My M&H "A" is extraordinarily special to me, but I suppose it cannnot compete with concert grands I've played... sigh.

I'm extremely lucky to have regular access to two of the best pianos I've ever played: a Stanwoodized Hamburg Steinway C-227 and a Grotrian 225.

Of the hundreds (thousands?) of pianos I've encountered by chance, one Grotrian Concert Royale 277 got my attention!

I played a Hamburg Steinway B owned by John Browning - that piano was extraordinary in all ways.

Ok who here has played the Rubenstein R-371? *raises hand*

It's very difficult to pick the best piano I've come across, but here are a few that come to mind. A Grotrian 227 I played in Detroit and few years ago. The new C.Bechstein 234. A Bose 225 that I came across in Seattle when visiting my son and a new Steingraeber 225.

As a Grotrian owner, I never heard of the make until I happened to play a 189 owned by a fellow piano student back around 1990. Once I played one I was hooked.

Rich

Ok who here has played the Rubenstein R-371? *raises hand*

Good point. Of all the pianos I haven't tried I'd most like to try that one. However where on earth is there one ???

If I understand the article correctly that's from the Rubenstein web site, they only made one (so far).

From the recordings, it sounds to me like a piano that big really does have a sound worth making available to more artists. It sounds different from a 9 foot piano. I bet for a lot of music it's hard to control (how well do the dampers work on eleven foot bass strings??), but for the stuff they have on youtube it's great.

There was this Fazioli 278 at the store where we bought our 212. If only we had a lot more money and a much bigger home...

Laura

Pianomadam, which specific C&A piano, while my last position was with corporate Steinway & Sons, do you have one in particular? You cant mean all of them, as they are all prepared differently, which is why certain artist request a specific number number.

Grand: Steinway D - The College of St. Rose, Albany, New York

Modern Upright: Baldwin 6000 Concert Vertical (owned by a long-time tuning client...she called me yesterday and wants to sell it!!!)

Older Upright: Ivers & Pond, circa 1900 -- hadn't been tuned in years and sounded like a train derailing pre-tuning...case painted white, ivories falling off as I played. Once tuned, the tone was absolutely gorgeous.

Rubinstein´s words may weigh heavier then mine:

"Well, this Blüthner had the most beautiful singing tone I had ever found", he recalled. "Suddenly I became quite enthusiastic and decided to play my beloved Barcarolle of Chopin. The piano inspired me. I don't think I ever played better in my life. And then the miracle happened. They played it back to me and I must confess that I had tears in my eyes."

Arthur Rubinstein

I, myself, have had wonderful encounters with Steingraebers, Steinways and, of course, Blüthners.

A Bosendorfer 225 at a dealer in HK.

No Competition.

Not even the many Steinway Ds, in any halls, that I've played in can match that Bosendorfer. I was in love... and still is.

Hmmm,

I played almost all grands at Tom Lee in Tsim Tsa Tsui in Hongkong and the one that came up the winner was the Steingraeber. Second came a large Steinway
they had locked in behind glass doors. None of the Bösendorfers made any big impression on me. The dynamic range of the Steingraeber seemed so much greater then the Bösendorfer standing beside it.

That is the dealer that I went to lol. I didn't see the Steingraeber there when I went end of last year. But there was a few Bosendorfers there, and the 225, which I was about to order, and ship to NZ, stole my heart, and remains the best piano I've ever played on. I eventually didn't get it because I went for a cheaper, and smaller Schimmel, fearing the 225 won't fit in the house.

Steinway D in Europe, Poland.

The local Steinway dealer last c&a D WAS ABSOLUTLY stunning. It was head a shoulders above every other piano I have ever played.

The story goes, The Florida Orchestra conductor, Mr. Sanderling (i know i am mis-spelling his name), went to the factory to select a D a wasnt totally impressed with any of the 4 available..

So they went to the c&a department at steinway hall and chose from over 15 d's.

His choice was truly a perfect one.

I just remembered that I played a C&A B once that was very nice, but not as good as my own B.

Best piano I have ever played? see below in the signature line.

I will, however, make allowances for a Steingraeber 272 at the factory in Bayreuth and the Steinway D at the Steinway recital hall here in Munich.

Fazioli, Bösendorfer, Bechstein, Blüther, Förster are all very nice instruments but in my opinion don't quite match the versatility of the Steingraeber.

A 1891 S&S D which was rebuilt by Dave Hughes of Baltimore and which I now own.

Can't remember. I sold it to a local music school.

A 1907 Mason & Hamlin AA. When it's in tune it sings. This M&G AA sounds so much better than its newer relations. M&H did something to their scale design that took away this magic that the pianos used to have.

A 1905 Blüthner concert grand. This piano lives at the Frederick Collection in Ashburnham. The levels of dynamics on this piano are amazing. It's easy to go from a nice fortissimo to so soft that you can just barely "smell" the sound as someone else put it.

A 2008 Steingraeber 168 (I maybe off about the size). This was one nice piano, but way out of my price league.

An 1828 Conrad Graf fortepiano. The tone was so warm coming out of it that the music just glowed. I've heard replicas of these pianos, but they never came even close to this one.

John

Of the limited exposure I've had, my best experiences were from a Steinway & Sons C grand and top of the range Steinway K upright that had the most amazing action with a full, rich tone. Honestly I think the upright will beat 90% of grand pianos in SA.

Both were at the (only) Steinway distributor's in Johannesburg. I also tried a custom D here, but I think the price and exclusivity of it may have spoilt my experience, but it probably will also qualify as my best.

At the opposite end of the scale, my greatest dissapointment (though it wasn't a bad piano) has to be a Yamaha Concert grand from which I was expecting a far better experience. (I have a Yamaha CP300 digital stage piano at home which offers a better experience but simply lacks the individual character an acoustic.


Bruce C

In the early 1980's, I played a 9' Baldwin SD-10 that had been shipped to the dealer in Wilmington, NC for a nationally known concert artist's performance. There was a standard 5' 8" beside it, the difference was like night and day. (at the time, it would have likely sold for more than my total net worth.)

Currently, the local college's S&S model B.

Verticals: any of a number of Baldwin Hamilton studio models also in the 1980's time frame.

Electronic: My Kurzweil PC3X set to the "Recital Piano" preset. I know it is not a real acoustic - but - I can play it any time I wish, this is (sadly) not true about the SD-10.

Jim

Until recently it was the Hamburg D that resided in the concert hall at the Banff Centre. I played this a number of times in the late '70s and you could lay your hands on the keyboard, think of how you wanted it to sound and it just did it - quite remarkable. It was hand picked by Gyorgy Sebok who headed up the piano program at Banff in those days.
Rivaling this is my own NY B worked on by a Hamburg trained technician.
Recently however I've come across two others that possibly jump to the top of the rankings. First a Fazioli 278 I played while passing thru NYC. Great tone, absolutely perfect touch. My other memorable experience was at Boesendorfer Haus in Vienna where a 214 exhibit quite remarkable touch and control. It was possible to play a quiet pp without using the una corda pedal. The tone still ranked it behind the Fazioli and my Steinway, but it was still a remarkable instrument.

I would have to say that the best piano I have ever played was a Fazioli 308.

It was not my favourite piano, but from an objective point of view, it was the best. I prefer Steinways due to the nature of their sound, but the Faziolis are better pianos, hands down.

The nicest piano I have ever played was the Bosendorfer 225 at Cathy Harl's shop (also the nicest shop). The Bosie was followed by a Steingraeber 205 she had on consignment. I also love my Bluthner, of course. Other than those, there is lovely bubinga wood Steinway L at my local Steinway Gallery that is one of only 2 or 3 instruments I've played there that I'd consider.

Incidentally, I am neither an accomplished pianist nor a technician. So the sample size of my personal survey isn't anywhere near as large as it is for many if not most of you. I've probably played fewer than 100 grands in my life, the majority of them Yamahas, Kawais and Steinways. I've been fortunate to have played some of the more "exotic" European brands (e.g. the Bosie, Bluthner, Steingraber, Bechstein, Sauter, Grotrian) but in those cases it was perhaps only 1 or 2 examples of these brands and not for very long.

On the other hand (and this was a surprise for me) I really have had a strong preference for certain individual instruments. Most of the pianos I've touched play, some play well. However, the ones I've listed above, really sang to me. When I played them, I suddenly felt like a better player--which in my case is really good thing!

Happy new year.

Stuart & Sons!!!!

Could I ask which size it was (2.2m or 2.9m) and where it was located?

Regards
Chris

.

10. Petrof (about 5'8")

9. Yamaha S-7

8. C. Bechstein

7. My former teacher's Steinway "B"

6. Estonia L190 at dealer's

5. Our Estonia L190

4. S&S NY 1878 "B" Fully restored.

3. S&S "D" prepped for concerts--not sure whether it had a CD designation or not.

2. Bosendorfer--not sure of model, but very long--years ago.

1. 1906 S&S "B" (or that size at least) Hamburg-fully restored in the city of its birth. Beyond beautiful. When you touched the keys, Angel's voices came out of it.

Russ

You guys and gals have played some nice pianos.

Not counting plinking out a scale or two at a dealer's place, the nicest piano I have played for any real amount of time is the Kawai K-5 where I take my lessons. It has great keytops, the touch makes it easy to get differing shades of dynamics, and the tone has no imperfections.

I'm hoping that as my K-2 matures, it is still an infant, it will approach the tone of that K-5 somewhat.

For someone who has played a great number of pianos in his life, this is a very difficult question to answer.

While it is relatively easy to belt out names like "this or that brand", the more seasoned answer what be IMHO examining also the particular circumstances and "settings" involved.

What people don't realize is that the environment, including the "mood", directly seems to influence the perception of how a piano performs and *sounds*.

This is simply because we *play* pianos differently at different times - often subconsciously.

This is very evident when people try very same instruments at different times and - under slightly different circumstances.

For many the experience of "best sound" is when emotionally in high or at least "even" spirits, without the constraints of other constraints [such as "buyer's anxiety" ]

For me, my own best *perception* of sound is when I can play my very best, unencumbered by other distractions.

Catch yourself at different times and different moods - and the *perception of sound* may very well be very different.

That this varies constantly for just about everybody ever trying or playing a piano, is part of why we will never "agree" on this subject.

Nor should we....

Norbert