Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Steinway the wrong pian0, Fazioli better choice?

We don't know their reasons for choosing though. It could be that they preferred the sound and/or touch, but it could also be they were used to playing Steinway, that they thought Steinway would project the best over the orchestra, that they hope to become a Steinway artist, they already are a Steinway artist. etc.

Yes but the only one of the top four to choose Steinway was Sorita (whom I picked out at an early stage!). One wonders which Chopin would have chosen given his penchant for Pleyel.

Are you saying they knew another instrument was best for winning the competition but decided against it in hopes of becoming a Steinway artist? I would have thought winning the competition was a higher priority and would, in fact, give them the greatest odds of being selected for the Young Artists program.

I agree that winning the competition would be the highest priority, but if they felt the Steinway and another piano were basically equally good, I think they might choose the Steinway with the hope of becoming a Steinway artist. If you don't agree with that, I mentioned three other plausible reasons for choosing the Steinway.

The fact that some competitors chose a Fazioli for the final round is interesting in its own right. The odds that they own a Fazioli are close to zero, and their opportunities to consistently practice on one are not much higher. Fazioli produces 140 grands a year, and Steinway 2,000. Steinway dominates concert stages and conservatory classrooms around the globe, so if there is one piano these competitors know very well, it is Steinway. To choose a Fazioli in a high-risk, high-profile competition - a competition they prepared for most of their life - and to abandon an instrument they are very familiar with, says that the Fazioli must have allowed them to perform their repertoire to their liking, with a high degree of confidence.

I don't think this means Steinway is a better or worse piano than a Fazioli. It just means that in Chopin's repertoire, performing in that particular hall, for some of the competitors the Fazioli allowed them to perform to their best. That's an argument in favor of competitions continuing to give competitors a choice of instruments.

I agree, Numerian. But we are strictly speculating. It would be nice to hear from the competitors.

Not sure if the competitors recorded their comments, but here is the winner preparing for the competition. Maybe the Fazioli was such a big risk:

Correction ... was not such a big risk.

As a note, Liu's teacher Son has been quoted as praising Fazioli: It says something about Son's cosmopolitanism that he was able, in a the course of a chat about piano manufacturers, to give his high opinion of the Faziolis in Taipei and Vilnius.

Well put. I think that most pianists will choose the piano closest to the one they prepared on, as they will have develped the performance details based on the character of that piano. Assuming Liu had not prepared on a Fazioli, it says a lot about his mastery that he was able to exploit its lighter touch and different tonal characteristics.
So - would he have won on the piano he was used to? Very possibly. Would he have given the same performance he decided he wanted to give? Almost certainly not..

Maybe, but Liu said he does not hold with that approach. He prefers exploration to repetition. I do not have the reference to the interview now. For comparison hear him playing a Steinway in the March 2022 Chopin Birthday Concert

People write about the Steinway being "harmnically richer" than the Fazioli. I don't quite know what they mean.
I have no idea whether whether the Steinway has more energy overall in the harmonics, but I can make some specific comments about the upper register and the extreme bass (where the reason for the characterstics is most obvious).
Part of the underlying difference is the same in both cases: the harmonics produced by a Steinway are not exact multiples of the fundamental frequencies.
The effect at the bass is clear: if you want the bottom two or three notes to sound in tune when played on their own then they will grate when played with the notes an octave above. They also change apparent pitch as the note progresses. As this is a relatively sudden change at the lower end, I can't imagine why it would be considered an advantage.
The effect at the top end is somewhat different - at least to my ear. The note starts out at one apparent pitch and rich in harmonics, but the frequency drops as the harmonics die away. My impression is that the note becomes dull and also that it dies away quickly - though I doubt this latter is truly the case for the fundamental.
Sticking with the top end, the Fazioli uses sympathetic resonators to adjust the overtone frequency. This has two consequences: the overtones can be intune (depending on the technician), and the overtone energy is rapidly distributed between the main body of the string and the resonant extension. This will indeed reduce the harmonics near the start of the note, but they will persist longer, resulting in a cleaner more uniform sound.

To my ear Faziolis are usually to be preferred for Bach, Mozart, Chopin etc. In contrast, some Shostakovich and Sati may benefit from the Steinway (it depends on how the performer sees the work).
I believe it is possible to adjust the brdges of a Fazioli so the harmonic behaviour 'better' resembles that of a Steinway - though I suspect most Fazioli owners would pale at the thought.

In case it's any sort of a counterweight, I'm very happy with our carefully-selected model B Steinway.

Do you mean Fazioli would do well to modify their bridges to improve the sound of their pianos?

Out of interest how many Steinway B's did you try? Perhaps the one I tried in London was one you passed over.

Listening closely, the pianos sound great. I can not find any issues or faults. The pianists, on the contrary, are completely different. The lady can’t seem to keep moving forward. The Chinese guy is wild and untamed. The other guy had too many mistakes.

Piano pitch changing this way is physically impossible. Frequency cannot drop, this would mean that your tuning pin rotates loose while you play.

NY Steinway the wrong piano, Young Chang better choice

LOL

I’m no artist but pianos sound different when I’m seated playing them and when I stand back listening to another person playing it. When I selected my piano, the owner, a classical pianist, played it for me. Of course, he knows exactly what to play to show off the piano’s best features. I would guess as the competitors select their preferred piano for competition, they would listen closely how it sounds for their own material but also for other artists.

Spot on j&j.

Why did you choose Fazioli among all the pianos?

We only had fifteen minutes for choosing between five pianos. It is a very tough challenge. I remember the moment I heard the Fazioli in the hall, the Warsaw Philharmonic. Someone was trying the piano before me. And I was extremely touched by the tone. I think the sonority is very noble and charming. I felt I will be able to make rich colours with this instrument. Of course, we are more used to play on a Yamaha or a Steinway because of our daily practice in schools. So, it was risky choice because I never played a Fazioli at a competition before. I really tried to get used to this piano throughout the competition. And I think it paid of very well. When you are out of the comfort zone, you get the inspiration. Then in the end you realize that you are on another level.

https://www.bozar.be/en/watch-read-listen/discover-first-laureate-chopin-competition