Posts from — January 2010

The Young Chang company, owner of Kurzweil and makers of fine mid-level grands, is shipping to America again after years of entanglement with the Samick piano company. I tried many of their pianos and was impressed with the Young Changs as an excellent aternative for cost-conscious grand piano buyers. Young Chang also owns and produces the Albert Weber grand pianos, and these are truly fine instruments.

In the category of pianos that have improved there overall touch & tone, I was particularly impressed with the newest Mason & Hamlins and Knabes. The new Wm. Knabes have achieved one of the fastest actions I’ve played on any grand piano, and I spoke with their head action designer, who talked of better counter-weighting in the keys and a super-fast upward return of each key. If you are an accomplished pianist and you live somewhere where Wm. Knabes are sold, you gotta check these out.

Kawai demonstrated there super-light-but-strong graphite-core action parts, and showcased their top-of-the-line Shigeru Kawai grands, that played and sounded delicious. For those with unlimited pockets, there was a stunningly beautiful Shigeru Kawai in Bubinga, Burl and Rosewood that retailed for $200,000. The same piano was available in plain black for a mere $80,000.

The Schimmels were, once again, all uniformly excellent, a must-try for any serious piano player, and if you’ve got the coin, the larger Fazioli grands were heavenly, as impressive as any grand I’ve ever played. If you want to see a cool 360 degree view of Fazioli’s concert grand, click here to go to Fazioli’s site, then click Products, their Model 308, and then choose 360-view.

One of my greatest surprises on the piano floor was a grand and an upright made by Ritmuller, which is the high end line of China’s largest piano manufacturer, Pearl River. Now, I’ve serviced a lot of the inexpensive, low-end Pearl Rivers because one of my dealers carried them as his bottom line piano. To say they are crap is being generous. So I wasn’t expecting much from the “higher-end” models of a truly awful PSO (piano-shaped object.) But the Renner-hammered Ritmullers were surprisingly well-mannered in both touch and tone, and their impressive upright retails for under $4,000, unheard of for a piano that sounds like this.

Perhaps my favorite piano at the show was, surprise, a Yamaha. Now don’t get me wrong, Yamahas are uniformly solid in tone and touch, and consistent from piano to piano in the way that only a production line instrument can be. As I said in an earlier post, they are the best production piano available, with a price that still maked them one of the most affordable fine pianos. But normally I would never expect even their top of the line concert grand to approach the touch and tone of a more expensive hand-crafted instrument like a Fazioli, Schimmel, Steinway or Bosendorfer.

But this year Yamaha debuted it’s CF series, to replace it’s former upper-end S-series grands, and several of us crowded around their new flagship, the top-secretly researched, fully hand-crafted, Bavarian soundboarded CFX. We each took turns playing and listening, and I’ve got to tell you, we simply couldn’t pull away. Although other great instruments were beckoning from other rooms, we kept coming back to the CFX, absolutely stunned by it’s rich, monstrous bass, it’s singing middle register, and a top two octaves where each note sounded like a bell ringing, right up to the highest C! For piano fanatics, it was pure piano bliss! I played it as long as I could before I was literally pulled off. The action was superb, though I still preferred the even-more-buttery actions in the Bosendorfer and Fazioli, but it was damn close. And the sound, that sound, I’ve just never heard a piano sound like that. Goose bumps!

Want to see this amazing instrument explained & demoed at the 2010 NAMM ? Click here to see videos on Yamahas own website. Just open the menu called Keyboard Division Product Demos, in the left sidebar, and choose the first & last video pictured.

Naturally, I want one. But when they are finally released this summer, I think there going to retail for well over $100,000, and I’m a bit short this year. Well we’ll see. If you get a chance to demo one of these later this year (only in top Yamaha dealerships like Keyboard Concepts in L.A.), be prepared. You may never want to play any other piano again.

Every January, all the manufacturers of musical instruments and accessories – pianos, electronic keyboards, drums, guitars, brass & wind instruments, recording gear, etc. -  converge on Anaheim CA to show their wares for the upcoming year at the National Association of Music Merchants convention. The NAMM show is always held at the massive Anaheim Convention Center (right across the street from Disneyland,) it’s always packed, and the main floor is always crazy, cacophonous chaos!(See Video below)

As you wander this humongous space the size of 4 football fields, you jostle & bump into straight-looking dudes in suits and sweaters, and mopped-top, studded-vest rock relics who look a lot like Steve Vai, Eddie Van Halen, Flea, and other rock legends…because they are Steve Vai, Eddie Van Halen, Flea, and other rock legends. Yep, I’ve seem all of them there, as well as rubbing shoulders with Elton John, Carlos Santana, Jay-Z, and so many others. All of them seem to make it to the NAMM show at one point or another.

The show is only open to people in the “music trades,” although I’d swear every year I see more and more people who have nothing to do with selling or servicing music equipment, but still manage to cop an entrance badge. Because I am a musician, recording engineer & producer, as well as a piano technician and fanatic, I always walk the noisy main floor, checking out the latest cool guitars, keyboards, drums and microphones, but lately I find myself spending more and more time on the much quieter second and third floors (I’m gettin’ older, folks) where all the piano manufacturers trot out their latest wood, felt and metal beasts.

So what’s new in the world of fine pianos?

Well, one thing you immediately notice is the piano brand names that were noticeable for their absence. Steinway doesn’t show at NAMM, because they consider themselves the “standard piano of the world,” so venerable that people will come to them even if they don’t show anything new at NAMM every year. But many other well-known companies were missing, either because they couldn’t afford to ship in a bunch of their pianos (Germany’s Bechstein, Bluthner and others) or because they’ve gone completely out of business (like the huge Asian piano conglomerate, Dong Bay.) 2009 was tough for everybody, man, and pianos are mucho expensivoso to manufacture. Esteemed and minor brand names are dropping like flies. That’s the bad news.

The good news is, those companies that are still around definitely had some wonderful instruments to debut. After watching the cool NAMM 2010 video below, click here to go right to my next post, where I share some of the highlights.

NAMM 2010

This Piano Passion site has  been a real labor of love for me, and although I have many connections to sales of pianos, music and piano accessories, I determined originally to have this website be free of monetization. I’ve been happy just to sit at my MacIntosh (anyone who plays fine keyboards knows Mac is the finer machine!) and share my love of piano with you all, without concern for remuneration.

NEW - Chopin: Piano Sonata, Op. 58 $15.95

Frederick Chopin- The Complete Etudes ( Louis Lortie, Piano) Recorded 1986 $1.37

CHOPIN:CALMING CLASSICS - NEW DVD $13.53

CHOPIN: PIANO CONCERTOS - NEW CD $7.44

JERMONE ROSE PLAYS CHOPIN - LIVE IN RECITAL - NEW DVD $15.90

As the  months of Piano Passion have accumulated, many who trust my piano judgment have written, asking me to tell them what’s the best baby grand, which electronic piano sounds most realistic, and where they could find the best recorded and sheet music of their favorite pieces. So I have decided to add just a few choice, point-you-in-the-right-direction connections from eBay, Amazon and others, on only of few pages of this site, and to erect another website, passionforpiano.com, which will focus more on providing you with various vendors to help you procure pianos, keyboards, music and all the piano accessories you could need. Thanks for your continued visits and comments at both sites!

Vintage MUSIC Master LISZT Bust Statue $10.20

Liszt: Ravel Franck: Piano Works - Vedernikov DENON JP $26.99

Liszt: Etudes d'execution transcendante, volume 2 pour $25.00

Liszt: Etudes D'execution Transcendante, Volume III $22.95

Liszt Etudes Dexecution Transcendante CD NEW (UK Import) $7.52

GONE CHOPIN Music Mug by CafePress $15.00 MUSIC COFFEE MUG Music . About our Mug: The perfect size for your favorite morning beverage or late night brew. Large, easy-grip handle. Treat yourself or give as a gift to someone special. Measures 3.75 tall, 3 diameter. Dishwasher and microwave safe.....

Salle Pleyel, Paris Photo Mugs A concert at the Salle Pleyel, rue Rochechouart, Paris this is where Chopin made his Paris debut in 1832. ....

A Song to Remember [VHS] $10.04 The short life and passionate music of romantic composer Frédéric Chopin provide the foundations for this 1945 drama, which proved influential in its gaudy, undeniably watchable formula of historical exaggeration and shrewdly simplified motives for its principals. In an Oscar-nominated performance, Cornel Wilde presents the Polish native as a passionate nationalist driven by his love of his nat...

PC Treasures 18259 10 Pack Of Sounds Of Europe Audio CDs $10.99 .The Sounds of Berlin Berlin, nicknamed The Grey City, is the capitol and largest city in Germany. As a major cultural center and the home of many symphony orchestras, opera companies, museums and repertory theaters, Berlin is one of the principal centers of symphonic compositions since 1740. Timeless Classics from Berlin features the immortal compositions of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Humperdinck, ...

Bayan in the 21st century. Vol. 1. Solo pieces & ensembles $26.00 ...

As Laura's Spirit. Popular pieces for trumpet and piano. $20.00 ...

Another year and a new decade, wow! The time seems to going by very vivace (actually prestissimo at my age!)

It’s times like these when we look back at our experiences of the past year, and all we’ve experienced throughout our entire life. Like everyone else, I’ve had good times & tough times, much to be grateful for, and some things to regret. Throughout it all, one constant source of joy and upliftment has been beautiful music played on the piano (hence, the site’s name, PIano Passion.)

If you are a regular visitor to this site, that means you love piano music too, and everyone has their favorite genres & pieces. In the classical catalog, two pianists/composers are often seen as embodying the peak of both playing and composing for the instrument, Fryderk Chopin and Franz Liszt. What glorious music! Many is the time I’ve not merely listened, but been totally transported by their melodies and flourishes, and no matter what happens to me in this world, I’m so grateful I’ve had the songs of Chopin and Liszt at my side.

Both Chopin & Liszt were proponents of the shorter expositions, and as a result their under 5-minute songs are revered much more than their irregular ventures into the long, concerto form. Liszt was, of course, Hungarian, and wrote 20 beautiful  Hungarian rhaphsodies. I love all of his "Consolations" and his "Liebestraum", but I think my favorite shorter Liszt piece would have to be one of his dreamy etudes, "Un Sospiro." Although Liszt has many, many modern interpreters like Georges Cziffra and Horowitz, I really like this version by Earl Wild on YouTube below:

Chopin has been covered by everyone from Paderewski in the 1930s to Martha Argerich just a few years ago. In between there have been marvelous interpretations by Pollini, Michelangeli, and a state-of-the-art, comprehensive boxed set of almost everything Chopin wrote by Arthur Rubenstein. All are technically proficient, and your personal preference tends to depend on whether you lean toward a more clnical and straightforward reading of his work (Rubenstein) or a more passionate, flourishing reading (Claudio Arrau and others.)

I’ll go out on a limb and say, if you want to hear Chopin’s wonderful Waltzes played with the most beautiful tone and maximum joyful expression you’ll ever hear, you MUST pick up a copy of the EMI recording by Dinu Lipatti, it’s incredible!

My own ardor to play beautiful pieces and improve my technique is very much owed to Chopin. I was a new piano student of 7 when I first heard one of his most dazzling pieces, "Fantasie Imprompru," and I quickly vowed that I must learn how to play that piece. Playing it well represents a significant task of technique, so the desire to command it forced me to really work on my finger skills. It is, today, still one of my most favorite pieces of music from any era.