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PIANOS FROM THE OLYMPIC PEAKS No.24/09.10
- victorshramko
- 20 hours ago
- 3 min read
(Crumbs from Chopin's enormous kaleidoscope from your special correspondent ;)
The final, four-part and two-week-long stage of the piano marathon called the 19th Int'l Chopin Competition has kicked off. The entire marathon has been going on for ten months now, including the recording competition and the preliminaries.
The spectacle is created by various heroes/characters on and off stage, people and things. Without them, there would be no competition at all, e.g.
Rally Pianos
An instrument is to a musician what a car is to a rally driver. It's impossible to win a rally on a scooter :)
Hundreds of pianos were used for recording preliminaries in 59 countries. Probably most of the existing brands that are impossible to even mention. Five of the best of them left on the Final stage: Steinway, Bechstein, Yamaha, Kawai and Fazioli. Let us remind something about them.
The Old Masters Started the Game
Bechstein and Steinway were founded in the mid-19th century in Germany. Carl Bechstein had been manufacturing pianos in Berlin since 1853. They became known when Franz Liszt's son-in-law, Hans von Bülow, played his legendary father-in-law's Sonata on one of them. (Family is a power!). Then Carl presented a piano as a gift to British Queen Victoria, and the instrument won a gold medal at the Int'l Exhibition in London. Success and fame were at hand.
Around this time, a competitor was born nearby. Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg built a baby piano in the small kitchen for his future wife as an engagement gift. And achieved double success as a husband and a manufacturer! During the recession in Germany, he moved to New York and, changing his name to Steinway, he still produced pianos. His product soon became the best pianos in the world. But the second factory was established in Hamburg.
The Japanese can...
The other two brands, Yamaha and Kawai, are Japanese. Torakusu Yamaha built his first piano in 1900. He started sending his people to Europe and America to observe the market leaders. However, his concert grand piano (model FC) began to conquer the markets from 1950.
Mr. Yamaha had a smart neighbor, Mr. Koichi Kawai, as a collaborator. The young man was very helpful and somehow loyal. He waited until his mentor's death to establish his own factory nearby, based on his own, already Japanese soundboards. The first concert model piano was presented to the Emperor of Japan and set out into the world.
The Japanese success was great. Even during my first concert tour in the US & Canada in 1981, I was really surprised at how many prestigious halls played the Yamaha or Kawai. (Of course, N.York Carnegie Hall has a Steinway!)
Back to the Sources
At the end of the 20th century, the Japanese, in turn, were envied by the young Italian manufacturer, Paolo Fazioli. Also an amateur pianist. He decided to build a piano with an extraordinary sound using a new soundboard and Alpine wood, which Stradivarius himself used to make his violins. The instrument had so much energy and brilliance that the new pianistic star, French-Canadian Chinese, Bruce Liu, won the previous Chopin Competition on it.
Who Won and on What Machine
In the current 1st stage of the Competition, the majority of the 84 finalists (selected from among 643) chose the Steinway piano. 2nd choice was Kawai, 3rd – Fazioli. Yamaha (4th) and Bechstein (5th) didn't fit in the box. These are the results for today. We will know the final results in 2 weeks, after the Grand Final. Everything is possible up to the last note!
The pianos arrived in special air-conditioned trucks. Each piano weighs approximately half a ton and requires specialized technicians and lifting equipment to transport, carry, and set up. The tuners are extremely important. They sometimes intervene during the concert between the participants' performances to correct something or even replace a broken string.
Pianos are as heavy as elephants and as delicate as butterflies.
It is also called a competition for tuners and porters. It's like the technical crew on raids.
In the current 1st stage, the majority of the 84 finalists (selected from among 643) chose the Steinway piano. 2nd was Kawai, 3rd – Fazioli. Yamaha (4th) and Bechstein (5th) didn't fit in the box. But everything is possible up to the last note.
Who will be THE FIRST!?
Producers expect results almost as much as participants. Behind are big money and – PRESTIGE. Like in rallies...
There is still so much information regarding participants, jury, audience, and so on, so on... Some of them also surprise even me, familiar with the matter for many decades.
I'll try my best, but for today...
Enough words.
Let us play: Chopin, of course...
Written by
Cezary Owerkowicz
Co-founder of Kuwait Music Academy and
Director of Treasure of Talents Festival in Kuwait
