Neil & Jill (www.crosslandduo.com) made a few recordings on my piano today (Debussy - Petit Suite). I've put up a few excerpts:
http://www.diarmuid.dunne.btinternet.co.uk/Debussy.mp3
http://www.diarmuid.dunne.btinternet.co.uk/Debussy2.mp3
http://www.diarmuid.dunne.btinternet.co.uk/Debussy3.mp3
http://www.diarmuid.dunne.btinternet.co.uk/Debussy4.mp3

How lovely, thanks for brightening a rather dull, rainy day here!

Susan

i've never heard those pieces but i enjoyed them very much! thank you

My compliments again to the Crossland Duo---very nice.

Remind me of what this was recoded on (piano). I think you mentioned it once, but I can't recall.

Thanks again.

Mat D.

Thanks everyone Matt it's a Yamaha GranTouch GT2.

We had great fun doing them, and we'd had a slightly liquid lunch so Jill kept getting the giggles (which meant a few retakes :D).

Diarmuid, We're thinking of getting a new piano in our Church--our current piano is a very low level console and we have no room for a grand (nor the budget). I think the GT2 might be a candidate. Obviously the sound "engine" is samples, but they sound different than the Clavinova series pianos. The Clavinovas have some nice "bells & whistles", but as a piano, this sounds better from what I can tell. Are there any other voices or is this meant to replace an acoustic piano solely? It would be nice to have the "organ" patches available from the piano position (seperated from the organ by 25 feet). I could use the GT2 and an Alesis QSR module for the best of both worlds--budget allowing. (is there an auxilary in for this purpose?)

Can you tell me the approx. street price for one of these?

thanks in advance,

Mat D.

Hi Mat,

I find the piano sampling in the GranTouch range is much better than in the clavinovas. The GranTouches do have their weaknesses though, particularly when you're going for ff or fff. They just lack that extra response/depth of tone, but this is a minor quibble.

You definately can get all the bells and whistles as they all come with a disklavier unit as an option (except the upright models). I have one on my GT2, it's got around 700 voices (including pipe organ) some are ok but unfortunately most of them are pretty lame If you'd like to hear a few I could record some scales & chords with the different voices for you.

Finally, compared to other digitals they are expensive! I paid £6000.00 (uk pounds) for mine. I have to say that I think it was worth it though. All round I think they're the best digital pianos on the market.

[ June 13, 2001: Message edited by: Diarmuid ]

Hello Diarmuid,

nice to hear those pieces again - the piano sounds astonishingly "real".
I used to play the "Petit Suite" years ago together with a friend and after first struggling a bit along, we managed quite well.
It was fun playing four hands - unfortunately he now lives far away and I have never found another piano-partner as good as him. I've been taking piano lessons again for two months now. I'll need some time to exercise on my own first, but I think I will ask my teacher if we can start on pieces for two players. Any suggestions?
I've played Brahms "Liebesliederwalzer" lots of Schuhmann (concerto for two pianos - rather difficult for me to managage, but nevertheless lots of fun - my former teacher had two pianos in her living room!), Motzkowsky Spanish Dances(not too difficult, but very nice).

Ruth

Hi Ruth,

Glad you liked the music (and the piano :)). I don't know too many duet pieces but I could recommend:

Ravel - Mother Goose Suit

...and possibly the best duet piece I've ever heard (but quite difficult in places)

Schubert - Fantasia in F minor op.103, D940

Diarmuid.

Diarmuid,

Thanks for the info. I will check them out locally. The new CLP 970 of the "new" Clavinova series is also quite nice, but i will check them out together.

I'll report in the near future on my findings.

Mat D.

Funny,
im also about to buy a digital piano.. My budget is very low though so I think I'll stick to the CLP 930 or maybe CLP 950 .. Here in Denmark they can be purchased for about 1300$[/b] (930) and 1800$[/b] (950) ON SALE!
and that's alot of money for a poor student!
The CLP 970 cost about 3100$[/b] and that's far beyond my budget

I compared the clavinova series with another brand called 'Technics'.. and I definetly liked the sound of the Clavinva better !

Well im off to try out some more digital's

Regards
Daniel

Hi Daniel,

Before I had the GranTouch I had one of the older Clavinovas. It was great, and the new ones are even better. I wouldn't have any problem recommending them. They're great value for money.

Ok this is probably one mp3 too many but I'm learning a few of the Goldberg Variations so I thought I'd give you a snippet of my Aria. Brendan's had a listen (and spotted my deficiencies) so I thought I'd give you guys a go.

http://www.diarmuid.dunne.btinternet.co.uk/GoldAria.mp3

[ June 16, 2001: Message edited by: Diarmuid ]