Obviously, the main problem for us is that most pianos overpower a small rectangular box we put them in in our homes.  This is sad because in the right room most of these pianos can sound great.  And how something sounds is the most important aspect of making music for me.  Most concert grands are voiced to fill a hall.  Yet, I'm sure there are substantially more pianos in homes than in concert halls.  Don't manufacturers know this?

The action is, along with the above, the next most important aspect.  As with the sound quality, I suppose the touch and how an instrument plays is very subjective, to a point.  However, given that the action is regulated correctly, changing the room you play in will affect our sense of how heavy or light you feel the action is, for instance.

The reason I am striving for large pianos is for the bass quality and overtones and sustain only possible from large soundboards.  Also, the key length and actions lead to the best touch possible.

Workmanship of the instrument is important to me.  Today, it seems workmanship is rising across the board in general but what you see on the outside isn't always what is true of the inside or unseen parts.  Maybe Steinway New York is improving in quality today, or so I've been told, but my early 2000's model may have been built using an axe to cut some pieces underneath or inside that you mostly didn't look at (OK I'm exaggerating).  When I look at Bösendorfer or Fazioli today it is just beautiful, inside and out.  They are exceptional but of course, you pay dearly for this level of quality.

Of course, I live in a rough environment, weather wise, with a 70 to 80 degrees C swing that is possible through the seasons of the year.  July could be hot or even humid and January can be very dry and cold.  This is brutal on an instrument made largely from wood.  I can get a tuning today and in two days the struggle begins again and the action here and there starts to react in a bad way.  Hence, my dream of living in a proper castle er estate er home with climate controls to control the temperature and humidity would be ideal for a piano(s). 

The reason that I want so many pianos is that I believe now that different pianos (even within the same brand and model) play differently.  I'm really fascinated though that in general you could say that certain brands are better for different composers and different periods of music (baroque vs romantic etc).  A subjective notion but this is a very compelling reason for me to dream about multiple pianos.  

Some pianos might be good at a broad range of music.  Consider yourself lucky if this is the case for you because you'll easily be pleased and won't find the need to chase fantasies.  However, the negative to this is it may be good for many things but is the master of nothing.

Although it is early days, I believe my Bösendorfer 225 is a specialist piano.  It is exceptional at some things and struggles with other things.  Hence, why I dream of the next piano someday to partner with this one.   

I miss my Steinway B.  If I could have, I would have kept it as well in order to reach my five piano goal.  I loved its bass quality for some music with its warm but growly bass.  It was very easy to play with its light and quick action.  I could play most composers on it fairly reasonably.

The Bösendorfer 225 excels in the music of Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, and Beethoven, in my opinion.  I'm still exploring actually, but in January for the Romantic Challenge I dipped into Schubert and now I'm obsessed.  That's all I play now.  Previously, I liked Schubert obviously but I was also playing Rachmaninoff and Scriabin and Debussy etc. because the piano invited this kind of playing too.

Basically, I would say that my Bösendorfer has a pinpoint clarity and warmth about it's tone, especially the higher you go.  It excels in music that doesn't call for pedal or very little pedal.  This might be related to the room?  I don't like the bass for bigger late 19th century music as much but for older Austrian-Germanic music it is sublime.  It has a unique sound that you will find on no other instrument.  

So I guess I'm stuck with the Austrian boys until I pay this one off and work for piano # 2, 3, 4, & 5.....

Maybe a Fazioli or C. Bechstein would fill in the gaps for Chopin, Debussy and Rachmaninoff etc.

Thanks Peter.  That's what I mean.  There are these special kind of people around who can work magic but it is rare and involves some luck in living close to where they are too.  As far as I know I don't think there is anyone where I live with this kind of experience, training and skill.

That situation would make me rather uncomfortable. I have been blessed to meet many exceptional piano technicians in my life who were and are regarded the "top of the cream" in their art (not business), so I feel with you when you have no easy access to one of these people.

I'm actually growing fond of my piano sound now (although it is still exactly too loud/bright/overpowering for the room when I play anything that is loud and complicated).  This is maybe why I'm drawn to Schubert at the moment and I stick to the Piano / Pianissimo typical pieces and it is just beautiful.  My project in the next months is to maybe try to find some panels or build them myself with some insulation in to try to tame the room and reflections etc.

That's the right start. Acoustic foam panels are inexpensive and not hard to install. Adding some heavy curtains brought an initially unbearable room for pianos down to actually using it as a recording studio. None of the pianos is overpowering anymore, so this is something you should do as soon as possible.

My thought was to try this first as I think I am gambling by letting someone who doesn't know very much to voice the hammers down.  If this effectively kills the Bösendorfer sound then I'd be devastated.

You should read "Grand Obsession" by Perry Knize in order to understand why there are technicians out there who should never be allowed in the closer vicinity of a nice grand piano. They baffle you with their "experience" and come fully armed with a chemistry laboratory - to destroy your piano's hammers. Read and weep.

When you say a skilled technician can "adapt the character of the piano to your room" I hope you mean that it still will retain its Bösendorfer DNA?

Think of Michelangelo's statue "David" - the actual statue is already in the raw piece of rock - and all it needs is the hand of an artist to bring it out. That's what's happening when you let a real artist voice your piano. The hammers will be more elastic and resilient, the sound will get less shrill and harsh, the miniscule regulation of the action will give you full control of the piano - and while the dynamic range will drastically get bigger, it will become less painful to your ear.

The DNA isn't only there, it's just waiting to be brought out for the first time in the life of this piano.

You are very lucky to be living where you are.  I've always dreamed of living in Austria (even before I saw the "Sound of Music" as a kid.  Maybe if my room treatments fail or I can't find someone I trust to do this work I just may have to consider packing my bags and bring my piano back home.

The "Sound of Music" film and the Musical it was adapted from is nothing an Austrian can and will relate to. It's an American phenomenon without any real meaning to Austrian life.

Anyway, I have just sold our Bösendorfer Imperial to an American gentleman, who wanted to make true of two of his life's wishes: 1.) To own an actual concert grand piano and 2.) live in Austria. Through his grandmother's and mother's ancestry he actually has Austrian citizenship and he decided to move to Graz in January and the contacted me about the 'Imperial'.

My technician has just spent two days in Graz regulating and voicing the piano - and I have a really happy customer. Maybe that story is an inspiration.

As to technicians: In your case I would try to locate a Yamaha or Kawai trained technician and let them handle your piano. They won't dazzle you with chemical voodoo and instead actually prepare the piano for your room very well.