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Hi Russell,

Good to see you here.

Garrick played with the Philly orchestra a few years ago and used our Imperial there. Afterwards we spent some time together and, although he DID have a Grotrian at one point, he shared that he sold it years ago. As far as I know, he presently plays a Bosie 200, a Bosie Imperial, and a Mason & Hamlin at home.

If this is a NEW Grotrian that you placed recently, then my apologies and congrats to Garrick!

Valentina Lisitsa is an IMG artist and a Bösendorfer artist.

Yes, and you will notice that whenever she plays in the USA, such as with the SF Symphony, she uses a Steinway.

She played a Bösendorfer in New York at the 92Y.

Whatever IMG's standard contract may say, it can always be written according to the deal that IMG makes with a particular artist. If they want someone badly enough, they wouldn't insist on the "Steinway clause."

About six months ago, I discovered a series of interviews conducted at Tanglewood in 2010 up in the Berkshires (Lenox, MA) that famed concert technician Eric Johnson 'The High End Piano Guy', had conducted with acclaimed Concert Pianist Garrick Ohlsson. Mr. Ohlsson was the first American to win first prize in the International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition, in 1970. He also won first prize at the Busoni Competition in Italy, the Montreal Piano Competition in Canada and was awarded the Avery Fisher Prize in 1994.

In these interviews. Mr. Ohlsson spoke at some length about his experiences with various piano makes, their tone, the impact of the artist on this tone and what instruments he currently owns and performs on. He owns, performs and records on: 1) a 1970's era Imperial Bosendorfer 290 - stored at SUNY in Purchase, NY, 2) a rebuilt & restored 1919 Mason & Hamlin CC, rebuilt by William Schneider from East Lansing, MI (Michigan State) - also stored at SUNY in Purchase, NY, 3) a rebuilt & restored 1919 Bosendorfer 200 that is his day to day piano in his house, and 4) a rebuilt & restored 'mid-sized' 1919 Hamburg Steinway at his mother's house (that was his first grand piano at age 11 - replacing his Story & Clark upright). His favorite two instruments are his Bosie Imperial and his M&H CC. He had owned a brand new Grotrian-Steinweg 200, when he had a timeshare in San Francisco, CA, that he very much enjoyed but no longer owns. At this point in his career, he prefers to pick for performance from one, two or even three pianos that have been located in the hall he is performing in, and optimized by a skilled and fussy in-house concert technician, such as in Boston. He doesn't want it to be moved, etc. They stay in their environment, and keep within the character that they want to be.

Interview with Garrick Ohlsson - by Eric Johnson

Here is his recordings of the Chopin Nocturnes and Ballades, on his 1970-era Bosendorfer Imperial 290:
Chopin: The Nocturnes - Garrick Ohlsson, pianist
Chopin: The Ballades - Garrick Ohlsson, pianist

Here is his recordings of the Chopin Etudes and Mazurkas, on his rebuilt & restored 1919 Mason & Hamlin CC:
Chopin: The Etudes - Garrick Ohlsson, pianist
Chopin: The Mazurkas - Garrick Ohlsson, pianist

I remember Eric doing these. Thank you for posting them here Jason. By the way, although he rarely posts here these days, Eric is a member here.

It is not a mystery as to why Steinway has the lion's share of artists. They make a great concert grand. They have more resources tied up in supporting their artists than perhaps every other piano manufacturer combined. They have been aggressively going after this market at every level with massive resources allocated since the 19th century.
When an artist has the opportunity to choose from multiple concert grands of high quality and that artist is open minded and has no affiliation with any brand and no vested interest in choosing anything other than what is best for their performance/recording it becomes a whole different game.

What maker is second to Steinway today in terms of concerts performed by pianists in their artist roster? My guess is, even without including non-classical performances, it's Yamaha.

I'm also curious about which pianos were reasonably competitive with Steinway(in terms of their share of professional concerts) during the last quarter of the 19th century and the first third of the 20th. From the little I've read, I think Bechstein and Chickering were quite popular with concert pianists at some point.

Indeed, Eric (BoseEric) posted these interviews himself on the PW forum several years ago. It's a shame that he (and some other prominent folks, particularly on the technical side) no longer participates much.

I'm almost positive that you are correct. In addition to their own classical and non-classical roster, Yamaha is bolstered by their ownership of Bosendorfer. They certainly have the financial resources and concert technician availability to support a very active C&A program, which started to hit its stride in the mid-1980's. I'm also impressed at the effort that Kawai has undertaken w.r.t. establishing a strong artist roster, which is evident in their establishment of the very 1st Shigeru Kawai International Piano Competition this year; preliminary rounds in April, final rounds to be held in August.

During the last quarter of the 19th Century, Erard, Chickering, Bechstein, Bluthner and Bosendorfer all had their afficionados. In the late 1890's Steinway & Son's really started to come into their own with an impressive roster, that continues to this day. Starting in 1900, under the tenure of Richard Gertz, Mason & Hamlin also became a very strong American competitor to Steinway with respect to an artist roster, which continued through around 1930.

As an aside - Since this is an area of history that I have researched and become acquainted with, here are just some of the concert pianists who were on Mason & Hamlin's distinguished roster: Harold Bauer, Ossip Gabrilowitsch (who also happened to be Mark Twain's son-in-law), Alexander Brailowsky, E. Robert Schmitz, Felix Fox, George Smith, Winifred Christie, Frederic Dixon and Frank Sheridan. Even the great Sergei Rachmaninoff, who had a soft spot for Bluthner prior to emigrating to the U.S., performed 26 concerts on his first tour of the U.S. between 1909-1910 performing exclusively on a Mason & Hamlin. As an Ampico recording artist, Mr. Rachmaninoff also recorded all 35 of his piano roll recordings on a specially Ampico equipped 1918/9 M&H between 1919 and 1929. In fact, his own initial 1923/4 acoustical horn recording of the Rachmaninoff 2nd Piano Concerto was performed on a Mason & Hamlin BB. Space was extremely limited for a small orchestra with soloist, so the BB was raised on a platform to allow the recording horn to have better access to the piano sound.
Sergei Rachmaninoff plays his 2nd Piano Concerto (1924) - 1st Movt - Mason & Hamlin BB
Sergei Rachmaninoff plays his 2nd Piano Concerto (1924) - 2nd Movt - Mason & Hamlin BB
Sergei Rachmaninoff plays his 2nd Piano Concerto (1924) - 3rd Movt - Mason & Hamlin BB

Alas, as Keith mentioned, Steinway & Sons was very smart and vigorous in its pursuit of concert pianists on their roster - and this included Sergei joining in the mid 1920's. Following the Depression, this movement continued, and was challenged by only Baldwin - who had an impressive roster themselves from post WWII until (as previously discussed in this thread) their bankruptcy sale to Gibson at the beginning of the 21st Century.

Jason:

It's always an occasion when, like "Ding, Dong School," you begin the class, intended I guess, for us poor, unfortunate hoi polloi, so in need of even the most basic knowledge.
For my part, I always change immediately into my best bib and tucker and poise my poor old self on the edge of my chair. Will this be the day I learn the sum of 2 + 2 ?

Although even a dim old codger like myself knew that the 1924 2nd Concerto was recorded on an M&H, I didn't know which of the Garrick Ohlsson Chopin series was recorded on which pianos. Shocking as it may seem, I actually DID know that he owned a vintage CC and a lovely 290 that he's "rode hard and put-up wet" and that they are parked at Purchase. I DIDN'T know that Mr. Schneider had rebuilt the CC. For these bits of info, I'm truly grateful. If I only knew how to manage those inch-high letters you use for your signature, I'd thank you, and profusely.

May I be allowed, please, to add one insignificant bit of my own ?

The treasured recording of the Arensky Waltz by Harold Bauer and Ossip Gabrilowitsch was recorded on two Masons. I first heard this on an RCA LP of famous pianists when I was about ten and played it so many times that it eventually became unplayable. Those two great artists and their pianos open a window into a time of beauty and refinement. I commend that recording to you.

just
Karl Watson,
Staten Island, NY

Karl,

You are a treasure here on PianoWorld; seemingly able to both chide me and compliment me in a few short paragraphs! But God bless you, you are a fountain of knowledge whether you are wearing your bib or not!

First thank you for your recommendation of the Bauer and Gabrilowitsch Arensky Waltz. I am familiar with this fantastic recording as I am of this very famous duo. It would do well for this and future generations of young pianists to become well acquainted with the orchestral integrity and grace of Bauer's playing and the golden touch of Gabrilowitsch; which are all but lost in the playing style of today's powerful virtuosos. As both were mentors of my teacher, it was only recently that I discovered that much of what he was trying to teach me was founded in the principles of how they played... Just took my thick skull 30 years to get it!

Forgive me for bringing up that Rachmaninoff had completed the first recording of his 2nd Piano Concerto on a Golden Age M&H BB in 1923/4. But as I searched the web, imagine my surprise to see none other than Stokowski.org attempt to rewrite history and claim that the recording was made on a S&S B! So I felt it was important to restate it here. Of course all the subsequent concertos were recorded using far superior electrical recording technology on specially selected Steinway D concert grands.

The interviews with Mr. Ohlsson were very enlightening; both in his comment that the same piano played by numerous artists will sound significantly different, yet different pianos played by the same pianist still retain the tone and character of the one doing the playing; An argument often lost in numerous threads in this forum! The other enlightening element of this interview was that starting with Volume 10 - The Etudes - of the Chopin Complete works, Mr. Ohlsson completed the set with his restored M&H CC. He also used this same piano to record some of his complete cycle of the Beethoven Sonatas.

A little bit off topic here. My wife's conservatory time (both at Peabody and Juilliard) was at Robert McDonald's studio, who currently is on faculty of both Curtis and Juilliard. His own performance was more on the chamber music side; one can also argue how active he currently is. However despite loving his rebuilt Steinway A3 (we chatted not that long ago), he is absent from Steinway's roster.

A couple of my wife's friends are on Yamaha's program, and a few more are on Steinway's. She also used to work in the music industry, and is quite familiar with the economics behind the scene. She told me that unless someone is a superstar, most concerting pianists are on a well controlled budget that expenses have to make sense. It means that when a pianist arrives at a venue, most likely he/she will just perform on the venue's own instrument, unless it is in such a poor shape. If one musician, on say Steinway's roster, is to pick an instrument from the local C&A bank, it will still incur the cost of transportation despite the free rental. Presenters usually pay a flat fee to the artist, which is not as big as one would think unless, again, the artist is a superstar. The fee would often (depending on the contracts) have to pay for the travel expenses too.

Jason,

I was interested to see Frederic Dixon on your list of Mason & Hamlin concert artists. He spent the end of his career teaching in Salt Lake City, where he had two BB grands in his home studio. My father was one of his students in the early 1960s, and loved playing on those pianos, especially when Dixon accompanied him on the other one.

That was a major factor in my father's decision to purchase a new M&H Model A in 1974, before we even had a sofa in the living room, and while my brother and I were still sleeping on blankets laid on the floor. The piano was much higher on his list of priorities.

I've attended Angela Hewitt concerts twice in the past year, and of course she uses Fazioli. Here in NYC, it's supplied by Faust Harrison, here on 58 Street. Funny experience. Hewitt played marvelously, and then a the intermission the FH tech came out and furiously adjusted/tuned the instrument. At both events, before the performance members of the audience walked up close to the instrument to inspect it. I believe people were more interested in the instrument than the performer.

Stephen Hough is a big fan of Fazioli and the Yamaha CFX.

Here is Angela Hewitt performing on a Steingraeber concert grand near Washington DC. She was incredibly enthusiastic about it. https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.ne...aaa6f5f4ef72ebce58919e01&oe=59446B5E

Hey, Jason -- I'm just curious -- that rebuilt 1919 Mason CC that Garrick Ohlsson owns...do you happen to know whether that is a CC or CC2 model (or even CC1)? They are structurally different. I'm curious because I have a CC2 from 1928. I don't know when they changed designs; perhaps they even used different designs simultaneously.

Hi Joe,

From the back of one of the Garrick Ohlsson Chopin CD covers, it appears that his restored Mason & Hamlin CC has a serial number of 28051, which corresponds to a concert grand manufactured in 1919. I remember reading somewhere that the 9' CC-2, with patented tension resonator, was in production from 1910-1984... which would include both Mr. Ohlsson and your concert grands. The original 9'4" CC pre-dated the 1905 Richard Gertz Tension Resonator patent; and I believe the 9'4" CC-1, with tension resonator, was manufactured approximately in the 1905-1910 timeframe. Both of these instruments were extremely long, enormously large & heavily built pianos with a beautiful & powerful tone, and much hated by piano movers... leading to the introduction of the CC-2... which also has a beautiful tone and is still a heavy instrument in it's own right.

Perhaps there are others, who have more expertise in Mason & Hamlin CC restorations, that can better comment on or validate the above? Thanks!