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Insincere apologies for another thread on the topic, but recently I just can't seem to get enough of the powerhouse Lisitsa/Bösendorfer team. This time it's a 4 minute video shoot of piano making at the Bosie factory synched with a nicely-paced rendition of La Campanella by you-know-who on a you-know-what. It's more than quite effective.

I'll only give the link here to Lisitsa's channel so anyone interested can pick and choose from her recent offerings. I personally was taken by the Rachmaninoff Rhapsody footage with the LSO. For some reason the sound comes off like it was piped into the powder room at Abbey Road Studios on a wall speaker, but visually full-screen you can get a really nice view of an orchestra and soloist fully in synch.You also get to see that the Steinway logo and Finkenstein sig on the case of the Hamburg have faded considerably, no doubt due to the ravages of time and the elements.

The Scriabin Sonata Fantasy that was uploaded with the La Campanella promo hours ago is also not too shabby at bringing out the best aspects ofthe Bösendorfer tone. (Isn't free content a great thing?)

http://www.youtube.com/user/valentinalisitsa

we need more bosy artist.
I'm a fan of Valentina, even thought shes probably not among the very best, but her performance is inspiring and a pleasure to listen to.

They are (their vid is..) the fastest.. not so lame as these ultra old Steinway videos..

But I'd most probably buy a concert grand piano which is built during the minute waltz..

Stephen Paulello to do - eventually? Straight strung, three full meters length, filled with pure joy. May be.

A Bosie 275 (not the most big Imperial) once released me of the stress to eventually loose my big dragon in a fire - and furthermore being unable to fetch such a great piano once again.

When I once went to Wuppertal to check out a B-211 for a piano pal from Hannover. There sat a big Bosie. It was not for sale .. For inspection & grease worx only At Faust Piano Wuppertal. Bechstein guys. The neighbouring poor (quite good) B-211 had no chance, NEVR. Because this Bosie beast sat besides, smiling to me, no - it grinned: hey guy, want a test run..?..

So I'm - besides of ultra old Centennial D's and Ragtime - since then also a Big Bosie and Vienna Waltz Fan.

Beautiful! It's nice to see how real pianos are made! No plywood rims, wood that isn't baked in ovens, etc.

The Scriabin Sonata Fantasy is beautiful. Thanks for sharing. Made my evening....

Thanks for bringing these videos turandot,

I enjoyed the links!

Wow, very inspiring to see the artistry of making a Bosendorfer concert grand and the artistry of Valentina playing. It still sounds wonderful through YouTube and the incredibly lousy PC speakers I have.

Thank you Turandot for sharing the link.

Her youtube recordings tend to be of the best quality out of all the piano recordings I listen to there.

Steven,

I don't know what being among the best of the best means anymore. Years ago when I was young and foolish (the former having passed while the latter has stayed with me), I used to wonder, in fact worry, about who was the best. These days that debate seems to have found a suitable home in the many international piano competitions where the youthful winners are propelled into a year or two of fame and modest fortune and the losers keep trying to avert obscurity. Even those judeged to be the best will soon enough be replaced by a new crop of the 'best' and need something more than a fresh face to sustain their careers.

Regarding competition to be the best, here's Lisitsa's take....

"Competing" in music , no matter in what discipline : fastest , loudest, cleanest , octavest, trilliest, jumpiest, double-notiest.... IS THE SILLIEST THING, OK ? MUSIC IS NEVER ABOUT COMPETITION

Now it is true that she made that comment upon uploading her tour de force presentation of Godowshy's Symphonic Metamorphosis as her informal entry into what she called the "World's Fastest Pianist Competition". So there's at least a playful hypocrisy at work there, and I do think she aspires to something more than being in the conversation for top classical pianist status.

Should Bösendorfer have more classical artists?

To me, it would be good for the artists, the public, and the piano industry to the extent that Bösendorfer can support those pianists in getting a top flight instrument placed at the venues where they are appearing. From the facts it would seem there's no guarantee of that even for Lisitsa.

From a promotional perspective, I personally think that Bösendorfer should be all in with Lisitsa and let Steinway have its artist roster approach. A singular focus of one artist (who now has 53,0000,000 hits on Yutube), is not a bad thing. For better or worse Lisitsa is in tune with the times. In her debut concert with the Berlin Philharmonic this month, the audience will vote to choose the concert repertoire from a menu provided by her. She won't know exatly what she's going to play until she comes on stage. Gimmicky? Of course, but things like this do tend to release some of the stuffy stale air in the classical musical establishment and reach out to potential classical music fans of her own generation and younger.

When Kimball controlled the marketing of Bosendorfer, they could always scare up a concert grand in or near a major city for any of their 3 artists at the time. Entremont prefered a very bright piano but much more refined than the one on the Lititska uTube. Borge liked fairly bright and Ohlson preferred a much warmer sound. The chances of getting exactly what they each wanted was a bit hit and miss but it all worked out fairly well. they were willing to play other instruments when they thought no-one was looking. (not a major venue).

There was a Böse in NBC studios for the Carson shows in the 80's, it had been carelessly lacquered up. Sounded awful.

There are writings about the piano playing competitions of old. For example between Liszt and Thalberg that finished with fights breaking out in the auditorium. I like to think that while the fools were fighting it out, the two 'adversaries' were enjoying a convivial meal together at a nearby hostelry. Paid for out of the takings or by the piano manufacturers.

Funny you should mention that very thing: celebrating with dinner, with the anniversary of the volcanic premier of Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" just around the corner.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacre_du_printemps

May 29, 1913, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris
"... Monteux believed that the trouble began when the two factions in the audience began attacking each other, but their mutual anger was soon diverted towards the orchestra: "Everything available was tossed in our direction, but we continued to play on". Around forty of the worst offenders were ejected, either by the police or by the management. Through all the disturbances the performance continued without interruption...

"...Of later reports that the veteran composer Camille Saint-Saëns had stormed out of the premiere, Stravinsky observed that this was impossible; Saint-Saëns did not attend. Stravinsky also rejected Cocteau's story that, after the performance, Stravinsky, Nijinsky, Diaghilev and Cocteau himself took a cab to the Bois de Boulogne where a tearful Diaghilev recited poems by Pushkin. Stravinsky merely recalled a celebratory dinner with Diaghilev and Nijinsky, at which the impresario expressed his entire satisfaction with the outcome..."

rxd,

Thats for the informative post. I think it was smart of Bösendorfer to not have Borge alone as its standard bearer.

On the part of your post I highlighted, I'm curious exactly what you mean by "refined".

Lisitsa has recorded on many different Bösendorfer grands. The one in the Birth of a Bösendorfer clip was clearly supplied by Bosie at the factory showroom. Obviously the quality of the recording was superb.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEcIL9nV4No

The one played at Royal Albert was supplied by Gerd Finkenstain from his performance piano stable in Germany.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNEhdiG4Yp8

The one she plays and records a lot on at home is one of two Bosies that she has personally bought for herself on eBay. On some tracks that piano sounds like it could use some work. An example would be this track of the Warenberg transcription where the treble has some flat spots that lack the tone and sustain of others.
Obviously, it's not state of the art recording either.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=mOnA7GIq2NE

Ther are also many other Bosies supplied to venues from neighboring dealers like the one supplied to her from LeClavier in Switzerland for a countryside church.

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

I don't know which you'd judge to be the most refined (excluding her home piano), but I think there's something typically Bösendorfer that they all have in common that is quite different from say, a Hanburg Steinway D.

I'm sending a PM to Eric Johnson who I think did some Bösendorfer delivery and prep work for Ohlssson to sucker him into interest him in sharing his Bösendorfer artist experience here.

Thanks again

Not to toot my own horn but I was the principle Bosendorfer technician in the US for about 5 years. Garrick, who is still a close friend, the great and wonderful Oscar Peterson (fantastically warm guy...shook hands with Count Basie, Ella, Joe Pass, NHO-P from hanging around Oscar), Entremont, lets not forget Andras Schiff who was very active with Bosendorfer then, Borge of course, Paul Badura-Skoda, Chick Corea, Sara (nee David) Buechner and then many who passed through, including the sublime Aldo Ciccolini, Malcom Frager, jeez and more I'm sure I will remember late tonight.

I regularly say that Kimball was a better caretaker of Bosendorfer than they were of their own brand(notice which one is still around). It was a (somewhat) different time in the piano industry. For example the New York Times Arts section would have regular update on the Van Cliburn competition and the winner mentioned in a story on the front page (below the fold). When I joined Yamaha, some brass from California had me take them to visit my C&A counterparts at Steinway and Baldwin to determine how big my office should be!

Thanks for the homework and the heads up, William. Fun to remember.

Anyone want to hear my story of meeting Van Cliburn? It includes Reagan and Gorby!

Do you know why Schiff deserted Bösendorfer for Steinway? Or did he only use Bösendorfer for Schubert and some Mozart?

I always felt that the Schubert recordings (piano sonatas and song cycles with Peter Schreier) and Mozart concertos he made for Decca are his best recordings - all using a Bösendorfer.

I don't know that he deserted. A couple years ago he brought his own Bosendorfer from Europe for a Carnegie Hall performance. Most of his recent Beethoven recordings are on Bosendorfer.

Remember, Bosendorfer has not had a real concert program in this country for a long time. It has ramped back up a little but it is still a far cry from what it was in the hay-day of the late 70's and '80's. So there has been no real opportunity to request them.

All due respect, Bose Eric, but I would think the principal Bösendorfer technician wouldn't omit the umlaut!

damn mac...

I don't type it but I do pronounce it

This is a thread about Valentina, so I'll tell a Valentina (and Eric) story.

She was of course a twinkle in her parents eyes when I was doing concert work, but she was an active concert pianist when I returned to Bosendorfer as a sales rep and operations manager. I went through the progression I think everyone goes through with her..."what, some hot chick with an unpronounceable name who can actually play?? Ya right" and then later, "holy crap, she's the real deal...but how do you pronounce that name...?!" She is one of my favorite pianists and somebody who knows, to the soles of her feet, how to get the best, most characteristic sound from a Bosendorfer.

So, to cut the the chase, even though Bosendorfer really didn't have a concert program, our dealer at the time (no longer in business) in an un-named city asked for a concert piano for one of her performances, which I arranged. To cut even further, due to simple insensitivity to the realities of what is involved to properly provide concert service, the event was a disaster. The piano went horribly out of tune during the concert due to, as I said, a total lack of local sensitivity to what concert service really means. The result? I got to endure a 20 minute chewing out (by phone)by her husband Alex. And that is NO exaggeration!

Of course, in my opinion, the fault lay squarely with the dealer who was supposed to arrange the details including the tuning. But, as Harry Truman said, the buck stops here, and that here was me. I will say that Alex was COMPLETELY correct, I was appropriately mortified, and it was a disaster that could have been easily avoided by someone taking full technical responsibility. But, as they say, if it was easy, anybody could do it.

My only consolation is this. I recently attended a performance of Valentina with the Stamford CT Symphony on a Steinway that had clearly not been tuned for at least a week. It was apparent from the tuning note played for the orchestra and went rapidly downhill from there.

It's nice to know that disaster plays no favorites.

I remember that Eric. Alex spoke about the occurrence freely enough. I think the quick moral of the story is that concert prep. experience is key to a fine performance.

I am also glad to hear that YOUR concert chops are humming again these days. I am hearing from people (that really matter) that you are doing great work!!

Bravo Eric! Keep it going.