At Long Last here are the photos of the new Grotrian[/b]


Inside the beast:



The Piano Room: Note the Kawai curled up next to its new friend.



Piano*Son Anthony looking serious




The two of us


At long last here are the photos:[/b]

Great choice!

Very beautiful!

Congrats!

What great photos! And what a beautiful piano! (I won't embarrass your son by pointing out that he's a handsome young man indeed.) And what could be better than owning one terrific grand but owning TWO terrific grands! I bet you really rattle those windows when you get both going.

Is that a keyboard plugged into the wall on the left of the first photo? You can have a regular jam session.

I also love the stained glass accents on the window.

Congratulations on your new piano!

Congratulations to a fine choice - certainly one of the finest in the industry....

Grotrians', by the way, are some of the very few pianos today still single strung.

Have you noticed anything *special* regarding the sound in your Grotrian that would help explain why this company would still go the extra mile in constructing their pianos this way?

norbert

The stained glass is a new addition to the room. It is functional. Curtains would have been ridiculous, but something was needed to diffuse the light that comes in the transom lights. The glass was the answer. Hope it works in winter.

The little keyboard isn't being used at present. The wall plug got smashed and we haven't replaced it yet.

We'll get going with the two pianos as soon as I get a second copy of the Haydn concerto in D. Anthony doesn't have it memorized yet, and I certainly don't want to memorize the second piano part.

Unbelievable! Two grands? How wonderful for you and your family. Both are beautiful, of course your new pride and joy is the Grotrian! Many, many happy hours of music to you and many great duets as well. Love the 'music' room, especially the windows and lights.

Gorgeous! And I'm always admiring the homes on the east coast with the beautiful interiors.

Norbert,

The upper bass to lower treble sings like no other piano I have played. The resonance has a tonal quality that really grabs me.

David

Beautiful!

Congratulations! That's a piano student's dream instrument.

Grotrian is perhaps one of the few examples left today to demonstrate that all the *features* and *specs* in the world don't make a fine instrument.

No Duplex scale, no muting felts in treble section, no fancy bubinga inner rim, no *Fiemme valley* soundboard, no this and that, some models not even a slow closing fallboard, no nada.

Only one hell of an instrument.

End of dealer hype.

norbert

Wow! I want me one of those...

Hey Norbert, Grotrian sold out .... they now have a slow-closing fallboard!

That's actually a nice feature. The inner rim is in a nice wood which sets it off from the polyester. But in general you are quite right, the main focus of the company seems to be on doing the basics right. Plain cabinet, but very well done etc. etc.

David

Piano*Dad,

Congratulations. The Grotrian 192 I've played was very nice, though I do not recall it has having a slow-closing fallboard or what wood veneer it has (if any) on the inside of the outer rim. I agree with you that the slow-closing fallboard being a very nice feature, and wood-finished inside of the outer rim certainly make it look less boring than, say, Steinway, which I believe is among the very few hold-outs that still has black finish on the inside of its outer rim for black pianos. (Not sure if Steinway has jumped on the slow-closing fallboard band-wagon either -- such a useful innovation in pianodom.)

Two pianos in one room, two pianists in one family -- just imagine all the two-piano fun you can have!

Axtremus:

Yeah, Anthony pretty much has his part of the Haydn down (it's the third movement ...Hungarian Rondo). Now I've got to do my homework.

Heck, we could have some real fun. Just up the street is a really fine twelve year old violinist (working up the Mendelssohn concerto), and my other son is a pretty decent flutist. I wonder what has been written for the three instruments? How about for flute and piano?

David

Looks nice.
What size Grotrian is that?
Which one does your son prefer to play?

Does anyone know a Grotrian dealer in New England?

Thanks

the bach flute sonatas are sublime.

there's also a poulenc flute sonata, a prokofiev flute sonata, and an arrangement of bartok for flute and piano.

and the flute can play most violin sonatas.

(former flautist speaking here.)

There's only 12 authorized Grotrian dealers in the whole U.S. The closest to you is NY:

Beethoven Pianos
232 West 58th Street
NY 10019
New York
USA
212 765 7300
www.beethovenpianos.com

The next closest would be Harl Pianos in the D.C. area.

brynbstn7

It is a 192cm "Cabinet" model ...around 6'4"

Anthony has a clear preference for the new beast. But I have him do his exercises on the Kawai.

Beautiful! COngratulations!

Congratulations! I assume your son smiles a bit more when he is actually playing that wonderful Grotrian?

Do you guys have to flip a coin when choosing pianos? Choosing can be the least harmonious part of playing duets...

Two flute pieces I like (a flautist once, myself): "Concertino" by Cécile Chaminade. Also, the "Introduction and Variations on a Theme from Die Schöne Müllerin", by Schubert. These are a bit tough to play. Bach is always wonderful.

Norbert, in addition to the slow-close fallboard and wood-finished inner rim, I'm pretty sure Grotrian does [/b] use duplex scaling!?

Also, the soundboard may not be from the Val de Fiemme, but Grotrian does select choice Bavarian spruce from Holzwerke Strunz (thank you, Piqué!). They call it a "homogeneous sound board", where all of the wood parts are tuned to each other.

Kluge keyboard, Renner action, etc. etc. The "features" definitely are[/b] there. They are just hidden behind an alarmingly simple appearance.

But you know that already.

grotrian calls their scale a "mixture" scale. there are thin metal strips glued onto the plate just before the hitch pins, and this creates a very narrow duplex area. but if you ask them if they have a duplex scale, they say no.

you are welcome, whippen boy! btw, your post makes it sound as if grotrian makes their own soundboards with wood selected from strunz.

strunz manufactures the flat soundboard to grotrian's specs. then grotrian shapes it and glues on the ribs at their own factory.

i don't know what you mean by the wood parts being tuned to each other. this sounds like sales hype to me!

Whippen boy,

No choice involved. If we're playing a duo piano piece, he'll get the Grotrian and I'll take the Kawai.

And my flautist son is but 10. He has studied with a flute teacher at the college for nearly two years, and he's rather good for his age, but perhaps something simpler would be a better introduction to chamber music!

Piano*Dad:

From one Grotrian owner to another: Congratulations!

Perhaps I should change my screen name to Paino*Grandpa, since I have become the proud granfather to twin boys.

I have been introducing them to the piano from the earliest stages. Now at 13 months, I put them on my lap at the piano and let them "play". I suspect there aren't that many twins who are introduced to piano via a Grotrian!

Dave

Sorry Piqué, I didn't mean to obfuscate. As you informed us, Strunz Holzwerke makes the soundboards.

Sales hype or not, this is directly from the Grotrian website:
Another step of development
is the "homogenous sounding board" where
the individual pieces of wood have to be
harmonically tuned to each other.

I imagine that any piece of wood can make a tone when struck; if more than one piece is needed, why not select pieces that are in harmony with each other? I leave it to the experts to decide if this has any demonstrable benefits. In my (musician's) mind, it's a great idea!

All I know, is that Grotrians sound tremendous[/b]!

Thanks for that interesting tidbit re: the "mixture scale" - I had not heard about that before. I find Grotrian technical specs & info is a bit harder to come by, probably because I never got any brochures with my 225.

Something Norbert mentioned brings up this question: why are the tonal benefits[/b] of single-stringing so difficult to prove? Larry Fine (and others) are vague about whether it is an advantage, tonally. Tests are needed!

That sounds like a candidate for a new thread.

Piano*Dad, try some Telemann pieces - they are easier for a young flautist.

How about posting a recording of both pianos?? We could try to guess which one is the Grotrian!

Guessing which was which would be pretty easy!

Actually, I'm planning to set up a recording system ...but I'm not there yet.

Hey, that's mean! Piano*Dad would be crushed if half of us guessed wrong. Don't do it!

Congratulations Piano*Dad. That is a beautiful piano. You are lucky to have a musical family.

John

Piano*Dad,

I'm wondering which model Kawai you have. And, since you have it right next to the Grotrian...what are the most interesting tonal differences?