I was unaware that there is a 2.9 metre Stuart piano in the Independent Theatre in North Sydney. This was brought to my attention today when I made the acquaintance (through this blog) of a recording engineer who does volunteer work for the public radio station 2MBS here in Sydney. He has recorded the Stuart piano a few times, and he commented from his experience that ‘some pianists take a little while to get used to it’.
That’s not a surprise to me, of course. If it is a surprise to whoever reads this, then read the entire blog from the beginning.
1) some pianists take longer than others
2) some pianists never (=can’t) get used to it.
3) it really takes much longer than a single concert opportunity to really come to grips with what this piano can do.
Next month, Music Viva are promoting a Coffee Concert on the 10th of March at 11am featuring the Italian pianist Roberto Cominati , a prize-winner at the 1996 Sydney International Piano Competition, and this will be recorded for 2MBS. Composers represented are Chopin, Rachmaninov, Carl Vine (interesting), Albeniz and Granados. It will be interesting to see how he adjusts to the piano.
Given that this is a concert venue, the recorded sound should be full, and will not be equalised or limited in any way. Its good to see that (finally) people are getting the message that it is critical to get the native piano sound, and not something that sounds like a synthesiser.
I’m now up to nineteen tracks, with three fairly major (in terms of time) pieces recorded today. Each I have recorded before for my first CD, but it is very clear that the sound is much, much better and from my perspective the interpretations are much more mature as well. At least I’ve made some progress over the last couple of years, and this second ‘stake in the ground’ as it were will be an interesting marker for future recordings.
I’m about half way through my projects, which is actually much faster than I originally thought. Gives me more time to get the others better, I suppose.