… a five minute radio broadcast on National Public Radio in the USA -
http://www.npr.org/2011/01/18/132945634/musical-innovation-a-grander-grand-piano.
It was a shame that due to time constraints (5 min 37 sec to be precise) it was rather difficult to present the full story in anything more than a general approach rather than specific details, but nonetheless Neva Grant did a good job under the circumstances and I suspect it has whetted the appetite for more interviews down the line.
In general the comments from the populace were as expected – a mixture of total ignorance and unfounded generalities together with some very insightful and intelligent comments, despite some obvious sound quality issues with the recording itself. A very good response, I suspect triggered by the NPR story, may be found here -
http://www.jthonline.com/WordPress/grand-pianos/ by John Hill, who I’m pleased to say appears to be Australian…
I found that the quality of the sound was not good. In particular the sound from the upper notes was as though someone had hit a piece of metal with a hammer – it was clear that the microphones and recording equipment used were not of sufficient quality to give an accurate view of the real sound. Stuart & Sons have produced a much better sound clip which will be included in the NPR website, and a link to it is provided here -
http://www.mediafire.com/?ney62sr2ynxdiyx. This clip not only showcases the treble notes, but also the extra bass notes and provides a real sense of both delicacy and power where required.
The second issue I had was the comments by the Australian pianist Geoffrey Lancaster. Lancaster is a world class musician no doubt, but his expertise is in historically accurate performances – he has done some great work on the fortepiano and with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. But he is not known as a ‘concert pianist’ per se, and his experience in playing Stuart pianos is very, very limited, so his comments really have no basis. For example,
"I find the sounds very cold," Lancaster says. "They don't have that dimension of warmth that, say, a great Steinway or a great Bosendorfer has. It's this clarity — this so-called clarity or crystalline quality, it's really quite icy." That’s a shame, because I and many others have found the sound to be anything but “icy”. The Stuart has the greatest tonal and dynamic range of any piano, and the sound that is produced is very much up to the pianist’s skill and knowledge of the instrument. The so-called “dimension of warmth” is a pseudonym for murkiness of sound – the Stuart sound is crystal clear by comparison. I would question how he would reconcile playing Mozart and Haydn on a fortepiano with playing the same music on a Steinway or Yamaha.
He does make a valid point about innovation –
“So I'm all for innovation in the modern piano. To me, the piano is a pinnacle of human achievement. So it seems right and proper that it should continue to develop." It’s a pity that he is not able to reconcile that view with the flexibility that the Stuart allows in performance. Mozart is ethereal on the Stuart.
My YouTube channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/DrChristopherMoore is going well, with four pieces up already and more to come when I get the chance to do some more recording, both here at home and at the factory. Despite virtually no publicity other than on this blog, after two days I’m up to 50 views on the Zhiganov and 35 on the GRK. No bad going for a totally unknown visually impaired (!) and at my age, mentally impaired pianist.
I’m having fun – and the challenge of doing video recordings (no room for error) is pushing me very hard. I suspect it’s something I need, and is long overdue.