Steinway & Sons Spirio Self-Playing Piano

[Hear Here]

I prefer listening to Rachmaninoff 78 rpm recordings with correct equalization and remastering without compression or noisegatng. Listening to him play Chopin Sonata No.2 is overwhelming despite the sonic deficiencies (

) Rachmaninoff playing Mendelssohn Scherzo....

Maybe it's just me, I have 7,000 78s and probably 25% of my now 52,000 LPs/CDs/78s/R2Rs are 78 rpm or cylinder recordings. With my high end system, I'm getting sound never imagined from those recording engineers.

P.S. This is the best Youtube I could find of the recording. My 78s and remastered transfer doesn't have the noisegating (awful isn't it)?

For What's Best Forum readers, listening to 78s won't provide the sonic nirvana we are searching for. For music lovers, they do.

Well that's interesting. Last night after playing those Rachmaninov Ampico recordings and still amazed at the subtlety and finesse of the playing (by the man himself 90 years earlier), despite the use of piano rolls to span those decades, I played a track or two from a CD of his Edison Recordings

Rachmaninov: The Edison Recordings, April 1919: Pianists - Solo Piano Recordings, Vol. 4: Amazon.co.uk: CDs & Vinyl

Buy Rachmaninov: The Edison Recordings, April 1919: Pianists - Solo Piano Recordings, Vol. 4 by Sergey Rachmaninov from Amazon's Classical Music Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.

www.amazon.co.uk

[Sorry, I've not yet found how to insert a Qobuz link, but it's there of course]

Gosh, it's terrible! I appreciate the playing, but I cannot cope with the inevitable background noise from my high quality horn speakers. I presume you have these Rachmaninov and other piano pieces played by modern masters of the instrument on high quality modern recordings. Give me these any day and I'll enjoy Rachmaninov as the Composter and the virtuoso pianist as the Artist to deliver the music without the loss of half the audio frequency range, replaced by tons of noise! But maybe I'm a philistine in these matters!

 

[astrotoy]

I somehow acquired (probably 20 years ago or so) a set of 8 commercial tapes (7" 7.5ips 4 track stereo) of recordings made with the Welte Vorsetzer, a device that sits over the keyboard of a piano and presses its 88 "fingers" plus 2 "feet" to play the piano. It was developed at the beginning of the 20th century and used to record many of the famous pianists of the day. The pianist would play on a piano which was connected to the recording machine which captured the playing on special paper roll which could capture the pianists touch and pedal much more accurately than a conventional piano roll. I believe the recordings on the tapes were done by a Vorsetzer in 1968. The original recordings of the pianists were done in the early 1900s from 1905 to 1913 according to the information on the tape boxes. My tapes include records made by Debussy, Ravel, Saint-Saens, Richard Strauss and several top pianists of the era.

The most interesting of those pianists was Olga Samaroff, one of the most famous pianists of the era. At age 25 she hired Carnegie Hall and produced the concert with an orchestra and conductor (Walter Damrosch) and played the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto to great acclaim (the first woman to do so at Carnegie Hall). She met her second husband, Leopold Stokowski, when he was known primarily as an organist and had just gotten his first conducting job at the recently restarted Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (which had been disbanded after financial and labor problems). With Olga's fame and influence, she helped him get appointed to the music director position of the Philadelphia Orchestra, where he gained his great fame (including his appearance at the beginning of Walt Disney's Fantasia). Samaroff divorced him in 1923 after 12 years of marriage due to Stokowski's many infidelities.

Perhaps the most interesting fact about Samaroff is that she was born in San Antonio, Texas as Lucy Mary Olga Agnes Hickenlooper. It is said that her uncle suggested she change her name to advance her career. After a major shoulder injury she became a renowned music critic (first woman critic for a major New York newspaper (the Evening Post) and a teacher, including being the first American born teacher at the newly formed Jullliard School. She had a host of famous students including William Kapell, Raymond Lewenthal, Bruce Hungerford, Vincent Persichetti, Thomas Schippers, Rosalyn Tureck and Alexis Weissenberg. She died in 1948 at the age of 67.

Larry

 

[SeagoatLeo]

Well that's interesting. Last night after playing those Rachmaninov Ampico recordings and still amazed at the subtlety and finesse of the playing (by the man himself 90 years earlier), despite the use of piano rolls to span those decades, I played a track or two from a CD of his Edison Recordings

Rachmaninov: The Edison Recordings, April 1919: Pianists - Solo Piano Recordings, Vol. 4: Amazon.co.uk: CDs & Vinyl

Buy Rachmaninov: The Edison Recordings, April 1919: Pianists - Solo Piano Recordings, Vol. 4 by Sergey Rachmaninov from Amazon's Classical Music Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.

www.amazon.co.uk

[Sorry, I've not yet found how to insert a Qobuz link, but it's there of course]

Gosh, it's terrible! I appreciate the playing, but I cannot cope with the inevitable background noise from my high quality horn speakers. I presume you have these Rachmaninov and other piano pieces played by modern masters of the instrument on high quality modern recordings. Give me these any day and I'll enjoy Rachmaninov as the Composter and the virtuoso pianist as the Artist to deliver the music without the loss of half the audio frequency range, replaced by tons of noise! But maybe I'm a philistine in these matters!

When I play direct to disc 78 rpm records, the noise level is greatly diminished with the correctly sized stylus (my late friend Michael Lane had over 30 stylii for his 250,000 78s), corrected equalization (essential for acoustically recorded records prior to 1925) and noise suppression when necessary which does not alter the audio signal. When doing these things, the audio fidelity is not only acceptable, but can be quite good, depending on recording engineering (no mastering on earliest recordings). These are one take recordings, unlike today's tape and/or digital editing. As my equipment became higher in resolution, dynamic range and tonal density, I gain further enjoyment of listening to 78s (and cylinder recordings). On Wednesday, I will be installing Von Schweikert VR9 SE Mk2 speakers. It will not have the detrimental problems I've heard from most (not all) horn speakers played in residential settings.

 

[Hear Here]

When I play direct to disc 78 rpm records, the noise level is greatly diminished with the correctly sized stylus (my late friend Michael Lane had over 30 stylii for his 250,000 78s), corrected equalization (essential for acoustically recorded records prior to 1925) and noise suppression when necessary which does not alter the audio signal. When doing these things, the audio fidelity is not only acceptable, but can be quite good, depending on recording engineering (no mastering on earliest recordings). These are one take recordings, unlike today's tape and/or digital editing. As my equipment became higher in resolution, dynamic range and tonal density, I gain further enjoyment of listening to 78s (and cylinder recordings). On Wednesday, I will be installing Von Schweikert VR9 SE Mk2 speakers. It will not have the detrimental problems I've heard from most (not all) horn speakers played in residential settings.

I would presume that the engineers from the big music distribution companies that re-issue these old 78 recordings do their best to lose most of the background noise, but that CD I gave the link for is pretty-much unlistenable to in my opinion.

As I said, I'd be much more content to leave Rachmaninov to do the composing and have the piano played by a virtuoso in today's age. There must surely be pianists just as capable as Rachmaninov was in his own time, but with modern equipment, we should hear the piano sounding as if it was in our own living rooms. There's no way these old recordings sound like live piano playing, however good our own equipment may be. I admire you for your perseverance with these old recordings but I'll stick to something that sounds "real".

 

[astrotoy]

The Spirio concert was this afternoon. I did take a video of about 1 minute of the concert, but it is 96MB in length and I don't quite know how to email it so I can link it here. There was a very large flat screen TV set up to the right of the piano (a Steinway B - 6'10" long) that was the identical size and finish as the piano being played in NYC at the Steinway concert venue. The Steinway manager said that the concert set on a 15 second delay from the actual concert to allow everything (video and computer signal to the piano) to be perfectly in sync. I didn't notice any drops or other issues and the screen image was perfectly synchronized with the sound from the piano. Very impressive, with a huge dynamic range. We sat in the front row, probably about 10 feet from the piano, which had its lid fully raised. You can see the keys being pressed and the sound coming out of the piano. The pedals don't move up and down, but the mechanism is activated. The keys play with a resolution of 1200 per second, while the pedals have a resolution of 320 per second. This is much higher than our 30 plus year old Yamaha with Disklavier mechanism. The new Yamahas have a much better resolution, not sure whether it is equal to a Spirio.

The standard polished ebony Steinway B with Spiro R lists for $186K. The one we heard is a B Grand Nichetto in midnight Red Micassar finish case, which costs about double that. However, my understanding is that the sound of the standard polished ebony and the fancy case are identical. It was a NY (not Hamburg) Steinway.

The manager said 55% of his sales are with Spirio mechanisms (the Steinways M 5'7", B 6'10" and D 9 foot). One couple attending the concert said they are a new owner and bought it without being able to play the piano themselves.

As for the frequency of live concerts with video (which are also all recorded so you can play them back through your Spirio at any time) started at once a quarter, then moved to once a month, then once a week and now are about twice a week. Famous and not so famous Steinway artists are featured. For example Lang Lang will be playing the Bach Goldberg Variations in a concert later this month.

The dealer is sending me a special computer key so I can see the total list of recordings they have done so far, although I won't be able to play them. He said they are adding about 4-5 hours of material each month. Some have the video concerts and some are just audio. I think there are some historic recordings where there is also video - I remember seeing one or more back in 2019 when we first saw the Spirio R. Unlike the Yamaha Disklavier, where we had to buy computer discs that hold the material we can play through it, the Spirio content is all free to owners of the piano. From what I can tell there is a mix of both classical and pop/rock/jazz tunes available. I'll know more about the contents after I get the key. Someone asked about whether the Spirio can play the Yamaha Disklavier material, and the dealer said yes, there is a program from Steinway that converts Yamaha recordings to the Spirio format (I think he said it does something like upsample to the higher Spirio resolution).

Larry

 

[SeagoatLeo]

I would presume that the engineers from the big music distribution companies that re-issue these old 78 recordings do their best to lose most of the background noise, but that CD I gave the link for is pretty-much unlistenable to in my opinion.

As I said, I'd be much more content to leave Rachmaninov to do the composing and have the piano played by a virtuoso in today's age. There must surely be pianists just as capable as Rachmaninov was in his own time, but with modern equipment, we should hear the piano sounding as if it was in our own living rooms. There's no way these old recordings sound like live piano playing, however good our own equipment may be. I admire you for your perseverance with these old recordings but I'll stick to something that sounds "real".

I'm sorry you have not had the experience of listening to both acoustic and electric 78s on a high end system. Michael Lane was a brilliant electrical and acoustic engineer whose home audio system reproduced 1905 Grieg piano recordings to sound almost as 1950s piano recordings minus the frequency extensions. He played electrical 78s and early mono tape LPs (including terrible vinyl of Plymouth and Remington) as if the musicians were in the room playing. I attended a few of his soirees for about 25 listeners (he had a huge listening room, 2 stories in the Hollywood Hills). If he would have played Rachmaninoff electrical 78s, you would think the piano was in the room.
That is why I chose the Von Schweikert speakers. They will make many recordings sound that alive and hopefully my 78s will benefit as well (I don't have 30+ stylii). So of course it is your choice not to listen to master musicians/composers perform on what you consider "antiquated" recordings. They are only as antiquated sounding as the reproduction equipment based on my experiences. Your statement "There's no way these old recordings sound like live piano playing, however good our own equipment may be" is just untrue/wrong.

Don't count on most remastering of 78s on LPs or CDs. They are often terrible. Noise gated and compressed. I know from experience that the Zeisl Centennial I prepared 11 CDs of his music from low transfers of 78s onto cassettes, steel wire recording, 1950s tape and LPs. I was chosen by Randol Schoenberg (Zeisl), you might know him from the Woman in Gold movie, to redo the terrible remastering which did exactly what I reference. I did a straight, flat transfer. I'm not Ward Marston, Obert-Thorn or others who spent their lives in brilliant remasterings (or Kevin Gray of LPs) of 78s so I left the sound alone for others in the future to attempt what should have been done.

When you have heard 10,000s of LPs and 1,000s of CDs of 78s transferred, you'll find that most are done incompetently. Added reverb is a huge pet peeve of mine (and my friends). It is especially common with ethnic music. The entire Nimbus historic catalog uses a horn played reproduction of 78s to CDs. Why? That is commonly mistaken for the sound of a 78. See Jeff Day/Jeff's Place column at the bottom of Positive Feedback on-line site. He discovered 78s on CD and with his high end system, is ecstatic on how real the sound can be reproduced.

 

[SeagoatLeo]

And for you benefit, here is a link to one of the seven LP set of Liszt students playing only Liszt music on a Welte-Mignon piano roll machine in 1905. I have the set and it is fascinating and enjoyable. Too bad the Steinway system wasn't available 120 years ago. https://archive.org/details/05-welt...Liszt+pupils+(Telefunken+SLA+25+057-T+3).flac

At the bottom of the page link are numerous player piano classical recordings. I find the later Duo-Art less mechanical sounding. https://archive.org/details/01-duo-...+Josef+Hofmann+Chopin+pi+c+1+op+11+mov+1.flac
In the 70s Everest released a series of LPs: Everest Archive of Piano Music with reproducing Duo-Art piano rolls, played by famous pianists. The piano used for these Duo-Art series by Everest is a Steinway, built in 1929 from the collection of Harold L. Powell, North Hollywood, California. All the rolls used in this Everest Duo-Art series were played between 1916 and 1925.

 

[SeagoatLeo]

I would presume that the engineers from the big music distribution companies that re-issue these old 78 recordings do their best to lose most of the background noise, but that CD I gave the link for is pretty-much unlistenable to in my opinion.

As I said, I'd be much more content to leave Rachmaninov to do the composing and have the piano played by a virtuoso in today's age. There must surely be pianists just as capable as Rachmaninov was in his own time, but with modern equipment, we should hear the piano sounding as if it was in our own living rooms. There's no way these old recordings sound like live piano playing, however good our own equipment may be. I admire you for your perseverance with these old recordings but I'll stick to something that sounds "real".

There is one pianist who uncannily sounds like Rachmaninoff playing his own music. There is a forum on this site about the brilliant 18 year old pianist Yunchan Lim. Here is his Rachmaninoff Concerto No.3

 

[SeagoatLeo]

The Spirio concert was this afternoon. I did take a video of about 1 minute of the concert, but it is 96MB in length and I don't quite know how to email it so I can link it here. There was a very large flat screen TV set up to the right of the piano (a Steinway B - 6'10" long) that was the identical size and finish as the piano being played in NYC at the Steinway concert venue. The Steinway manager said that the concert set on a 15 second delay from the actual concert to allow everything (video and computer signal to the piano) to be perfectly in sync. I didn't notice any drops or other issues and the screen image was perfectly synchronized with the sound from the piano. Very impressive, with a huge dynamic range. We sat in the front row, probably about 10 feet from the piano, which had its lid fully raised. You can see the keys being pressed and the sound coming out of the piano. The pedals don't move up and down, but the mechanism is activated. The keys play with a resolution of 1200 per second, while the pedals have a resolution of 320 per second. This is much higher than our 30 plus year old Yamaha with Disklavier mechanism. The new Yamahas have a much better resolution, not sure whether it is equal to a Spirio.

The standard polished ebony Steinway B with Spiro R lists for $186K. The one we heard is a B Grand Nichetto in midnight Red Micassar finish case, which costs about double that. However, my understanding is that the sound of the standard polished ebony and the fancy case are identical. It was a NY (not Hamburg) Steinway.

The manager said 55% of his sales are with Spirio mechanisms (the Steinways M 5'7", B 6'10" and D 9 foot). One couple attending the concert said they are a new owner and bought it without being able to play the piano themselves.

As for the frequency of live concerts with video (which are also all recorded so you can play them back through your Spirio at any time) started at once a quarter, then moved to once a month, then once a week and now are about twice a week. Famous and not so famous Steinway artists are featured. For example Lang Lang will be playing the Bach Goldberg Variations in a concert later this month.

The dealer is sending me a special computer key so I can see the total list of recordings they have done so far, although I won't be able to play them. He said they are adding about 4-5 hours of material each month. Some have the video concerts and some are just audio. I think there are some historic recordings where there is also video - I remember seeing one or more back in 2019 when we first saw the Spirio R. Unlike the Yamaha Disklavier, where we had to buy computer discs that hold the material we can play through it, the Spirio content is all free to owners of the piano. From what I can tell there is a mix of both classical and pop/rock/jazz tunes available. I'll know more about the contents after I get the key. Someone asked about whether the Spirio can play the Yamaha Disklavier material, and the dealer said yes, there is a program from Steinway that converts Yamaha recordings to the Spirio format (I think he said it does something like upsample to the higher Spirio resolution).

Larry

My audio system doesn't cost as much as the Steinway piano (system). If I could easily afford it, I would want that piano and have my sister (she is a musician) and Wendy of Viklarbo Chamber (maybe concerts in my home) come over and play it as well.

 

[adrianywu]

The Spirio concert was this afternoon. I did take a video of about 1 minute of the concert, but it is 96MB in length and I don't quite know how to email it so I can link it here. There was a very large flat screen TV set up to the right of the piano (a Steinway B - 6'10" long) that was the identical size and finish as the piano being played in NYC at the Steinway concert venue. The Steinway manager said that the concert set on a 15 second delay from the actual concert to allow everything (video and computer signal to the piano) to be perfectly in sync. I didn't notice any drops or other issues and the screen image was perfectly synchronized with the sound from the piano. Very impressive, with a huge dynamic range. We sat in the front row, probably about 10 feet from the piano, which had its lid fully raised. You can see the keys being pressed and the sound coming out of the piano. The pedals don't move up and down, but the mechanism is activated. The keys play with a resolution of 1200 per second, while the pedals have a resolution of 320 per second. This is much higher than our 30 plus year old Yamaha with Disklavier mechanism. The new Yamahas have a much better resolution, not sure whether it is equal to a Spirio.

The standard polished ebony Steinway B with Spiro R lists for $186K. The one we heard is a B Grand Nichetto in midnight Red Micassar finish case, which costs about double that. However, my understanding is that the sound of the standard polished ebony and the fancy case are identical. It was a NY (not Hamburg) Steinway.

The manager said 55% of his sales are with Spirio mechanisms (the Steinways M 5'7", B 6'10" and D 9 foot). One couple attending the concert said they are a new owner and bought it without being able to play the piano themselves.

As for the frequency of live concerts with video (which are also all recorded so you can play them back through your Spirio at any time) started at once a quarter, then moved to once a month, then once a week and now are about twice a week. Famous and not so famous Steinway artists are featured. For example Lang Lang will be playing the Bach Goldberg Variations in a concert later this month.

The dealer is sending me a special computer key so I can see the total list of recordings they have done so far, although I won't be able to play them. He said they are adding about 4-5 hours of material each month. Some have the video concerts and some are just audio. I think there are some historic recordings where there is also video - I remember seeing one or more back in 2019 when we first saw the Spirio R. Unlike the Yamaha Disklavier, where we had to buy computer discs that hold the material we can play through it, the Spirio content is all free to owners of the piano. From what I can tell there is a mix of both classical and pop/rock/jazz tunes available. I'll know more about the contents after I get the key. Someone asked about whether the Spirio can play the Yamaha Disklavier material, and the dealer said yes, there is a program from Steinway that converts Yamaha recordings to the Spirio format (I think he said it does something like upsample to the higher Spirio resolution).

Larry

The salesman played a piece performed by Claudio Arrau. I mentioned that I did not realise it went so far back, and the salesman said that in fact, they can now analyse sound recordings and transcribe them into the Spirio format. Therefore, they can even have Rachmaninoff playing on the Spirio.

 

[astrotoy]

The salesman played a piece performed by Claudio Arrau. I mentioned that I did not realise it went so far back, and the salesman said that in fact, they can now analyse sound recordings and transcribe them into the Spirio format. Therefore, they can even have Rachmaninoff playing on the Spirio.

Back in 2019 when we first heard the Spirio R, I remember they had a piece played by Josef Hoffman, whose recordings date from 1920 to late 1930's. Larry

 

[SeagoatLeo]

Back in 2019 when we first heard the Spirio R, I remember they had a piece played by Josef Hoffman, whose recordings date from 1920 to late 1930's. Larry

Wow!!! I have 1000s of piano CDs recorded on 78s. That could be fantastic. I have the complete 10 CDs of Hoffman on VAI and Marston, all of Rachmaninoff, Schnabel, Barere, etc. I have the 5 CD set of maybe 100 woman classical pianists in the 78 era playing and many non-classical pianists (Art Tatum and Fats Waller anyone). The list is endless. What a thrill hearing their performances on that Steinway. As to Backhaus and Eubie Blake, they did record in stereo and on tape throughout the 1950s. Quite good sound. You're making my ears "water."

 

[Hear Here]

And for you benefit, here is a link to one of the seven LP set of Liszt students playing only Liszt music on a Welte-Mignon piano roll machine in 1905. I have the set and it is fascinating and enjoyable. Too bad the Steinway system wasn't available 120 years ago. https://archive.org/details/05-welt...Liszt+pupils+(Telefunken+SLA+25+057-T+3).flac

At the bottom of the page link are numerous player piano classical recordings. I find the later Duo-Art less mechanical sounding. https://archive.org/details/01-duo-...+Josef+Hofmann+Chopin+pi+c+1+op+11+mov+1.flac
In the 70s Everest released a series of LPs: Everest Archive of Piano Music with reproducing Duo-Art piano rolls, played by famous pianists. The piano used for these Duo-Art series by Everest is a Steinway, built in 1929 from the collection of Harold L. Powell, North Hollywood, California. All the rolls used in this Everest Duo-Art series were played between 1916 and 1925.

Thanks for that, but I'm still a little confused. The links you provide take me to player piano recordings, so why listen to ones that were electronically recoded a hundred years ago, if the rolls themselves could be played now on a modern player piano?

Although I can find several Welte-Mignon albums by a Qobuz search, they seem to be modern recordings on modern player pianos using old rolls that were cut a century ago. The Ampico album I mentioned earlier seems to use an equally sophisticated roll-cutting method and the one I mentioned earlier was cut with Rachmaninov himself at the keyboard.

I still get no excitement from listening to recordings made a hundred years ago using their primitive methods because at the same time their roll-cutting techniques were far better, in as much that they can be used a century later on modern player pianos with full dynamic range and no background noise. I'd still prefer a modern live recording of a first-class present-day pianist playing the composer's works. Thanks for the Youtube link to Yunchan Lim - I'll see what music of his is available on Qobuz.

 

[SeagoatLeo]

Thanks for that, but I'm still a little confused. The links you provide take me to player piano recordings, so why listen to ones that were electronically recoded a hundred years ago, if the rolls themselves could be played now on a modern player piano?

Although I can find several Welte-Mignon albums by a Qobuz search, they seem to be modern recordings on modern player pianos using old rolls that were cut a century ago. The Ampico album I mentioned earlier seems to use an equally sophisticated roll-cutting method and the one I mentioned earlier was cut with Rachmaninov himself at the keyboard.

I still get no excitement from listening to recordings made a hundred years ago using their primitive methods because at the same time their roll-cutting techniques were far better, in as much that they can be used a century later on modern player pianos with full dynamic range and no background noise. I'd still prefer a modern live recording of a first-class present-day pianist playing the composer's works. Thanks for the Youtube link to Yunchan Lim - I'll see what music of his is available on Qobuz.

Yunchan Lim also recorded the complete Liszt Transcendental Etudes-superbly played.
I sent the links of the site with the best of the previously available recorded modern piano rolls (probably 15 LPs worth). However, they still suffer for imperfect/lacking performance parameters. Find me a pianist who plays as Schnabel or especially Backhaus today. It's the same as finding a current violinist who plays like Heifetz or Milstein. Nope. Lim is an anomaly and I hope he continues to grow his repertoire.

 

[astrotoy]

When I interviewed Grammy winning Decca recording engineer Mike Mailes for my Decca book a decade ago, he told me that the recording he was most proud of doing was with Wilhelm Backhaus playing the Brahms Piano Concerto 2 with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by the great Karl Boehm (on Decca SXL6322 or London CS6550) in April 1967. Backhaus died two years later at the age of 85. His first recordings were made sixty years earlier. Backhaus was famous for his ability to transpose music to different keys. The story often told was that at a rehearsal of the Grieg piano concerto in A minor, he found the piano was tuned a half tone flat. So he played the concerto a half step higher in Bb minor. At the performance the piano was retuned correcly and he played it in A minor as written.

As I approach 80 next year, I have been fortunate to hear many of the great classical musicians who were active when I started seriously attending concerts in the early 1960's while in college in Boston. Before then my parents took me to concerts and opera performances when I was a teenager, including hearing Jon Vickers and Rita Gorr singing Samson and Delilah in Chicago as well as pianist Byron Janis in concert.

In Boston there was a celebrity series where top performers would play, often every year. There were inexpensive student tickets, and I heard Artur Rubinstein and Rudolf Serkin each year, and Van Cliburn, the Budapest String Quartet (with teenager Peter Serkin), the Julliard String Quartet, and Beaux Arts Trio and many others.

I saw the Boston Symphony many times in their very cheap rehearsals in Symphony Hall, mostly with Erich Leinsdorf conducting - where he normally just played through the entire program without stopping for corrections. I did see Charles Munch conducting in a regular concert - doing the Saint-Saens Organ Concerto with the same organist as in the famous RCA recording.

Both the Bolshoi and Royal Ballet visited Boston and I saw the incomparable Maya Plisetskaya performing Swan Lake as well as Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev who had defected from Russia only a few years earlier. About a decade ago I met Plisetskaya (in her late 80s about a year or two before her death) and talked with her for a short time when she was in London attending a post concert lecture given by her husband composer Rodian Shchedrin at the Barbican (after the LSO concert where they performed one of his pieces).

I also saw Joan Sutherland singing Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with the Boston Opera.

Later, in 1967, when I moved to Berkeley for grad school, I was given a ticket to the SF Opera to see La Boheme. Singing the leads were Luciano Pavarotti and Mirella Freni, Pavarotti in his official American debut. Of course, I had no idea who he was but thought he was really good.

Larry

 

[R Johnson]

When I interviewed Grammy winning Decca recording engineer Mike Mailes for my Decca book a decade ago, he told me that the recording he was most proud of doing was with Wilhelm Backhaus playing the Brahms Piano Concerto 2 with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by the great Karl Boehm (on Decca SXL6322 or London CS6550) in April 1967. Backhaus died two years later at the age of 85. His first recordings were made sixty years earlier. Backhaus was famous for his ability to transpose music to different keys. The story often told was that at a rehearsal of the Grieg piano concerto in A minor, he found the piano was tuned a half tone flat. So he played the concerto a half step higher in Bb minor. At the performance the piano was retuned correcly and he played it in A minor as written.

As I approach 80 next year, I have been fortunate to hear many of the great classical musicians who were active when I started seriously attending concerts in the early 1960's while in college in Boston. Before then my parents took me to concerts and opera performances when I was a teenager, including hearing Jon Vickers and Rita Gorr singing Samson and Delilah in Chicago as well as pianist Byron Janis in concert.

In Boston there was a celebrity series where top performers would play, often every year. There were inexpensive student tickets, and I heard Artur Rubinstein and Rudolf Serkin each year, and Van Cliburn, the Budapest String Quartet (with teenager Peter Serkin), the Julliard String Quartet, and Beaux Arts Trio and many others.

I saw the Boston Symphony many times in their very cheap rehearsals in Symphony Hall, mostly with Erich Leinsdorf conducting - where he normally just played through the entire program without stopping for corrections. I did see Charles Munch conducting in a regular concert - doing the Saint-Saens Organ Concerto with the same organist as in the famous RCA recording.

Both the Bolshoi and Royal Ballet visited Boston and I saw the incomparable Maya Plisetskaya performing Swan Lake as well as Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev who had defected from Russia only a few years earlier. About a decade ago I met Plisetskaya (in her late 80s about a year or two before her death) and talked with her for a short time when she was in London attending a post concert lecture given by her husband composer Rodian Shchedrin at the Barbican (after the LSO concert where they performed one of his pieces).

I also saw Joan Sutherland singing Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with the Boston Opera.

Later, in 1967, when I moved to Berkeley for grad school, I was given a ticket to the SF Opera to see La Boheme. Singing the leads were Luciano Pavarotti and Mirella Freni, Pavarotti in his official American debut. Of course, I had no idea who he was but thought he was really good.

Larry

Wonderful memories!

In 50 years of attending concerts and operas in Chicago, I especially remember Jon Vickers in Peter Grimes, a concert version of Salome with Birgit Nilsson and Georg Solti, and more recently, recitals by Evgeny Kissin.

 

[SeagoatLeo]

Wonderful memories!

In 50 years of attending concerts and operas in Chicago, I especially remember Jon Vickers in Peter Grimes, a concert version of Salome with Birgit Nilsson and Georg Solti, and more recently, recitals by Evgeny Kissin.

I also saw Peter Grimes with John Vickers and Colin Davis conducting, 1984 Los Angeles Olympic year with 3 operas from the Royal Opera House. That was great!

 

[SeagoatLeo]

When I interviewed Grammy winning Decca recording engineer Mike Mailes for my Decca book a decade ago, he told me that the recording he was most proud of doing was with Wilhelm Backhaus playing the Brahms Piano Concerto 2 with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by the great Karl Boehm (on Decca SXL6322 or London CS6550) in April 1967. Backhaus died two years later at the age of 85. His first recordings were made sixty years earlier. Backhaus was famous for his ability to transpose music to different keys. The story often told was that at a rehearsal of the Grieg piano concerto in A minor, he found the piano was tuned a half tone flat. So he played the concerto a half step higher in Bb minor. At the performance the piano was retuned correcly and he played it in A minor as written.

As I approach 80 next year, I have been fortunate to hear many of the great classical musicians who were active when I started seriously attending concerts in the early 1960's while in college in Boston. Before then my parents took me to concerts and opera performances when I was a teenager, including hearing Jon Vickers and Rita Gorr singing Samson and Delilah in Chicago as well as pianist Byron Janis in concert.

In Boston there was a celebrity series where top performers would play, often every year. There were inexpensive student tickets, and I heard Artur Rubinstein and Rudolf Serkin each year, and Van Cliburn, the Budapest String Quartet (with teenager Peter Serkin), the Julliard String Quartet, and Beaux Arts Trio and many others.

I saw the Boston Symphony many times in their very cheap rehearsals in Symphony Hall, mostly with Erich Leinsdorf conducting - where he normally just played through the entire program without stopping for corrections. I did see Charles Munch conducting in a regular concert - doing the Saint-Saens Organ Concerto with the same organist as in the famous RCA recording.

Both the Bolshoi and Royal Ballet visited Boston and I saw the incomparable Maya Plisetskaya performing Swan Lake as well as Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev who had defected from Russia only a few years earlier. About a decade ago I met Plisetskaya (in her late 80s about a year or two before her death) and talked with her for a short time when she was in London attending a post concert lecture given by her husband composer Rodian Shchedrin at the Barbican (after the LSO concert where they performed one of his pieces).

I also saw Joan Sutherland singing Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with the Boston Opera.

Later, in 1967, when I moved to Berkeley for grad school, I was given a ticket to the SF Opera to see La Boheme. Singing the leads were Luciano Pavarotti and Mirella Freni, Pavarotti in his official American debut. Of course, I had no idea who he was but thought he was really good.

Larry

Larry, that's great memories of great performers/performances. I have seen 400 opera productions in Los Angeles, not of the stature of the MET but performance wise, yes great NYCity Opera casts and Los Angeles Opera productions (the singing in the past decade has improved greatly with usually one or two fantastic productions and unfortunately, one dud or awful one per season). I got to see Beverly Sills (NYCOpera) and Domingo (LAOpera) very often (dozens of times) in opera.

I was a record and classical music reviewer for two years at UCLA in 1974-6 and got $2 tickets front row (I moved to the 10th row) for similarly fabulous performances Arrau, Ashkenazy, Ciccolini, Kubelik&his Bavarian Orch., Beaux Arts Trio, etc. just off the top of my head. You were very fortunate to hear some of my favorite artists in Boston.