Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Hear Piano Comparisons- Grotrian/Yamy/S&S/Baldwn/ M&H/Shigeru, & Now: Bluthner?

FWIW: If you're interested in comparing the sound of different pianos on a CD check out: "Songs Without Words II" A Windham Hll Piano Collection. There are 11 solo piano pieces. The type of piano being played is indicated on 8 of the selections.

Here's a link to hear sound clips. I like this CD - it is a nice collection.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/A...sr=2-3/ref=pd_ka_2_3/103-3080749-1788657

Selections:
1 Yamaha grands (2 being played back and forth)
2-?? but sounds like a Baldwin to me-it has that gutsy sound.
3-Steinway D
4-Yamaha C7
5-??
6-Grotrian
7-??
8-Hamburg Steinway
9-Yamaha S6
10-Baldwin Baby Grand
11-Steinway Grand

Random notes:

Selection #2-Oh. I like the sound of this piano! Punchy. Sassy. Gutsy. Sounds very much to me like the Baldwin Bruce Hornsby played on some his old CD's, so I'm guessing it's a Baldwin. Any other guesses out there as to what kind it is? Listen to that punchy bass-it's gotta be a Baldwin!? Curry? You out there? What do you think?

3-Steinway D. This Steinway D sounds decidedly different to me than the S&S D that I love so much on pianist/composer Kostia's CD "Suite St. Petersburg" . Soundclip link: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/A...sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_2_1/103-3080749-1788657

The D on the "Songs W/O Words II" has IMO a bit more of what I consider the "Baldwin sound". Not as sweet a sound as I associate with Steinways. But then, Steinways can vary considerably one to another. And then there's always the tons of variables in the recording process. Any more exageration in the tone and there'd be a hint of brittleness to the treble.

4-Yamaha C7. To me, brittle sounding treble. But then, that's part of what makes for the wonderful clarity Yamaha's have.

6-Grotrian: It sounds terrific, but it confirms to me that I chose the right piano (for me.) I do prefer the Steinway sound. Grotrian pianos are fantastic for those who prefer the European tone.

10-Baldwin Baby Grand: After hearing this Baldwin and remembering how the Baldwins sound on some of the Bruce Hornsby CD's I have, I wish I'd found more of them to play during my piano search and paid more attention to them. You can tell this is a baby Baldwin, but you can still hear the gutsy sound that seems to be typical of the Baldwin sound. Baldwins are not sweet sounding, but they're also not as "cold" to me as the European pianos that emphasize fundamental. (The "cold" comment-don't hurt me, people! It's just my opinion. I'm sure there will be many who strongly disagree.)

I had the opportunity to play Curry's Baldwin at Cunninghams in Philly. Terrific piano, Curry, if you're reading this. I could feel in the keyboard all the work Rich said you put in. It played like quicksilver. I wonder why I didn't see more Baldwins during my piano search. I thought Baldwins were very popular. Where did they all go? I think the one at Cunninghams is the only one we found, well, there might have been one other. Oh, yes, as I recall - one at a different dealer in just awful condition. Poor thing. Only 2 Baldwins after visiting pianos dealers in 11 states. Strange-O.

Hey, I asked my husband “Wasn’t that the name of a Peter, Paul & Mary song from the sixties? Where Have All The Baldwins Gone?”

He said he thinks he knows where all the Baldwins have gone. He thinks they all went to….

The Hair Club For Men.

Get it?

:rolleyes:

Heh, heh, heh.

Jeanne W

Listening through my cheapo walkman headphones, the Michael Feinstein cut (#10)sounded the best to my ears. It was very believeable...some of the others almost sound (maybe they are) like sampled pianos played on a MIDI controller.

#9 also sounded good...

Mat D.

Frankly, I'm not too crazy about most of the New-Age-ish piano music. It just lacks inventiveness....listen to a Chopin Prelude or Waltz and it's like a breath of fresh air after hearing some of these cuts.

My $.02

Mat D.

Mat:

I'm thinking the sound quality we're all hearing thru the net is not as good as on a good stereo. The combination of the sample quality and playback thru a personal computer and pc speakers or headphones - I wonder if the sound quality can be as good as cd stereo playback?

There was an article in The Boston Globe (today, I think) about downloading music via the web. The writer says the sound quality is not as good as what you get with a cd on a stereo.

I'm pretty sure all of the pianos are acoustic. Surely they wouldn't play digitals on a CD that celebrates piano. None of the pianos sound sampled to me. But I I'm basing my opinion on playback on my home stereo system - I didn't listen to the soundclips on the web.

I like classical and new age. I like many other kinds of music as well. You're right, most of the stuff on the cd does sound new age-ish or popular. There's no classical on it.

I just got a new CD and am hearing Chopin's Preludes for the first time, which I'm very much enjoying. Interesting. Educational, even, hearing all of the different composing styles. Chopin is my favorite classical composer.

Thanks for posting.

Jeanne W

Jeanne,

I do think you're right about this. I'm not even sure a recording captured over the net onto CD will sound very good on a stereo.

There was some article an audio guy told me about (don't know where it appeared). The author is a top audio designer and head of Sears Sound in NYC. He was frustrated that he has spent a lifetime developing music systems so they sound *great* and that many people today, owing to the limitations of computer music technology (sampling rates and other stuff I don't know about) think that what's actually *mediocre* is really great. In other words, why bother with the "high end" if people can't discriminate?

Jeanne, selection #2 definite Baldwin. Sounds like an SF-10.

I read somewhere that Chopin was first and foremost a teacher. He has plenty to teach us with those preludes.

Very interesting, but does anybody know where I can find recordings for M&H on the web?

I've had a hefty book of Chopin preludes for 30 years but only ever played one--till this week, when I decided to work on sight-playing with the Chopin. I'm truly enjoying sight playing through them all and I certainly feel like I'm learning fresh technique.

I'm in the same boat as Tony C, somewhat - I've occasionally looked on the net for recordings made with a particular piano, but without success. I've been wondering where I could download MP3's (full length, at least 160kbps 32kHz or 256kbps 44kHz) of music (classical, hymnal, religious, rock (without the guitars and drums and vocals), and others (not new-age or jazz though unless it's like 20s or 30s jazz) played on any of the following pianos:
(/me gets Fine 2004 supplement for reference...)
Astin-Weight U-500, Baldwin 6000, Baldwin SD-10, Bechstein D-280, Bluthner 1, Bosendorfer 275, Bosendorfer 280, Bosendorfer 290 (especially recordings that use the extra low bass notes), Estonia 273, Fandrich & Sons Model 305 (if one is ever made...) Fazioli F278, Fazioli F308, August Forster 275, Grotrian Concert Royal, Kawai GS-100, Kawai EX, Kawai EX-G, Shigeru Kawai SK-EX, Mason & Hamlin CC, Pearl River GP-275, Pearl River GP-328, Petrof 135, Petrof I, Petrof P1, Sauter 275, Schimmel CO 256 T, Seiler 242, Steingraeber 138, Steingraeber E-272, Steinway D (New York & Hamburg), Charles Walter W-274+ (whenever one comes out - the + indicates that I'd prefer the piano to be 274cm or longer), Yamaha CFIIIs, and any uprights over 55" tall and grands at least 8'6" long made before 1930 that are at least overstrung with 88 keys (and for uprights, underdamper actions)

I would especially appreciate a link to a website that lets you search by various criteria, including sound file format (multiple choice, including wav, wma, mp3, ogg, ra, etc), quality (bitrate and sample rate independent of each other), type of piano (including brand and model, maybe even serial #), and other options.

Tony C:

I, too, wanted to hear a Mason & Hamlin on a CD. When I heard Peter Kater's "Piano" cd for the first time months ago, I had thought he might be playing a M+H. I emailed Peter. He emailed back he played a Young Chang on his "Piano" cd. The Young Chang is a bright, brilliant sounding piano-lots of clarity. I think it fits his sound.

Here's a sound clip to hear the Young Chang on Peter Kater's "Piano" cd.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/A...sr=2-3/ref=pd_ka_2_3/103-3080749-1788657

I'll look at my notes. I can't remember now if I actually found a CD with a M+H identified on it- OH, I DID! There is a Michael Allen Harrison CD (not to be confused with Michael Harrison of Faust/Harrison) that he emailed me saying he played a Mason & Hamlin. I'll get that info into this thread for you-this evening, hopefully.

Curry: So you agree it sounds like a Baldwin?! Now I can tell my husband you agree. He said to me it makes it more difficult (accurately, I think) to evaluate a piano's sound unless you're listening to the same kind of music from piano to piano. He was trying to compare the piano sound on selection 2, to the baby Baldwin piano that is played on selection 10 (completely different kind of music), to try to hear a similarity in tonal quality. I guess my ear aint too shabby, after all.

RealPlayer/Joe:

Re: Sound quality over net downloads/soundclips, etc.: The Boston Globe article said something like - the amount of information that is contained in the music files on the net is much less than what is contained on a cd. I'm struggling to explain this, I'm not a technical type person.

Jeanne W

Well, I guess I'm going to have to post some recordings of mine.

I don't know about the net, but somebody mentioned that Garrick Ohlsson recorded the Chopin Mazurkas on a Mason CC.

It would be great to have a thread in which people post a recording from their pianos....and have a broad range of pianos represented. I can clearly hear the difference between the pianos on this CD, and have found it very interesting to listen to these clips.

- Sarah

Tony C:

To hear a Mason & Hamlin on a cd...

http://mahrecords.com/album_emotional_connection.htm

The above link takes you to a soundclip from a CD called "Emotional Connection" by Michael Allen Harrison (MAH). The song you'll hear is "February Child". MAH emailed me that he was playing a 7ft Mason and Hamlin BB on his "Emotional Connection" CD. It'd be nice to know what year M+H it was, but that's unknown to me.

The clip is over 3 minutes. You can hear the whole piece of music. Even considering the sound is supposedly degraded a bit because it's a clip over the web, you can hear to super strength of the treble.

Course, I guess, it could be the sound guys who mixed the CD manipulated the sound of the piano, but I don't think that's the case. The super fantastic strong treble you hear - that's typical of the Mason & Hamlins I played during my piano search.

Oh, I just listened to the soundclip again. Be still my heart. What a fantastic sounding piano! And this is just a teaser of what this piano is capable of. Mason & Hamlins can be thunderous as well as quiet and demure.

Anyone wishing to listen further to M+H clips, MAH emailed that he played the Mason & Hamlin 7 ft BB on his following CD's:

Emotional Connection

Circle of Influence

Passion and Grace
(I had written a note that the piano in the title song piano sounds bright; while the pinao on "Alone Again" "Gale" piano is more mellow. ??)

Enchanged Christmas Vol. 1

Enchanted Christmas Vol1

Tribute to Gershwin

Seasons of Peace

The Nutcracker Suite

I listened to the web soundclips from the above CDs some time ago. As I recall, some of the CDs may have a lot of accompaniment; you may only be able to hear a snippet of the M+H here and there.

You can hear the soundclips at amazon.com

If soundclips are not available there, you can check out MAH's website mahrecords.com

Jeanne W

Here is a link to a couple of soundclips of a vintage Mason BB rebuilt by Del.

http://www.seattlepianogallery.com/cat/mason-15455/

Maybe somebody will see this and buy it. They've had it for a while.

OK, Steve. I clicked on the link but I'm not finding a soundclip for Del's vintage Mason BB.

Help.

Jeanne W

Oh, I found it. It's not in blue as links often are. It's at the bottom of the page. It turns blue when you scroll the mouse to it.

Duh.

Sorry, Steve. Thanks for posting the soundclip!

Jeanne W

At the bottom of the page. Handel Allemande and Shostakovich Prelude.

Steve:

I just listened to the clip. My heart is going pit-a-pat. It's gorgeous. Why the heck hasn't someone bought it yet? (Scuse my lanquage, you got me all in a dither here.)

Hello Out There: Someone please rescue this piano! It's sitting alone all by itself waiting for some to love it and give it a good home!

Jeanne W

Just have to add:

Del's Mason seems to have that deep sonorous timbre typical of the older Masons. The newer Masons are a bit more brilliant in tone. Most, anyway.

Jeanne W

I particularly like the sound of it for the Shostakovich. The bass is wonderful. But what is that sound in the highest treble that sounds quite like a plucked instrument, almost harpsichord-like, which is more evident in the Handel, but not wholly absent in the Shostakovich? I'm assuming it's strictly overtones, or upper partials as it doesn't sound like notes of that pitch are being struck. Is this emblematic of the "complex" Mason sound?