Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Need advice on Yamaha C1M or Boston GP163, thx

Originally posted by Pianomadam:

---so, then, I guess this proves nothing until you are able to get both figures from both companies. Also, isn't comparing two different years statistically unreliable?

On one hand you have a Steinway-designed Boston piano, designed by THE NAME in pianos, and on the other hand you have a Yamaha C-series. I'm sorry, but serious musicians are going for the Boston much more often than for the Yamaha C-series.

You have saved others the bother of giving examples of a perfectly worthless post by providing yet another sterling example on your own.

---Sorry, no can do. Few others are really sticking up for the product on this forum.

"''It was enormously vindictive,'' Mr. Ohlsson said recently about the aftermath of his comment, on the eve of a 1972 Alice Tully Hall concert, that Bösendorfer was ''the Rolls-Royce of pianos.''

Steinway swiftly retaliated by trucking away the concert grand Mr. Ohlsson was about to play. Mr. Ohlsson ended up performing on a Bösendorfer borrowed at the 11th hour, but Steinway barred him from using its instruments for some time.
"

"According to Steinway, some 1,300 performing concert pianists in the world, more than 90 percent, are now formally associated with the company, including Mr. Ashkenazy, Emanuel Ax, Murray Perahia and Mitsuko Uchida.They all own Steinways and are expected to perform exclusively on the company's instruments. Affiliation as a Steinway artist ensures performers access to an array of instruments for recitals and recordings.

Angela Hewitt, a leading interpreter of Bach, was removed from the Steinway roster two years ago after she purchased and performed on a Fazioli, even though her recordings to that point had all been made on Steinways. ''It's a shame that it gets a bit dirty,'' she said. ''A lot of people don't know there are wonderful alternatives out there. The Steinway is beautiful, but it doesn't give you the subtlety or the finesse that you get from a Fazioli.''

Nikolai Demidenko, who was also dropped from the Steinway roster, asked, ''Did anybody ever complain to Paganini that he used a Guarneri and not the Stradivari violin?''

Complain is just what Steinway did when another of its artists, Louis Lortie, performed on a Fazioli -- to rave reviews -- at Carnegie Hall last November. ''I was shocked to see him playing the Fazioli,'' said Mr. Goodrich, of Steinway. The firm gives leeway to artists when a Steinway is unavailable or when the one at hand is in poor condition. But this was certainly not the case at Carnegie Hall. Mr. Lortie could have had his pick from a bank of superlative concert grands at Steinway's flagship showroom, just across the street. ''I don't want anyone on our roster,'' Mr. Goodrich said, ''who doesn't want to play the Steinway exclusively.''

While concert artists say they are pleased that competition drives up standards, some still feel that Steinway's hegemony has left them with too little choice, since they believe that certain repertory sounds better on another instrument. ''It is brainwashing,'' said Andras Schiff of Steinway's market strategy. He went on several European stages last winter playing both a Bösendorfer and a Steinway in the same concert, changing with the piece. He added, ''It's as if the car industry were such that everybody was obligated to drive a Mercedes.''

Valentina Lisitsa, a Ukrainian-born pianist who prefers Bösendorfers, said she had encountered roadblocks to playing one at some of her American concerts. ''They created all kinds of difficulties,'' Ms. Lisitsa said of the response to her insistence on playing a Bösendorfer with the Atlanta Symphony in October. ''Steinway tried everything to get me to play Steinway, including some Steinway representative waiting for me in my dressing room right before the concert and asking me in not a very polite way why would I choose to play another piano.''

Steinway's Southeast district sales manager, Victor Geiger, confirmed that he spoke to Ms. Lisitsa in Atlanta. ''Whenever an artist is in the vicinity, I always introduce myself and ask whether we can do anything,'' he said. ''We believe an artist has the right to play the instrument that best suits their needs.'' The administration of the Atlanta Symphony, which owns two Steinway recital instruments, denied that there was any difficulty.

Bösendorfer established a new foothold last June when it became the official piano of the Blue Note, the famous jazz club in Greenwich Village. A news release announcing the Blue Note's decision included an endorsement from the pianist Billy Taylor, a Steinway artist who had played a Bösendorfer at the club.

''Steinway went ballistic,'' said Steven Bensusan, the club's owner, and another release was issued without Mr. Taylor's name.

''I liked that particular piano,'' Mr. Taylor said after the switch. ''But I prefer the Steinway.''

"You should button your lips and let Steinway pianos speak for themselves"

---Sorry, no can do. Few others are really sticking up for the product on this forum. I don't know if others have attempted and left or what the deal is. I wouldn't blame them. This forum gives me a chance to inform others of the "not rated highly in Larry Fine" and "priced highly because of the Steinway name" Essex and Boston pianos that oh, so many, are ready to downplay as simply "marketing tools of Steinway".