Recordings of different acoustic piano brands/models

CyberGene

I’m currently watching the French TV channel Mezzo where a pianist (David Bismuth, unknown to me) is playing a Mozart sonata on a C.Bechstein grand piano. Frankly speaking, the piano tone is a bit harsh for my taste but is nevertheless very informative, because it’s rare to hear good classical recordings played on something different than a Steinway.

Let’s share other videos with high quality piano recordings (preferably of live solo piano classical performances) to gather more data about all the various piano brands and if they have any specifics in sound signature. Or even just for fun, since how a piano sounds depends on many other factors, probably voicing, microphones, acoustics, etc.

Feel free to post any brand, of course Steinway too 😃 Also, I’d be interested in comments and opinions, so that we can establish what is “nasal”, bright, soft, woody, metallic, etc.

QuasiUnaFantasia

Great idea! A thread which is a repository of piano brand sounds.

Do you have a link for the Bismuth/Bechstein performance?

At any rate, I never heard about him before, but I just now found this performance of his in the Saint-Saens Toccata, played on a Bösendorfer. Which model I cannot tell:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XxoRoZe9Bw

HeartKeys

Steingraeber below. Encore performance. recorded by some random person I believe, and the recording is from someone's phone from far, far away. Still provides insight on its sound signature though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq_L34UXFls&ab_channel=SteingraeberBayreuth

QuasiUnaFantasia

I suggest highlighting the brand name in the text, for easy reference in the future.

HeartKeys

Shigeru Kawai

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGoPfLDdj_A&ab_channel=KawaiPianosOnYouTube

CyberGene

QuasiUnaFantasia Do you have a link for the Bismuth/Bechstein performance?

Can’t find it on YouTube. It was listed as a concert from 2024, where he also played in a trio and in the final captions the C.Bechstein were mentioned, maybe their hall, or they are a sponsor. It wasn’t anything spectacular as a performance and the piano was a bit clanky, for lack of a better word, which is a surprise since I usually like the Bechstein sound and that was most certainly a well prepped piano if the Bechstein brand were involved themselves in the concert, so I hope it will be uploaded on YouTube or other free service.

QuasiUnaFantasia

Here's another C. Bechstein, probably one of their two largest models, played by Kit Armstrong in a church. The performance is of Fauré’s Prelude No. 3, Op. 103:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwT8v1xjhFo

vagfilm

Straight strung grand built by Chris Maene to Barenboim. He recorded a DG cd called "my new piano" and the note separation is indeed interesting. I can't find any of the cd tracks on YT, and the best next thing is this short clip. NOTE: this is not by any means an endorsement of Barenboim 😭, only of the piano tone…

https://youtu.be/SZNF7BWMUCg?si=BXUOkzQkzKsdjnQd

CyberGene

QuasiUnaFantasia Saint-Saens Toccata, played on a Bösendorfer

funny, that Bösendorfer (maybe the way it’s recorded?) sounds very nasal to me 😃

HeartKeys Shigeru Kawai

Thanks, I’ve listened to other recordings with SK and it always strikes me as an overly soft piano. It works for some repertoire but in that very example I have the feeling that the piano just struggles producing bright and powerful tones, like being drowned.

QuasiUnaFantasia Here's another C. Bechstein

Ha! That’s exactly how that Bechstein I described in my opening post sounded. There’s something that vaguely reminds me of the way Casio DP-s sound, or even Pianoteq 🤣 I’m exaggerating here to make my point of course, it’s a nice piano but I’m just trying to explain what is not exactly my type of tone. Something with the attack is always slightly harsh and ringy, kinda the opposite of the Shigeru.

QuasiUnaFantasia

Here's a Mason & Hamlin Artist Series 160; pianist not known to me playing "When I fall in love". The audio quality is not top notch, but I love the sound of that piano:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thTTC5_ECtQ

David B

CyberGene Also, I’d be interested in comments and opinions, so that we can establish what is “nasal”, bright, soft, woody, metallic, etc.

A woody sound to me is the absence of a bright, shimmery, metallic sound. Woody is warm and dare I say more on the dull side. Kind of like the warm tone you get with a nylon stringed classical guitar as opposed to steel string.

https://youtube.com/shorts/WGUQ8yogwSo?si=FJsLK70xmK9-dRwk

I was looking for the above song played on an American Steinway, but all I could find is a German model D.

There is a warmth and woodiness to this piano tone at least in the lower/mid range where this song focuses. Maybe this is what people are referring to when they talk about a nasal sound in Steinways.

https://youtu.be/kruKQCY77bc?si=_4V5WZGW0vQH2i6g

I prefer a warmer, woody sound for solo piano compared to a bright shimmery metallic sound, which might be better for orchestral/band arrangements.

God Bless,
David

HZPiano

Hello,

I absolutely loved/love this Yamaha.

I'm not sure which model it is, I would love to know that. Throughout several seasons, this was the piano they primarily had in their studio and I've heard -- and deeply enjoyed -- so much great music on it.

To my sadness 😢 this current season a Steinway (D, most likely) takes center stage instead. Not that it is an insanely bad piano, in fact it is voiced nicely for what it is, but that Yamaha… it was pure bliss.

Cheers!

PS Lovely thread initiative, @CyberGene !

https://youtu.be/ptTz75GQyXA

pipAT

C.Bechstein D282

The German-Georgian pianist Catherine Gordeladze is well-known for her brilliant performance. An internationally reknowned artist, Catherine Gordeladze is highly appreciated due to a pure musical structures she is presenting to her audience – not to forget her technical perfection. This Sunday Gordeladze will perform for us from the Bechstein Center in Frankfurt/Main offering to all music lovers a kind of a pre-release of her newest works. Welcome!

Mucio Clementi - Capriccio B major op. 17 Nr.1

Felix Mendelssohn - Aus Trois Fantaisies ou Caprices op. 16 No. 2 scherzo presto (E minor) and No. 3 Andante (E major)

Alfred Jaëll - Caprice Brillant op. 63 sur un motif de „La traviata“ de Guiseppe Verdi

Franz Liszt - Hungarian rhapsody for piano No. 8 „Capriccio“

I love this dry room sound.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ulUZ3p_hCk&feature=emb_logo

vagfilm

Yamaha CFX

I am never ashamed of posting anything from MJ Pires 😊, so for this one I will use "hey, it is not a Steinway" as an excuse (btw, this concert was a few days ago and she is 80 years old…)

https://youtu.be/9q4VjFjEaq4?si=U4W6aLor30PavhT8

vagfilm

And now, playing a darn Steinway.

Btw, AFAIK MJ Pires never recorded anything from Lizst, Debussy, Ravel, Rach (apart from a Debussy violin/piano sonata with Dumay)… She stops at Mendelssohn. But after she said she would retire from public performance (the promise lasted only a few months) she started playing Debussy. I cannot imagine what magic she would do to the Ravel concerto…

https://youtu.be/7_I0wWZMFAc?si=9LbpQDkSowd3BbYw

HeartKeys

Bösendorfer 214VC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXg9ow6ZFtQ&ab_channel=B%C3%B6sendorferOfficial

HeartKeys

C.Bechstein D282

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rwetsvPHts&ab_channel=HaiouZhang

CyberGene

vagfilm Straight strung grand built by Chris Maene to Barenboim

Hm, not my cup of tea, too far on the spectrum of grand piano sounds.

QuasiUnaFantasia Here's a Mason & Hamlin Artist Series 160

I'm starting to wonder if "nasalness" is caused by a specific recording/miking technique, somehow boxy and almost mono-like quality to the sound, lack of spatial wideness. I get this here very strongly.

David B Maybe this is what people are referring to when they talk about a nasal sound in Steinways.

Exactly! This is to my ears the essence of the Steinway nasal sound and is what I hear more or less in Modern D, although it can be minimized there with a careful microphone mix.

HZPiano I absolutely loved/love this Yamaha.

Wow, so good indeed, that's exactly my type of piano sound! It confirms I'm a Yamaha guy.

HZPiano 'm not sure which model it is

I'm not a specialist, so might be completely wrong but apparently this is a long, hence concert piano. And since it doesn't have the typical oval (slightly forward at the top) pointed cheeks of the CFX, I would assume it's their previous flagship, the CFIIIS.

pipAT C.Bechstein D282

This is the third example of a C.Bechstein (the first being the concert I watched on Mezzo and that made me start this discussion) that solidifies my opinion that I don't like the metallic attack of these pianos. Again, it reminds me the way Casio digital pianos sound but don't get me wrong, I'm exaggerating to make my point, I just don't know how to describe that attack 🙂 Of course, I'd be more than happy to have one of these Bechstein pianos. But there's something not quite to my taste with its attack.

vagfilm I am never ashamed of posting anything from MJ Pires (Yamaha CFX)

Well, what can I say. The CFX is absolutely the best piano sound to my ears. I will never tire listening to it. That's the most beautiful and ideal piano sound there can be, it's the only piano sound that is 100% perfect. OK, OK, sorry 🤣 But I'm serious. And Pires is one of the best pianists in the universe, period! ❤️

vagfilm And now, playing a darn Steinway.

Whatever she plays, she makes it sing. And I don't hate Steinway-s. I'm just too used to listening to them, to me they are just the typical nice piano sound. But it won't move me by itself the way the CFX does.

HeartKeys Bösendorfer 214VC

Ohh, that's so sweet! ❤️ I'd put it on par with the CFX but there's just some slight nasalness (it's only 0.0001%, but had to mention it) which puts it in the second place for me 🙂

HeartKeys C.Bechstein D282

I already commented on the Bechsteins but again, the attack is not my thing 😕

Thank you all for the great examples!

QuasiUnaFantasia

I just had the idea of piano sound existing within an equilateral triangle (all sides equal length), where the corners are "wood", "metal", and "glass".

I prefer piano's skewed a lot towards the "wood" corner, but maybe around equally much of the other two sound types; e.g. 60% wood, and 20% each of metal and glass.

And: no, I would not know how to practically quantify it. 🙂

pipAT

Yeah, piano taste is very personal. I like Yamaha CFX, not C7 and C3 because they sound too hard. Also don't like Fazioli and Boesendorfer in general, if sampled to my taste, then would be different stoies. Most of the time, I enjoy 9 -foot grand more than any other size pianos. Bechstein, Steinway, CFX, SK-EX are on my fav list for years.