The NY Times have interesting feature about a Steinway piano built in the late '20s with two keyboards and four pedals (but just one set of strings and hammers). The upper keyboard runs an octave higher than the lower (and pulls the keys of the lower 'board down, like on a player piano). The mechanism was devised by Hungarian inventor Emanuel Moor - about 60 Moor pianos were made by Bösendorfer, but this is the only Steinway. There's a nice video, with a chap using the piano to play the Goldberg Variations - composed for a double-manual harpsichord. (Thanks, Ben)
We have one of the Bosendorfer ones at the musem where I work (www.cantos.ca) but I didn't know Stienway made one. We do have some stienway square pianos though, which are pretty rare in their own right.
ReplyDeleteSquare pianos, while rare curiosities, are completely worthless. They suck as instruments. They're hard to keep in tune and in regulation, and the action sticks. There's a reason why modern pianos are, well, "piano shaped".
ReplyDeleteI don't know about "worthless". Some of the older ones do sound like crap, but the steinway one we have was built in the later 1800s and actually sounds really decent. Its also one of the largest sqaure pianos ever built. The reason some of them were hard to keep in tune wasn't the shape, but the fact that they hadn't really perfected the tuning mechanisms yet. Some of the older grand shaped ones from the late 1700s that we have also never stay in tune very well. and as for the action there are plenty of grands with shitty action that stick all the time.
ReplyDeleteI dont comment- i JUST BLOG.. http://hadleystreet.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteYes, the Bösendorfer is a very unique instrument, and we're lucky to have on here in little 'ole Blue Mounds, Wisconsin. It is one of TWO that used to belong to world-renowned pianist Gunnar Johansen who produced over 140 records, including all of the piano solos written by Bach. It was offered to Johansen by Steinway themselves, as they recognized his incredible talent.
ReplyDeleteI have owned and performed on an 1820 Broadwood square piano for about twenty years, and it is an excellent, colorful instrument that truly reveals the orchestral nature of Haydn's compositions written for the English piano in the 1790s. When we use it in concert, it is always a great hit with our audiences.
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