Recordings of the Ultimate Piano (™)

Private recordings of unusual works to be shared with members
User avatar
fredbucket
Site Admin
Posts: 2045
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2009 8:51 am
Instruments played, if any: Piano, Harpsichord, Organ, Piano Accordian, Button Accordian, Anglo and Duet Concertinas, Oboe, Cor Anglais, 6 & 12 string guitars, 5-string banjo.
Music Scores: Yes
Location: Sydney, Australia

Recordings of the Ultimate Piano (™)

Post by fredbucket »

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:
Yakhin - Two Pieces (Song & Zabavnin Dance).pdf
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
Zhiganov - Piano Suite (Complete).pdf
at http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?xdo3ywywixc

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

Regards
Fred
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
User avatar
passthesalt
Pianophiliac
Posts: 267
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2009 11:59 pm
Instruments played, if any: piano
Music Scores: Yes
Location: Dallas-Ft Worth area, Texas

Re: Recordings of the Ultimate Piano (™)

Post by passthesalt »

Nicely done, FredB!
User avatar
klavierelch
Site Admin
Posts: 215
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2009 10:27 am
Instruments played, if any: Piano, Recorder
Music Scores: Yes
Location: Germany

Re: Recordings of the Ultimate Piano (™)

Post by klavierelch »

Indeed very nice. My respect for both your playing and the really beautiful tone of the Stuart & Sons.
Ars opus est hominis, non opus artis homo.

John Owen, Epigrammata (1615)
juno_nb

Re: Recordings of the Ultimate Piano (™)

Post by juno_nb »

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
User avatar
fredbucket
Site Admin
Posts: 2045
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2009 8:51 am
Instruments played, if any: Piano, Harpsichord, Organ, Piano Accordian, Button Accordian, Anglo and Duet Concertinas, Oboe, Cor Anglais, 6 & 12 string guitars, 5-string banjo.
Music Scores: Yes
Location: Sydney, Australia

Re: Recordings of the Ultimate Piano (™)

Post by fredbucket »

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.
rimsky-korsakov,georgy - pastorale.mp3
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
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
fleubis
Pianomasochist
Posts: 1943
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2009 6:42 pm
Instruments played, if any: Piano
Music Scores: Yes

Re: Recordings of the Ultimate Piano (™)

Post by fleubis »

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.
User avatar
fredbucket
Site Admin
Posts: 2045
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2009 8:51 am
Instruments played, if any: Piano, Harpsichord, Organ, Piano Accordian, Button Accordian, Anglo and Duet Concertinas, Oboe, Cor Anglais, 6 & 12 string guitars, 5-string banjo.
Music Scores: Yes
Location: Sydney, Australia

Re: Recordings of the Ultimate Piano (™)

Post by fredbucket »

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
fleubis
Pianomasochist
Posts: 1943
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2009 6:42 pm
Instruments played, if any: Piano
Music Scores: Yes

Re: Recordings of the Ultimate Piano (™)

Post by fleubis »

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.
Allan

Re: Recordings of the Ultimate Piano (™)

Post by Allan »

Beautiful Piece! Thank you! :D
User avatar
fredbucket
Site Admin
Posts: 2045
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2009 8:51 am
Instruments played, if any: Piano, Harpsichord, Organ, Piano Accordian, Button Accordian, Anglo and Duet Concertinas, Oboe, Cor Anglais, 6 & 12 string guitars, 5-string banjo.
Music Scores: Yes
Location: Sydney, Australia

Re: Recordings of the Ultimate Piano (™)

Post by fredbucket »

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,
rimsky-korsakov,georgy - pastorale (nt3).mp3
and the second using the Earthworks PIanoMic.
rimsky-korsakov,georgy - pastorale (earthworks).mp3
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
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Post Reply