SPOILER Alert: There is nothing related to pianos in this post.

I was back in Berlin recently. This being my 3rd trip, I’m beginning to feel like I know my way around a little. However this time it was freezing and dangerous since clearly nobody shovels snow in Berlin and every single walking surface was covered by an inch thick, uneven, rock hard layer of ice. The streets, however, were fine.

Berlin has any number of places to recommend to visitors, but I’m recommending the Food floor  on the 6th level of the KaDeWe department store.

The store is a huge upscale department store, similar to Bloomingdales in the US, and more upscale than Macys. However the 6th floor is a food lovers delight. Similar to Harrods in London, you can find any kind of food here, from raw meats and fish of any type, to canned, bottled and boxed items in a bewildering array.

However the revelation to me was the variety of food “stations” (for lack of a better word) where one could grab a quick bite. These ranged from a variety of wine and champagne bars, to a number of small individual cooking stations, some with tables and some with only counters, where one could eat whatever was the specialty of that station. I chose fish and had them take a beautiful hunk of salmon from the display and plop it directly on the grill.

Other stations included shell fish (oysters, clams etc), sushi, steaks and chops, wurst and sausages (including some, the ingredients of which I chose not to consider)  and just about everything in between.

While I was having my dinner, a group of casual (youngish) business people sat down and ordered 10 Lobster tails and had a huge plate of oysters sent over from the shell fish station nearby. Clearly the business climate is improving somewhere.

My salmon, salad and rice enjoyed, I moseyed over to a small hidden bar serving genuine  Budwiser beer from the Czech Republic.This is a wonderful true European Pils with no connection to the yellow water called Budwiser in this country.

The real treat was the bartender who looked like he came out of a George Groz cartoon.  Pouring a beer took almost 5 minutes, with a glass rinse, an initial pour then a pause while the head settled. Another pour followed by another head settle, followed yet again. The result was a perfect foam head that clearly was an important part of the beer experience that he served up.

There is craftsmanship everywhere, you just have to look for it.

World Trade Center Tribute

Here is a really great short essay on why serious music is important.

I’m a pretty good long distance driver and took some long drives in June and July. First I drove to Toronto and back for a weekend Canadian Piano Technicians meeting. About a week later I drove to visit Andre Bolduc in Montreal. That drive is particularly beautiful, going through wonderful forests in Upstate New York and passing by Lake George. My evening in Lake George was about as perfect summer evening as one could ask for; great location, great weather, great beer. When the pieces come together and one is in a position to notice and enjoy it, life can be wonderful.

The Shostakovich 4th is one of my most favorite pieces perhaps due to the way I first heard it; performed by the Boston Symphony, me  a naive college student walking in completely unprepared. I walked out a different person.

This video is short. Make sure you listen to the end.

I’m a huge fan of the festival, having first gone in 1980. It’s the classical music festival, held inside the mansions in Newport RI. It is a treasure of the music world due to it’s wonderful, unique programming and the supremely high level of the playing and players. Of course, it’s mostly due to Dr. Dr. Dr. Mark Malkovich, who has run it for something like 30 years.

www.newportmusic.org

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Newport Venue

This year it takes place from July 10-26 and if you can possibly go, you should.

Here is a list of the pianists performing this year:

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My idea of cultural mecca is the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago. It’s has a spectacular old world lobby and is just steps away from the Art Institute and Symphony Hall.
I took advantage of it’s proximity to the latter tonight and attended a performance (under Bernard Haitink) of Webern Im Sommerwind, Mahler Ruckert Lieder (with Christianne Stotijn) and Brahms Symphony Number 1.

To an orchestral music lover, this is a multi-course meal at a fabulous restaurant. One comes away content  on a number of levels, marveling at the display of mastery that one has just witnessed. And, ultimately, the only thing one takes away is a memory.

The Webern was the biggest surprise. A huge romantic tone poem from the master of modernist  miniatures. I will use this piece, in addition to Schoenberg’s Gurralieder and Transfigured Night as proof that one needs to have complete mastery of the current language before one can explore new worlds with any credibility.

The Ruckert Lieder is to me kind of an odd combination of songs but also is Mahler at his time-suspending best (and of reasonable length…see my earlier post about Mahler).

However, if you are thinking about getting  into classical music, is there any better vehicle than the 4th (last) movement of the Brahms first symphony? This is the response of the first composing genius after Beethoven, dealing with legacy of his predecessor.

Even if you don’t know anything about classical music, this music will move you. There is something so perfect about the chord progressions and that wonderful choral harmony. It just works. It’s kind of like water, you just know that you need it and that it is good for you.

It’s hard to not get choked up when an aging conductor, clearly moving slowly on his second curtain call, instead of turning to face the thunderous applause and standing ovation, pauses, with his back to the audience, beaming at the orchestra and making a subtle, sort of stiff gesture with his right hand. Only when he is certain that the message of  “it wasn’t just me, we did this as a team” is transmitted, does he turn and face his appreciative audience.

I’m trying to reach the others, the ones who haven’t discovered their personal connection with classical (serious) music.  Is it possible that my deliberate choice of the previous words might offend some people? Hopefully,  because my point is;  how can you question whether or not a higher power exists after one has experienced Beethoven, Brahms, Bartok or Shostokovich?

The purpose of music is to communicate emotion, in a non-verbal and therefore a more pure way. Mahler said one of his Ruckert Lieder should convey “the way one feels in the presence of a beloved being of whom one is completely sure without a single word needing to be spoken”.  Maybe that’s too sappy for some, but if the concept of music expressing this detailed an emotion is new to you…LISTEN UP!! You have no idea what you are missing!

So, let’s pretend there is this prospect, a guy who  has been pestering dealers up and down the east coast for a couple of weeks. He doesn’t play, is relocating and well to do, looking to buy a piano for his family and wants to buy something good. He started looking for a used Steinway because he knew that was what he should get, right?

Well, let’s pretend that a skilled dealer delivered his “epiphany”, namely that there are wonderful high end pianos in the world and none of them are built in Queens!  Now lets say the problem is that he has (remember, we’re pretending) a very incorrect notion of what these instruments cost and is beating up every dealer trying to buy one of these instruments ( a very specific model) below cost. Seems he’s a big shot financier and, well, you probably know the type.

I’m very very happy that he had his epiphany. But here is the rub.

An epiphany without conversion is, well, pointless.

Important! Keep reading

Saw a model 200, about 30+ years old, rebuilt by a reputable shop. The original Schwander action had new Renner whippens. The hammers were Renner blues, the bass strings probably Mapes.  While overall the work was of reputable quality, it was a long way from Bosendorfer and had this strange burnt orange, thick lumpy finish on the plate.

The real question is, what is it? I would argue that it is not a Bosendorfer anymore since so many of the parts were not original. This flies in the face of common rebuilder philosphy, at least here in the US. This approach comes from the experience with American Steinway which says that a good rebuilder can actually make a piano BETTER than the original.

The issue is that assumptions made about one make of piano do not translate directly to another and most of the tweaks that people would take for granted in a Steinway actually deteriorates a Bosendorfer. If you own one, you can do with it what you want and there are some great high end technicians out there. You could done one of those wild bridge modifications, change hammers, Stanwoodize the action, add brass weights to the soundboard…LOTS OF STUFF, but I don’t know that you would end up with a better piano. Different, yes.

I’ve been trying to think of a proper analogy to keep from sounding like some corporate stooge and maybe here is one:

A major overhaul of a Bosendorfer by a high end tech, using some of the modifications above, is sort of like a sommelier choosing to take 3 expensive bottles of wine and blending them himself just before serving. Yes, the end result might be better than any of the 3 individual bottles, but many people want to see what the vinyard bottled, what the vinyard was looking for. They’re looking for the experience the maker intended, not what somebody else, skilled though they might be, thinks is right, just because he (or she) can.

These modification tools are great for helping older instruments, or ones that clearly have dificiences in important areas. This kind of modification is a relative recent development in this business. But doing so has ramifications.