Page 63 - PDF Flip TR Program Demo

recognized king of the piano concerto. Many well-known pianists have played it at Tippet Rise in concert and on film; it has been treated gin- gerly and lovingly by all of us, in recognition of its history and its immensity. Like a big Stradivarius, CD-18 isn’t for everyone; it takes enormous power to make it shine.
But in recognition of this, Tali Mahanor has provided it with two actions. The first is the original action, with the original keyboard, which is slightly bigger than a normal keyboard (so you need a big hand to play it). It has a modern American Steinway action and Renner hammers. It is elegant and massive in its power, a piano for rising above orchestras.
The second action has a modern Renner
action with standard plastic keys and American hammers. So the sound has immense finesse and the action is easier to play for more mortal pianists. This gives it the feel of a German Steinway, but the intense, neurotic complex harmonies of the American hammers.
We have a Hamburg Steinway as well, last played
in Germany by Elisabeth Leonskaja, whose ethereal Schubert sonatas, seeming to float above the audience, were the reason we contacted
Arup Engineers to design a hall similar to Snape Maltings, where we had heard the luminous Leonskaja play.
This Hamburg Steinway has steel, power, speed, and is easy to play. Stephen Hough felt it would present the brilliantine surfaces of his own compositions more accurately, and many pianists have chosen it for its ability to perform virtuoso études impressively. It is the height of what Liszt would have wanted from a Hungarian Rhapsody
or his Totentanz, the frightening dance of death where the piano explodes with satanic colors. Pianists are often judged not by their abilities
but by the abilities of the piano they choose. You can’t play Liszt on a Mozart piano, or Beethoven on a Haydn piano. Immaculate, delicate, refined Viennese pianos present filigree and softness with great complexity, but you need a different instrument to raise the devil. So we have pianos for all seasons, all composers, and all moods. Pianos for angels and for devils.
2018 Summer Season 63