Speakers that do pianos really well

08-06-13: Jetrexpro
To Marty's point--I have a ton of recorded piano music both jazz and classical and each recording sounds totally different. I have not felt it possible to come up with a standard reference recording.

There are so many variables that can affect how a piano sounds. Besides the obvious ones of maker and scale, there are different varieties of spruce used in soundboards, some have lively light rims (e.g., Bosendorfer) and others thick and rigid ones (e.g., Steinway). Hammer felt can be hardened with shellac or softened by pricking it (but never directly on the striking surface). The action can be set to be fast with a short throw or lengthened for more maximum volume. Then there are miking techniques--single or multiple, inside the piano, above it, below it, or a combination, miking close or with some distance to pick up more hall/stage ambience, etc. However, certain constants will identify a piano, most notably scale design and materials.

BTW my wife and I were listening to the 1981 Glenn Gould recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations and we both feel that it was not recorded on a Steinway which would be interesting if not, since so many musicians prefer Steinway and almost all major concert halls use Steinway.

Your post intrigued me so I did some Googling on the subject. For the better part of his career, Gould used Steinway CD 318, which he discovered in June 1960 at Eaton Auditorium in Toronto (story here). He is one of the few piano artists who traveled with a single piano. Others include(d) Vladimar Horowitz and Radu Lupu. However, Gould did switch to a Yamaha CFII late in life and used it in his last four recordings, which are:

o J. S. Bach / Goldberg Variations (1981/1982)
o Brahms / Ballades, Op. 10; Rhapsodies, Op. 79 (1982/1983)
o Beethoven / Sonatas, Op. 26 and 27, No. 1 (1979, 1981/1983)
o Strauss / Sonata in B minor, Op. 5; Five Piano Pieces, Op. 3 (1979, 1982/1984)

So you are right. He recorded the 1981 Goldberg Variations on the Yamaha CFII.

As far as Steinway being the overwhelming choice of touring professionals, it's a combination of a very good-to-great piano combined with a worldwide network of support. I used to moonlight at the Steinway dealer in the Cincinnati area. The owners were the piano technicians for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and part of the Steinway artists network. They had two or three Steinway "D" 9' concert pianos which they kept in excellent tune and shape. When a Steinway artist came to play in the area, they stopped at their shop and played the artists' stock Steinways and picked the one they wanted for the concert. Then the owner tuned and prepped the piano to the artist's specifications, such as weight of the action, harder or softer hammers, etc. The technician delivered the piano to the venue, tuned it for the concert, and stayed in the stage wings to attend to any needs. When Vladimir Feltsman played there he'd have to retune the piano at intermission because Mr. Feltsman had played so hard it went flat.

Steinway artists cut a wide swath. In addition to the classical players, Ray Charles was an endorser and so are Elton John and Diana Krall.

There are a number of world class pianos out there besides Steinway, but few have the resources to provide that much artist stock and service traveling pianists in every major city worldwide as Steinway does. Baldwin has the resources, and has had many endorsers as well, but few classical performers of the caliber of the Steinway lot. However, at one time Baldwin was also the U.S. distributor of German-made Bechstein. Both Leonard Bernstein and Andre Previn endorsed Baldwin but performed on Bechsteins when in Europe. Bosendorfer has an artist program; Oscar Peterson is a Bosendorfer artist as was Victor Borge. One time when I stopped by that piano shop there was a 9' Bosendorfer ($100,000 in 1992) that they were prepping for a Victor Borge concert at Music Hall.

Yamaha can also provide this service. The Labeque sisters used to endorse Yamaha, but are now Steinway artists.

my view here is that when I have experienced poor reproduction of piano (on my system or on a friends) the main contributor, of course, is the source material (CD or vinyl). But from a system perspective, the CD player (and potentially, the preamp) are often the culprits. I know the post is about playing piano well... but when piano is bright, thin, or otherwise harsh... the and you are doing digital... the CD player is often the issue. So even with those speakers addressed above that can play piano very well if fed the proper signal... if digital is used... these speakers will pass on the trash if the CD player is the weak link

To Robsker's point, I did use the same recording on all six pairs of speakers, so I was comparing apples to apples.

Johnnyb53,

Interesting response and most interesting that on my An-E's with my wife's very good ears we could pretty much tell it wasn't a Steinway. I think it is the attack on the 1981 Gould recording that gives it way. So many variables...wow.

Grimace:

I am sure you were comparing apples to apples and I was not implying anything.

I was after a general point that I thought some might appreciate --- that being that piano reproduction is demanding upon the whole system and that often the culprit (in bad sounding piano reproduction) is the CD player and/or pre-amp --- that some of us likely have speakers that, if fed the right signal, would reproduce a fairly convincing piano --- and, as well, that great speakers fed bad signal sound bad.