Pianophilia

To kick off what is going to be a very useful and exciting forum, on the old board I posted two recordings of works that Malcolm had kindly posted. I re-recorded them at the Stuart & Sons showroom when I was there a few weeks ago, on the Reference Series 2.9 metre Concert Grand Piano.

Quoting from Malcolm's original post:

Rustem Mukhamet-Khazeyevich Yakhin. Born 1921 Kazan. Pianist & composer. Graduated 1950 from the Moscow Conservatoire where he was a pupil of Shaporin; also studied with Bely. Taught at the Kazan Conservatoire from 1950-52 as well as concertizing across the Soviet Union. He also wrote the first Tatar piano concerto.

I recorded the Song from the following: at http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?3kyjxqyyzmo

Nazib Gayazovich Zhiganov. Born 1911 Uralsk, Kazakhstan. Pedagogue and composer. Gaduated in 1938 from the Moscow Conservatoire where he was a pupil of Litinsky; he then joined the faculty of the newly created Kazan Conservatoire in 1945 as its rector. His music combines classical and folk traditions. Most noted for his operas, he also wrote the first Tatar symphony.

I recorded "Morning" from his Piano Suite at http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?xdo3ywywixc

These pieces bring out well the absolute clarity and sustain of the piano.

Regards
Fred

Nicely done, FredB!

Indeed very nice. My respect for both your playing and the really beautiful tone of the Stuart & Sons.

not very obscure pieces however they may be of interest and also recording on a stuart and sons piano -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khX3uzSXPz4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbmjE7lc3Z0

Considering that Malcolm was kind enough to post very rare scores by Georgy Rimsky-Korsakov here, viewtopic.php?f=11&t=570&start=100#p11354, I thought I would complement these by posting what is probably (!) the world premiere recording of the Pastorale. This was not recorded on the 102-note Stuart & Sons (I hope to be able to do that sometime next week if I can get there) but on a 2.2m 97 note piano, recorded at CD quality through a pair of (quite excellent) Rode NT-3 microphones.

In order to get the full effect of this piece it will need to be played on a good set of speakers at a reasonably high level in order to take advantage of the dynamic range and other features of the piano. In fact one of the reasons I recorded this was to explore the sonorities of the piece as performed on a Stuart piano.

Astute listeners will recognise that I have added one or two extra notes in appropriate places

Regards
Fred

Fred, now that's what I'm talking about! You captured the beauty of the Rimsky-Korsakov piece wonderfully on that 97 key piano. Those iridescent pianissimo plumages just radiate in the long sustain times and bring forth the colors the composer surely intended. The recording captured the sound quite well with those mics; I might have recorded it with them a tad farther away to capture more resonance, but who's quibbling? This piece sounds sort of like dialog between an organ chorale and a harp--quite beautiful.

fleubis wrote:The recording captured the sound quite well with those mics; I might have recorded it with them a tad farther away to capture more resonance, but who's quibbling?

In fact placing the microphones further away doesn't really make any difference. The best sound I've heard comes from an Earthworks PianoMic which sits inside the piano very close to the strings - the sound is quite incredible. If I'm able to record it again at the factory the area there is more resonant (mine is very dry) and that may make a difference.

Regards
Fred

Fred, you are quite right about that Earthworks PianoMic - it is superb. I kept thinking it would overload and distort on really loud fortissimo's, but it does not. Let's hope this becomes the standard for piano recordings. It's not cheap, even with its recent price reduction to US $3,000 - but you sure get what you pay for.

Beautiful Piece! Thank you!

I finally was able to visit the Stuart & Sons factory last week, and was able to re-record the GRK Pastorale on a 102note 2.9m grand piano in the 'white room' at the factory.

I'm including two mp3 files. One was recorded using a pair of Rode NT3 microphones placed just outside the piano lid, and the second using the Earthworks PIanoMic. There is quite a difference in sound between the two as may be expected, but in my view the NT3s do quite a good job nonetheless.

Listeners with keen ears will detect that I use the extended bass in the Stuart to good effect here, and that, combined with the rather excellent clarity and sustain throughtout the range, produce a sound that no other piano can match.

Regards
Fred