What is your favorite piano brand?

Dominic Cheli Hey Dominic hope all is well!  I find that my Knabe has a lighter tone than my Mason, particularly in the bass and baritone ranges (the Mason is a monster), so I gravitate towards it for Bach and Mozart.  These two instruments do influence interpretation in subtle ways...the Mason seems to invite a kind of performance-focused playing more than the Knabe...it really is a concert instrument.  I have been playing some four-hand/two-piano repertoire lately with a friend (Mozart Sonata in D; Brahms Haydn Variations) and I find the instruments really complimentary - favoring the Knabe for more primo, treble-focused parts but it's also fun to trade!

I hope Tonebase returns to NYC for another workshop at some point.  My hour with you playing Chopin Opus 48 No. 1 was one of the most fun, inspiring and directly helpful sessions I've ever had!  

Angela Fogg I also love the sound of Bechsteins but I've never played one. What model do you have? Used ones still do turn up from time to time in the USA used market. My piano tech once told me about the "Bechstein beat" caused by inharmonicity of unison strings, presumably a part of the design to modify the tone. Is that audible to ordinary mortals?

Michael Thank you for your interest Michael. It’s a Model B which is 6ft 8inches. It’s big. Truth be told it’s really too much sound for the room it is in. I have a blanket over the top and underneath has become a storage space for a lot of music and teaching books. As well as being a handy storage facility this also absorbs a lot of the sound. I certainly never play with the lid up which is probably a bit sad but it would be too loud.
 

But why did I buy such a large piano you’re probably wondering? Well, I waited a long time for a second hand Bechstein to come on the market that wasn’t so old it needed a serious amount of restoration so when I found this one I jumped at the opportunity to buy it. Even with measures to quieten the sound in the room it has a fabulous range of dynamics and is a joy to play.

Anne O'Leary I was looking at a Shigeru Kawai grand a few years ago and I was really impressed with it!Dominic Cheli Well there’s a bit of a story there. The Boston upright was secondhand from Steinways in London. I was going there for lessons and this piano was just among the secondhand pianos in the basement. So, they told me it was secondhand because it had spent the summer in the Green Room at the Royal Albert Hall for the Proms season. I like to think it had some special treatment to make it perfect for all the amazing pianists who used it for warming up before their performances…but who knows! 

Dominic Cheli thanks for sharing your experience and insights!

I wonder if it is insane (or at least counterproductive and deafening) to have a concert grand in a space the size of a home living room. I notice that many of the pianists on Tonebase do seem to have concert grands in more modestly sized residential or studio spaces, but usually with the lid closed. 

As a concert pianist and educator, which would you prefer in your home or studio: a concert grand with the lid closed to control volume, or a smaller one perhaps with the lid open? Which would best facilitate your own practice, or your students' learning?

Michael It turns out a concert grand isn’t necessarily appreciably louder than a smaller grand. Bösendorfer demonstrated this to me with their very powerful 170VC model, which fully held its own when compared back to back with their bigger models! (The 280VC, though, was specially designed for maximum projection in large halls.) Steinway, Bechstein and Fazioli also have smaller grands that sound very powerful indeed—really more than sufficient for any living space. To me, their small grands may even be their biggest achievements since they seem to defy the laws of physics.

The difference in larger grands is more in the bass, similar to the way making a loudspeaker bigger doesn’t necessarily make it louder but tends to allow it to reproduce deeper bass frequencies more cleanly.

That said, concert grands do tend to have greater dynamic range, though mostly I personally like to take advantage of the dynamic potential on the softer end of the scale. The key levers are longer in a larger grand, which generally gives you more flexibility in controlling softer dynamics.

I fully share your enthusiasm for the Bösendorfer Imperial. (Full disclosure: I’m on their artist roster and am the fortunate, very satisfied owner of an Imperial! It gives me goosebumps from the sheer beauty of sound every single day. Even my wrong notes sound beautiful!) Most of the time I practice louder passages much softer. This protects my hearing and also helps to prevent building tension into my playing. (As a professional musician, I do a lot to protect my hearing since it’s a tool I need to rely on every bit as much as my piano.)

Also, I had my piano voiced more for a living room than a concert hall. Higher-end pianos are designed to give technicians maximum flexibility when it comes to voicing, from very warm to very bright, so this is something you can have adjusted to the room and your personal taste.