Boesendorfer magazine 2010 en

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BÖSENDORFER

The New Bösendorfer Hall

Interviews: Carlo Grante / Axel Zwingenberger

The New Bösendorfer Selection Centre

The magazine by Bösendorfer Austria N0. 5 | December 2010

Postage paid | Publisher’s post office: 1010 ViennaL. Bösendorfer Klavierfabrik GmbH, Bösendorferstraße 12, A-1010 Wien, [email protected], www.boesendorfer.com | If undeliverable, please return to sender

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B Ö S E N D O R F E R – The magazine by Bösendorfer Austria

For 15 years, photographer David Peters has explored the question of how the largest and glossiest Bösendorfer grands can best be photographed. After all, you can’t just quickly trans-port a 500 kg instrument into a perfect studio environment. We have now compiled the best photos into an online database.

New Bösendorfer Photo Database

PHOTO DATABASE

All high-resolution photos from the Bösendorfer archive are being made available in our new photo database. Our

archive consists of hundreds of photos that are now available to dealers, business partners and the press for the fi rst time. Customers will also be able to fl ip through the many preview images and thereby get a picture of “their” piano. Usernames and passwords are made available upon request so that the photo material can be downloaded in high resolution. In the future, photos of new piano models will be placed online im-mediately at photo.boesendorfer.com

Browsing is welcome – every visitor to the Bösendorfer photo database can access all available photos in low resolution.

For every instrument there is an overview page for the avail-able photos. The low-resolution photos are large enough for the viewer to get a picture of each piano.

Browsing is welcome – every visitor to the Bösendorfer photo

For every instrument there is an overview page for the avail-

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Dear Reader,

Editorial

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E D I T O R I A L

New Bösendorfer Photo Database ................................................. 2Editorial · Imprint ................................................................................... 3With Considerable Passion .................................................................. 4The New Bösendorfer Hall – Bösendorfer Hall III ..................... 6Oscar Peterson’s Bösendorfer in Ottawa ...................................... 8New Bösendorfer Imperial for Yamaha Ginza Hall in Tokyo ................................................................................. 8New Bösendorfer Showroom in Beijing ....................................... 9Interview: Carlo Grante ...................................................................... 10

Welcome to the New Bösendorfer Selection Centre! ............ 12The Cast Iron Frame – Guarantee of Stability and Durability ................................................................. 14BOEdit, Editing Software Exclusively for CEUS ......................... 16Bösendorfer disklavierTM E3, the Entertainer ............................... 17Franz Liszt, Europe and Bösendorfer ............................................ 18Romanian National Radio Plays Imperial ................................... 19Bösendorfer Downtown .................................................................... 19

Contents

Bösendorfer has undertaken a great deal in 2010 and today

we can proudly say that we have achieved our goals!

It began with the project to con-solidate the management de-

partments, which were formerly in Vienna’s Fourth District, with the factory in Wiener Neustadt. The process of moving the administra-tion, marketing and parts of sales to entirely newly designed office spaces in Wiener Neustadt could be completed in the spring according to plan. Construction of the new service centre in Vienna’s Tenth District, as a base for our technicians and a “control room” for our rental fleet, was completed at the same time. The inauguration of the newly built Bösen-dorfer Selection Centre in Wiener Neustadt occurred in May and the inaugural concert of the new Bösendorfer Hall in the Mozarthaus Vienna took place in October. You’ll find compre-hensive reports and photos from both of these events in this issue.

Moreover, on the following pages we present a selection of Bösendorfer activities around the globe over recent

months.

Information on the cast iron frame as a significant compo-nent of a grand or upright piano, as well as current product

developments, will give you insight into our manufacturing process.

In this issue we present artists’ perspectives in two inter-views. Axel Zwingenberger, boogie-woogie and blues pia-

nist with a great affinity to Bösendorfer, and Carlo Grante, one of the leading Italian concert pianists, have taken the time to answer our questions.

In this issue we have endeavored to give you a diverse and informative cross section of life at Bösendorfer over recent

months.

Reorganisation of the Bösendorfer company was complet-ed in 2010. The foundation has been newly laid. We look

forward to the future. We cordially invite you to accompany us on our way to a successful future!

Yoshichika SakaiManaging Director

Imprint · Editor, media proprietor, publisher: L. Bösendorfer Klavierfabrik GmbH, Bösendorferstraße 12, A-1010 Wien, Tel. 01.504.66.51-0 · Design and layout: FineStudiose. U., Vienna. Produced and printed in Austria. Distribution: self-distribution to Bösendorfer friends and interested parties. Editorial office address: L.Bösendorfer Klavierfabrik GmbH, Attn.: Dr. Rupert Löschnauer, Gymelsdorfergasse 42, A-2700 Wr. Neustadt. Senior editor: Dr. Rupert Löschnauer, Monika Frank. Authors: Ferdinand Bräu, Albert Frantz, Noriyuki Kon, Dr. Rupert Löschnauer, Mag. Stefan Radschiner, Yoshichika Sakai, Jan Sauerzapf, Jim Welter, Ion Zaharia. Photos: Rob Barg, Hans Czihak, Foto Fayer, Wei Huang, Franz Liszt Museum Budapest, Yamaha Media Works Corp., Virgil Oprina, David M. Peters, Agentur Wulz Services, Music & Arts Programs of America. Lectorship: Mag. Gabriele Grinschgl. Translation: Albert Frantz. Primary direction and disclosure according to media law: Magazine for persons interested in music and friends of Bösendorfer in Austria. Errata and printing errors, etc., including price quotations, excepted. No liability is assumed for unsolicited pictures and manuscripts submitted. Reprints permitted exclusively upon written consent of the publisher. All rights reserved. Contributions marked by name present the author’s opinion, not always that of the publisher. No legal action will be countenanced for sweepstakes.

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I n t e r v i e w

BÖSENDORFER: When you came to us at Bösendorfer Down-town it occurred to me that you headed straight for the Impe-rial and started playing boogie-woogie, with considerable pas-sion after all these years of your career. Indeed, you have two great passions: boogie and blues and the railroad…Axel Zwingenberger: Yes, and my wife… (laughs) BÖSENDORFER: What exactly about the railroad do you find so fascinating?Axel Zwingenberger: The railroad already fascinated me as a child. I grew up in the steam train era. When you stood at a railroad crossing and a train passed, back then it was a big, snarling monster that smoked unbelievably. That fascinated me. The machine’s boiler produced this pressure, the steam with which the whole thing works, and that occurs with noise emission. Nowadays nothing of the machine’s effort can be felt. Today an “icebox” passes and it hums a bit. An early childhood memory… which I also translated to photography. First as a ten-year-old and later with my book Vom Zauber der Züge (The Magic of Trains), where I also tried to connect the music, blues and boogie-woogie with the railroad, with the steam train. There are many connections having to do with this topic. In terms of rhythm there are many connections, and there’s also creating a visual component with which you can connect things. It thus not only remained a childhood memory, it turned into even more and inspired me creatively. BÖSENDORFER: Do you see the relation between the effort of a machine and the roots of blues?

With Considerable PassionThe German boogie-woogie and blues pianist and composer Axel Zwingenberger spoke with Stefan Radschiner about authentic boogie, classical music, anarchy and snarling monsters…

Axel Zwingenberger: Yes. Blues arose in the US, namely on the basis of Black music. Later, a lot of White elements en-tered into it, such as the instruments. That then became Black folklore in the US, blues, and in the time in which it especially developed, particularly in the time in which America was also developed with the aid of the steam engine. And this experi-ence that I had as a child, that also made a strong impression on people back then. And it was also reflected in blues. BÖSENDORFER: Even in “classical” music there’s something similar, namely “Pacific 231” (by Arthur Honegger), where this very breathing of the machines, this approaching, this gaining strength, this acceleration and at the end this stopping are all written out. It’s a very dynamic piece. Both remain a passion for you, even if it’s limited to steam trains… You’re also on the road by car a great deal.Axel Zwingenberger: Yes, I travel quite a lot by car – that of course also has a lot to do with movement. Actually I’m con-stantly moving. That’s right. In this respect, that’s the connect-ing element. That’s by the way also a basis of blues, boogie-woo-gie and classical jazz. Indeed, styles always create motion, even if they’re slow. Blues is always about a walking motion; without this groove the whole would fall apart. And maybe that’s also one of the reasons why I left classical music, because this mo-ment of motion is very dear to me. I take joy in this grounded pulse that you have to feel in yourself – which incidentally you don’t necessary have at birth – in being able to place the rhyth-mic frictions and subtleties upon it. That’s a musical principle that doesn’t come from European classical music.

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Boogie-woogie pianist Axel Zwingenberger in action: in life and at the piano, always in motion…

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BÖSENDORFER: Did that develop in such a way that you said to yourself that you’ll now leave classical music behind, or did you grow into it? Or was there a particular experience that was pivotal for you?Axel Zwingenberger: The experience was that I first heard au-thentic boogie when I was seventeen, on old shellac records, old 78s. They were pieces from these great boogie-woogie masters, from Pete Johnson, Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis, and I was totally struck by them, that you can play pi-ano this way, in this form. Yet it became clear to me relatively quickly that boogie depends on something else. You handle the piano very differently: only creating these sounds by con-stantly breaking the rules you learned. And I had the feeling that if I try to play both side by side, both would be neither fish nor fowl. That’s how I gave up conventional piano play-ing. BÖSENDORFER: That means that musically speaking, or at least in terms of classical music or pianistically, you’re a sort of anarchist because you break the rules…Axel Zwingenberger: Anarchistic would only be in the sense of claiming absolute truth for the other music. But I don’t see it like that, that any particular music can claim absolute truth. BÖSENDORFER: When was your first contact with Bösendorfer, and with the instrument?Axel Zwingenberger: De facto 1976 in the Konzerthaus, when I played this boogie-woogie concert together with Martin Pyrker, George Möller and Vince Weber. A memorable occa-sion. At the time we had three Bösendorfers onstage, among them an Imperial. And that fascinated me a lot back then. BÖSENDORFER: What was the most exotic place you’ve vis-ited?Axel Zwingenberger: The most exotic country was without doubt the Central African Republic. That’s not exactly a small country, but there are altogether only 500 km of paved roads. The piano as an instrument isn’t all that common there – that was already an exotic factor. BÖSENDORFER: And how does one get one’s hands on a grand piano in such a country?Axel Zwingenberger: Well, they can be traced to wherever there happens to be one and then the instruments are made available. BÖSENDORFER: We just spoke of “Pacific 231” by Arthur Honeg-ger – let’s talk about another “Honegger.” There’s a curious thing that on the one hand has to do with movement, on the other hand it doesn’t, since this good piece is really anywhere. It’s the railway car from another Honecker, namely Erich.Axel Zwingenberger: That’s not just a car, it’s a whole train. BÖSENDORFER: And it belongs to you.Axel Zwingenberger: Yes. This so-called turning point, after the upheaval in 1989…

BÖSENDORFER: … that was also quite a movement…Axel Zwingenberger: Sure, that was of course a Europe-wide movement, though in particular one of German history. In Germany they often dealt with it by discarding a lot that had to do with the DDR, and everything that had to do with the west was put into a museum. And there was a moment in the Federal Republic of Germany and the DDR’s history in which trains played a special role, namely in Willy Brandt’s first meeting with the then-DDR minister president Willi Stoph. They met in Erfurt and in Kassel in 1970 and there was this problem of conveying diplomatic recognition of the other country whenever one paid a visit to the other. And they solved it by meeting once in the DDR and once in the Federal Republic, civilly, so to speak, in hotels, each time with a special diplomatic train that traveled there so that you practically had the status of neutral soil. And the DDR had just completed a new train that was the DDR’s government train. It’s a long story, but I got into a position where I got it as scrap metal, in which I could save it from being scrapped. That’s what I did. BÖSENDORFER: That means you rescued this train, this histori-cal monument.Axel Zwingenberger: I was the rescuer. It was actually the case that the cutting torches were more or less standing by. I outbid the junk value. BÖSENDORFER: Is it now under historic monument protec-tion?Axel Zwingenberger: Yes. It’s now located south of Berlin, in Lutherstadt Wittenberg. It’s of course in need of repair at the moment. The cars weren’t given to me in the condition in which they were used by the government and party lead-ers – they had been parked for years. But the substance is still there. BÖSENDORFER: The final question I wanted to ask is this: What’s life all about?Axel Zwingenberger: Put quite simply: Be yourself, whatever that looks like. How much being yourself is compatible with everyone else, that’s something you have to work out or even battle out. But at bottom it’s that, and everyone has his or her own task – that’s the beauty. BÖSENDORFER: How would you describe yourself first and foremost: as a pianist, as a boogie-woogie pianist or as an art-ist…Axel Zwingenberger: If I’m asked I say I’m a boogie-woogie and blues pianist. Boogie-woogie pianist, that’s actually it ex-actly. And artist… I don’t run around telling myself constantly, “I’m an artist!” though that obviously is part of this field, but for me I just say boogie-woogie and blues pianist. BÖSENDORFER: But it’s an art…Axel Zwingenberger: … Yes it’s an art! BÖSENDORFER: A heartfelt thanks to you.

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Bösendorfer HALL

On May 2, 1913, the Rosé Quartet played Beethoven’s String Quartet in F major, Schubert’s String Quintet in C major

and Haydn’s Variations on the National Anthem. As the final tones sounded, the audience left silently and the doors to Bösendorfer Hall I were closed forever. Back then, the famous concert hall – Ludwig Bösendorfer’s most beloved child – was forced to give way to a construction project, which inciden-tally couldn’t be realised for 20 years. Ludwig Bösendorfer was heavily affected by the closing of his concert hall, and he died in 1919.Today, located at Herrengasse 6 in the First District is Vienna’s first so-called high-rise. A marble block continues to remind visitors of this temple of music, in which the giants of the age, including Brahms, Liszt, d’Albert, Busoni, Backhaus and others, gave piano performances. That was Bösendorfer Hall No. 1. Another 70 years would pass before the former pro-

duction and wood storage facility located at Graf Starhem-berg-Gasse 14 would be converted into and rededicated as a concert hall and intermission room, the Habig Foyer. The Habig Foyer was named after the Habig family, which as the owner of Kimball International (USA) had been a good proprietor for Bösendorfer for 35 years, namely from 1966 to 2001. In 1983, this second Bösendorfer Hall, with a capacity of 150 seats, was ceremoniously opened by the then-mayor of Vienna, Helmut Zilk. The idea was to offer young, talented musicians, naturally chief among them young pianists, a fi-nancially affordable podium and a public. The Bösendorfer company has also always remained faithful to this principle. Over the years, the concerts became more and more inter-national and even world-famous artists from Austria and abroad made their way to Graf Starhemberg-Gasse. Among them were famous personalities such as Lionel Richie, Paul

We are delighted to announce the opening of our new Bösendorfer Hall III in the heart of the City of Music, Vienna. Bösendorfer concert life continues with renewed impetus at a famous location and in collaboration with Bösendorfer’s home city.

The New Bösendorfer Hall –Bösendorfer Hall III

Opening ceremony on October 6, 2010 at a very famous location... in the new and third Bösendorfer Hall in the Mozarthaus Vienna, Domgasse 5, 1010 Vienna

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Bösendorfer HALL

Badura-Skoda and András Schiff, who gave his return concert in Austria in Bösendorfer Hall in 2001 following his boycott in protest of the Austrian People’s Party and Freedom Party coalition. It was a great experience for the many celebrants and the regular audience. We mustn’t forget the nearly 110 concerts that the world-famous boogie-woogie pianist Axel

Zwingenberger gave, always in the pre-Christmas period – an institution that has been cultivated there for 23 years, and that will continue.

A new proprietor came at the beginning of 2002. The “cul-tural investment with patriotic note” by BAWAG P.S.K.

sounded very good, although it lasted for only six years. Due to BAWAG P.S.K.’s own difficulties, the bank itself got anoth-er owner and Bösendorfer was sold to the major Japanese corporate music group Yamaha. As of 2008, BAWAG was his-tory. However, one thought remained, namely leaving the old factory in Graf Starhemberg-Gasse, which BAWAG P.S.K. had already pursued. Under Yamaha, this thought became real-ity at the end of March 2010, and Bösendorfer Hall No. 2 also closed its portals forever.

The new Bösendorfer Hall in the Mozarthaus Vienna

Already in the summer of 2009, we were looking for a suit-able solution for continuing Bösendorfer’s concert life.

Organising and accompanying concerts may not be the pri-mary activity of a piano company, yet they are an important component of Bösendorfer’s total activities, as they create the opportunity for music lovers to come into contact with these wonderful instruments and to get an audience under our roof. As in earlier times, we were also especially guided by the idea of creating a podium for young artists.

The result of these efforts is the collaboration made with Wien Holding and the Mozarthaus Vienna. The Mo-

zarthaus Vienna, which enjoys a central location right be-hind St. Stephan’s Cathedral and which was completely ren-ovated for the Mozart year 2006, will henceforth be home to Bösendorfer Hall in the Mozarthaus Vienna. On October 6, Bösendorfer Managing Director Yoshichika Sakai and the director of the Mozarthaus Vienna, Dr. Gerhard Vitek, signed the collaborative agreement for the new Bösendorfer Hall in the Mozarthaus Vienna in the presence of numerous guests of honour. The ceremonial act was accompanied by a gala concert with Paul Gulda. “This collaboration will give new im-petus to the City of Music, Vienna, and enhances the status of the Mozarthaus Vienna as a cultural meeting place,” Wien Holding Director Peter Hanke rejoiced. Bösendorfer Manag-ing Director Sakai described the site at which Mozart’s life and creative output experienced an artistic peak as an ideal setting for a concert hall, and Mozarthaus director Vitek ex-pressed the hope that the house located at Domgasse 5 will become even more attractive to music lovers the world over through its comprehensive concert activity. The room may be smaller than our previous hall, yet the Mozart Museum, which attracts as many as 140,000 visitors a year (approxi-mately 80 % of them international), creates an international flair and an environment that will benefit artists performing there.

Stefan Radschiner

The legendary first Bösendorfer Hall located at Herrengasse 6

Paul Gulda opened the new Bösendorfer Hall musically with Mozart’s Fantasy in C minor, K. 475.

The second Bösendorfer Hall in Graf Starhemberg-Gasse in Vienna’s Fourth District

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E V E N T S

Peterson, who grew up in Montreal, Canada, died in De-cember 2007 at age 82 after a 65-year career as a piano

virtuoso, recording artist and composer. Peterson released more than 200 recordings and toured the world, performing in concerts with Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Duke Ellington and others. The jazz virtuoso performed for the Queen and her husband in Toronto in 2002. The fourth of five children, Peterson grew up in a predominantly black neighborhood of Montreal, learning to play the piano from his father and sister Daisy. He would later drop out of high school to become a professional pianist, earning a reputation as a technically brilliant and inventive jazz pianist. His most memorable compositions include Canadiana Suite and Hymn to Freedom, inspired by the US civil rights movement in the 1960s. He was awarded eight Grammys, including one in 1997 for his life’s work. Over a dozen universities have granted him honorary doctorates. In 2000 he was awarded the UNESCO International Music Prize. For the last half of his life, Peterson lived in the city of Mississauga, just outside of Toronto, with his wife, Kelly. When asked how Mr. Peterson would have felt about the statue his widow, Kelly, said: “Oscar would be very humbled by it and also very, very pleased to know how much people loved what he did and cared about him.”

The life-sized bronze statue was created by Canadian art-ist Ruth Abernethy. It features Mr. Peterson seated at his

Bösendorfer Imperial looking out at the audience as though

In early 2010, after a period of renovation, the Yamaha Ginza Building was reopened in Tokyo’s prestigious district. The

building contains stores, studios, a music school and a con-cert hall that is very famous in Japan – Yamaha Ginza Hall. Now this concert hall, renovated with Yamaha’s know-how, has a Bösendorfer Imperial at its disposal, which pianists Paul Badura-Skoda and Jan Jiracek personally selected for Yahama Ginza Hall on behalf of the Yamaha Corporation.

Since reopening the concert hall, which is equipped with 333 seats and is designed for acoustic music, concerts of

all sorts of musical styles have been performed there. The inauguration concert, arranged by Bösendorfer Japan, took place in the presence of the Austrian ambassador Dr. Jutta Stefan-Bastl, the President of the Yamaha Japan Corpora-tion Mitsuru Umemura and numerous additional guests of

he had just finished a performance. Commenting on the statue, Ms. Abernethy said, “This instrument suggests 97 keys, just like the Austrian Bösendorfer Imperial, Oscar‘s pi-ano of choice. The additional bass octave is finished with all black keys and this was too unique and interesting to ignore. ‘Bösendorfer’ is subtlely embossed on the frontpiece.”The statue was created in such a way as to leave room on the bench for visitors to have a seat with the great jazz legend at his piano.Oscar Peterson’s music touched the lives of so many around the world. His influence on both jazz artists and listeners is far-reaching and spans many generations. The statue un-veiled in Ottawa on June 30 is a fitting tribute to his spirit and music.

Jim Welter

honour. The pianist Ryoko Fu-kazawa performed her debut concert in Yamaha Ginza Hall to a full house.

The sound of a Bösendor-fer conveys the Viennese

spirit and musical tradition like no other grand piano – very much to the joy of visi-tors.

Noriyuki Kon

A bronze sculpture of the late jazz icon Oscar Peterson seated at a Bösendorfer piano was un-veiled by Queen Elizabeth II in Ottawa, Canada on June 30, 2010. The statue features a smiling Peterson sitting at a fancifully sculpted Imperial. The statue was commissioned by Canada’s National Arts Centre to pay tribute to the life and work of one of the world’s most eminent jazz artists.

Oscar Peterson’s Bösendorfer in Ottawa

New Bösendorfer Imperial for Yamaha Ginza Hall in Tokyo

The Yamaha Ginza Building

The new Oscar Peterson bronze statue in Ottawa

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E V E N T S

True, the central business district (CBD) of China’s capital may be located in Beijing’s third ring street, yet the CBD

is doubtless of central importance to the metropolis’s busi-ness life and furthermore to China itself. In its surroundings is state-of-the-art (unusual) architecture, including Chinese television’s (CCTV) broadcasting centre and the Chinese World Trade Centre. South of the World Trade Centre, near Shuangjing Bridge along the underground line #10, is the famous Landgent Centre, a fashionable complex of office buildings, restaurants and brand name stores.

A very special brand has been at home in the Landgent Centre for a short time: On the third floor of Block A, Yan

Shi is presenting the touching sound on about 400 square metres: the world of Bösendorfer instruments. SHIYAN MU-SIC (BEIJING) is the official name of Bösendorfer’s new part-ner store in China. In a contemporary ambience, it stocks a large selection of Bösendorfer instruments, including the latest special model, the Audi design grand, for playing and becoming acquainted with. All pianos are of course optimally prepared and tuned – Yan Shi is China’s first master piano builder trained in Europe.

Piano lovers in the City of Millions are also happily accept-ing the new offer: From day one after the showroom’s

opening (on September 14) there has been great interest in the instruments from Austria, and Bösendorfer partner Yan Shi has already greeted many famous artists, professors and other personalities from politics, business and culture in his new store.

With the opening of the new Bösendorfer showroom in Beijing, an important prerequisite for strengthening

the Austrian company’s foothold in the world’s largest piano market has been achieved. “Numerous conservatories and cultural institutions in China have already purchased pianos from Vienna in the past. We wish to further develop our in-stitutional business and simultaneously awaken or cultivate interest for Bösendorfer instruments among private custom-ers as well,” Bösendorfer partner Yan Shi and Sales Manager for China Rupert Löschnauer agree. “The new showroom in the Landgent Centre is a first step – we need and wish to be much more present throughout the country.”

Rupert Löschnauer

New Bösendorfer Showroom in Beijing

A mutual toast to SHIYAN MUSIC and Bösendorfer (left to right): Yan Shi, Prof. Gruangren Zhou (“the soul of Chinese piano education”), Prof. Danwen Wei (last student of Vladimir Horowitz and professor at the Shenyang Conservatory), Huiq-iao Bao (vice-president of the Chinese Musicians Association ) and Qifang Li (top professor in China, at the Central Conserva-tory of Music in Beijing)

SHIYAN MUSIC, the new Bösendorfer centre in Beijing, opens.

The world of Bösendorfer instruments on around 400 m2: SHIYAN MUSIC contains a multitude of Bösendorfer grands, serviced by Yan Shi – China’s first master piano builder with European training.

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i n t e r v i e w

BÖSENDORFER: What about Domenico Scarlatti fascinates you so much? Is it the influence of Italian opera on his com-positions, with their extreme contrasts and narrative forms? Is it the unbelievable modulations or the constant interplay of harmonies?Carlo Grante: In Domenico Scarlatti’s sonatas there is a wide array of musical ideas, stylistic fingerprints and idiosyncra-sies and also many typical procedures of the Baroque, gal-ant, pre-Classical era. What strikes me most is the way the composer narrates via the musical idiom. In Scarlatti we have an instance of strong cohesion between musical syntax and man’s thought process. One can almost “read” that way hu-man consciousness unfolds in the musical flow. This is the aspect that fascinates me most and that is at the core of my interpretation of the music, the other being a careful atten-tion to micro- and macro- articulation of motivic, metric ele-ments, along with a phrasing that can be rather asymmetric (as is the music, often), or regular. There is a typically Italian alternation between closely-knit elements and wider musi-cal “landscapes,” just like in Roman Baroque architecture, be-tween fullness and emptiness, in which a harmonic rhythm is at times fast, at times deliberately slow.

BÖSENDORFER: Why did you choose a Bösendorfer for your re-cordings? And why the “flagship,” the Imperial?Carlo Grante: The project originated with the enthusiasm of American pianist Albert Frantz and myself; my friend Albert suggested Badura-Skoda’s studio – equipped with a wonder-ful Bösendorfer Imperial, the model Busoni “inspired” – as a location; given also the fact that I own a Bösendorfer and I am familiar with this piano. As I have said elsewhere, I do believe that the Bösendorfer piano is better-suited than oth-ers in certain repertoire, Scarlatti being one case. There is an interesting timbre differentiation between registers, a subtle responsiveness to chord voicing, that make it easier for me to convey Scarlatti’s sound world, in my opinion.

BÖSENDORFER: The Scarlatti recordings bring you to Vienna regularly. Does Vienna, the City of Music, have a special mean-ing to you?Carlo Grante: It does, indeed. For one thing, the city itself, its history and the way this is conveyed by its urban architecture, represent the journey of philosophy of mind. One feels the city’s majestic and intimate atmosphere at the same time. The sheer quality of music making of the reigning orchestras needs no advocacy... I can sense a blend of Central European and Eastern European approaches to musical interpretation (an obvious heritage from Austro-Hungarian times) that is very close to my musical upbringing.

BÖSENDORFER: How many Scarlatti CDs will you have record-ed by the end of this project?Carlo Grante: All in all, including some interesting transcrip-tions by other composers, we’ll have about 600 works, which will span over 40 CDs. For this complete Scarlatti recording

Domenico Scarlatti was one of the most original keyboard composers of his century. His so-natas have been recorded twice previously: by Scott Ross on harpsichord and Jan Philip Bolder, on both harpsichord and fortepiano. Italian pianist Carlo Grante has now started playing the complete Scarlatti cycle on a Bösendorfer 290 Imperial (for the Music & Arts label). Thus far 12 CDs with 180 sonatas have been released.

Interview: Carlo GranteA tireless piano and music enthusiast

Carlo Grante is among Italy‘s leading pianists.

The artist with his wife Doriana Attili

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we are using catalogue numbering consisting of city or edi-tion, letters and numbers. I decided to arrange the sonatas following the order of the Parma manuscript, also for coher-ence within each of the 15 books. It is very effective to listen to them in that order! Colin Tilney serves as artistic consultant, Eva Badura-Skoda and I are the authors of the booklet notes, Albert Frantz is the artistic director, and Martin Klebahn is the sound engineer.

BÖSENDORFER: You are also passionate about teaching. What in your opinion is most needed in music education today?Carlo Grante: If we speak about performers in general, and more specifi cally about pianists, I believe that there is a high degree of skill, a higher awareness of “standards” today than in the past, thanks to easier media distribution; I also fi nd a high degree of versatility in many pianists. I do not have a specifi c preference for past vs. present interpreters. For a pianist living in our era it is more diffi cult to live in that “zone” populated by mystery, imagination, culture in the widest sense; at the same time he/she can easily compare him/herself to others via a more globalized distribution of recorded performances and this can help towards self-improvement. What I believe is more needed today in music education is... time. Time to come to grips with styles and repertoire, to study the expressive grammar necessary for a self-coherent reading of a piece and allow one’s taste and idealized performance to concretise in a desired outcome. On the other hand, I recently heard the young Nikolay Khozyainov, who is one of my favor-ite pianists (past and present), and he is only eighteen. One other aspect of music education which to me is of utmost im-portance is the synergy, rather than hyper-specialization, of such subjects as analysis and musicological research, which seem to thrive apart from performance, except for period per-formance practice.

BÖSENDORFER: Many concertgoers continue to fondly recall your Busoni Concerto with Fabio Luisi in the Vienna Konzer-thaus with Wiener Symphoniker at the beginning of this year. Do you like to reminisce about this performance?Carlo Grante: Yes, it was a very touching experience. The Buso-ni Concerto (“Concertone,” for friends) is very dear to me and Fabio Luisi’s conducting of it has a special inner logic, as well as strong sense of unity. Luisi is a perfect example of an inter-preter who is continually evolving thanks to brave, commit-ted work on a wide repertoire, and that deductive reasoning I mentioned above about learning in him is at a stratospheric level. Playing in Vienna is a most desirable thing for a pianist. It’s not just a matter of prestige, but of that special approach that concertgoers have to music, which is in part a social, cul-tural, artistic way of living, not mere entertainment. The live CD production of my concert, which is about to be released, is very dear to me for all the reasons stated above. The piano I used in the performance was another stunning Bösendorfer Imperial!

BÖSENDORFER: You’re sometimes called the “go-to guy” for (nearly) insurmountable pianistic tasks. Franz Liszt, whose 200th birthday will be celebrated by the music world in 2011,

also comes to mind. Will you commemorate Liszt as well in 2011?Carlo Grante: I will perform and record a lot of music by Liszt. I have two recording projects coming up that will feature ma-jor works. One is devoted to music inspired by the Faustian myth (Mephisto Waltz, both in the original version by Liszt and Busoni’s fantastic transcription), by Dante, Petrarch and the solo version of Totentanz. The other project is devoted to the Paganini-Liszt etudes, in both the 1838 and the 1851 versions, along with the Grand fantasia de bravoure sur “La clochette.” These will be recorded on the same piano I record-ed Scarlatti on, on loan from Eva and Paul Badura-Skoda.I am a tireless piano and music enthusiast, who fi nds that the rewards in learning and playing great piano music – however great the challenge – are greater than the efforts he puts into it…

Rupert Löschnauer

Carlo Grante’s Busoni Concerto with Fabio Luisi and the Vienna Symphony in the Vienna Konzerthaus

The fi rst six CDs in the complete Scarlatti collection

Rupert Löschnauer

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S E L E C T I O N

May 19 of this year was an especially important and joy-ous day for the Bösendorfer piano company in Wiener

Neustadt. The newly constructed Bösendorfer visitor centre on the factory premises was ceremoniously presented to the public. Dealers and customers can now select their Bösendor-fer piano in a concert hall-like environment. The new Bösen-dorfer Selection Centre makes selecting and playing the fa-mous instruments made in Austria a special sonic experience and is an important investment in the company’s future.

Welcome to the New Bösendorfer Selection Centre!Bösendorfer dealers and customers can select their favourite piano in a concert hall atmo-sphere.

In his presentation, Bösendorfer Managing Director Yoshichika Sakai greeted the many guests in attendance

with fitting pride. With their presence, politicians, artists, pro-fessors, dealers, suppliers and many journalists underlined the significance of the Austrian piano factory to Austrian culture and congratulated the company on the results of its bold investment.

An investment in the future: the new Bösendorfer Selection Centre in Wiener Neustadt

The honorary Bösendorfer Ring recipient Prof. Paul Badura-Skoda opened the celebration with works by Mozart, Schubert and Brahms.

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C E N T R E

Trust in the Viennese sound

With the opening of our new visitor centre in Wiener Neustadt, Bösendorfer is sending a positive and con-

fident message to piano dealers and piano lovers the world over: We believe in the piano market and have faith in the special Viennese sound of Bösendorfer instruments.As Managing Director Yoshichika Sakai emphasized in his commemorative speech, “We have invested over one mil-lion euros into our new Selection Centre for our dealers and customers. The goal of this project is to support piano sales and thereby the jobs of Bösendorfer employees. This money flowed into the local economy during the construction of the centre.”

Concert hall atmosphere

Concert grands are generally used in large rooms. Spe-cial attention was thus given to the acoustic planning

of Bösendorfer’s new jewel – under the direction of Bösend-orfer Technical Director Ferdinand Bräu. Diffusely scattering, terraced wall and ceiling elements suppress harsh reflections and echoes, without removing the sound itself via absorp-tion. The result is a concert hall atmosphere in 230 m2. It al-lows the unique sonic signature of Bösendorfer pianos to develop optimally.

No less than the recipient of the honorary Bösendorfer Ring, Prof. Paul Badura-Skoda, put the rule to the test

on the opening day. The beloved pianist performed works by Mozart, Schubert and Brahms and demonstrated for the first time the special (and meanwhile even further opti-mized) acoustic ambiance of the new Bösendorfer Selection Centre.

Drawing strength from the past and from tradition

The Audi Design Grand that Badura-Skoda played on this occasion inspired Wiener Neustadt mayor Bernhard

Müller to refer to Bösendofer’s connecting “time-tested with modern designs” during his speech: “It is important that we be conscious of our history without losing our future-mind-

edness. What’s important is to attempt to design the future together.”The representative of the province of Lower Austria, Deputy Governor of Lower Austria, Wolfgang Sobotka, also tied in Bösendorfer’s tradition of artisanry in his commemorative speech: “Drawing strength from the past and from tradition, the Bösendorfer grand piano is a modern instrument that is up to all demands, both of pedagogy and the international concert hall.” Mr. Sobotka emphasized the great manual skill that the piano manufacturer’s employees have demonstrat-ed for generations, which is an important prerequisite for the company’s continued success.

Perspectives for the future

“The new Selection Centre,” Mr. Sobotka said of the new Bösendorfer jewel, “opens a further perspective for the

future that puts Bösendorfer a step ahead of the competi-tion. Based on this new centre, I wish upon the company that many pianists will be captivated by Bösendorfer, that it will be recognised around the world as an important Austrian ambassador of music, that it be used for a wide variety of situations, for a wide variety of concert halls throughout the world. Mozart played on a Bösendorfer is inimitable.”

Since its opening this spring, numerous dealers, artists and customers have already visited the new Selection Centre.

All of them have been thrilled by the special atmosphere of the room and its acoustics. And many a guest has only now become aware of the great variety of standard and special models that Bösendorfer offers piano lovers.

Rupert Löschnauer

An impressive variety of Bösendorfer grand pianos awaits visi-tors to the new Selection Centre.

Bernhard Müller, mayor of the city of Wiener Neustadt, Bösend-orfer Managing Director Yoshichika Sakai and Deputy Governor of Lower Austria Wolfgang Sobotka

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F A C T O R Y

In its modern form, the cast iron frame was first used in piano construction around 1850. The principle of cross-

stringing could thereby be realised. In this manner, the spa-tial proportions in relation to instrument size could be opti-mally used. For the lower midrange strings as well as for the bass strings, the maximum available length can be used. This was not possible for instruments built with straight string-ing. What distinguished these instruments visually was the body’s slender, elongated shape, which made for an elegant exterior, not compact construction. During this period, due to the lack of space, grand pianos were often shortened by cutting off the back end of the body and shortening the bass strings to accommodate the remaining length. This neces-sarily entailed significant compromises in sound quality, es-pecially in the bass range.

Changing performance practice in the 19th century

The cast iron frame developed out of the necessity of with-standing the strings’ ever-increasing tensile forces. Early

pianos (fortepianos) were produced entirely without the support of the rim construction. The acoustic construction – rim, soundboard, bridge and stringing – were still very simi-lar to the harpsichord’s; this means that significantly thinner strings with less tensile force were used. Demands on pianos increased through the changes in performance practice over the course of the 19th century. Larger performance venues demanded louder, more voluminous-sounding instruments, which could be achieved only by increasing the cross sec-tion and the tensile force of the strings. Since the wooden rim construction could not withstand the total forces that resulted from the stringing, first individual metal parts such as metal struts were implemented to statically support the rim construction. The number of struts increased in the first step, and later the individual struts were in part connected mechanically using horizontal plates in order to improve the construction statically still further. Finally, with today’s full frame (called Vollpanzer – an “armour” or “tank” frame in Ger-man), the ideal concept for compensating forces was found. In a modern grand piano, this amounts to a force of 20 tons!

Cast iron has established itself in piano manufacturing as a suitable material for the frame. The quality of the grey

iron is defined at GG 20. Bösendorfer has never operated its own foundry but rather obtained its cast iron frames from suitable suppliers. However, all necessary casting patterns were and will continue to be produced in Bösendorfer’s own modeling department. The specific technical demands can be best implemented and controlled in this manner. More-

over, a certain, typically manual, formal design accompanies modeling, which of course needs first and foremost to lend expression to Bösendorfer’s signature and tradition.

A two-part negative model is manufactured from mould-ed sand with the aid of the casting pattern. The special

foundry sand is brought into a matched moulding box and compressed. For grand piano frames, this process is per-

The Cast Iron Frame – Guarantee of Stability and DurabilityNew Supplier for BösendorferThe cast iron frame is an important component of a grand or upright piano. Together with the rim construction, its task is to withstand the tensile forces of the stretched strings.

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formed with elaborate manual labour and requires great manual dexterity and ability. Since the model needs to be dissolved from the sand mould before molten iron is poured into it, the pattern needs to be specially designed. This means that all braces and formed parts of the master pattern need to be tapered, since the pattern would otherwise not be able to be removed without damaging the compressed foundry sand. Since the molten iron contracts during the cooling process, the casting pattern for sand moulding needs to be built larger by this amount of shrinkage. Modern computer-assisted construction programmes are able to simplify this scaling process significantly compared to the old manual method.

Upon delivery, the cast iron frame is stored in a covered open area for at least three months and thereby delib-

erately exposed to natural temperature fluctuations before further processing occurs. The material tensions generated by the unhomogeneous cooling process after casting are minimized via storage and potential and dreaded tears in the frame are thus avoided.

Specialities of cast iron moulding at Bösendorfer

Processing of the frame occurs in part via a CNC-control-led processing centre, which allows all of its drilling and

milling to be performed with the utmost precision and re-producability. Setting the capo d’astro bar is in turn done by hand. With Bösendorfer pianos, the capo d’astro can be fitted precisely as a separately cast part. Possible reworking of the capo d’astro edge at a later time is significantly facilitated via this special construction.A further speciality of Bösendorfer’s cast iron frame construc-tion is the design of the open tuning pin area. The advantage of this method is obvious, since the tuning pins can be fixed to the maximum possible length in the pin block wood, ac-companied by corresponding positive effects on the instru-ment’s tunability and its ability to hold its tune.

In August 2010, Bösendorfer initiated a collaboration with a new supplier for all of its upright and grand piano cast

iron frames. Wagner Schmelztechnik GmbH&Co in Enns is an Austrian company specialising in com-

plex, hand-formed grey cast iron moulded parts. Ties to suppliers from various Czech foundries have generally been discontinued.

With the Wagner company we have not only found a reliable partner with a long-term orientation, we

could also simultaneously noticeably improve the quality of our cast iron frames. Through the use of a state-of-the-art moulding method, improvements in dimensional accuracy and surface quality could be achieved; the uniform metallur-gic structure improves the static properties and stabilises the material’s influence on the sound.

Ferdinand Bräu

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The cast iron frame of the Bösendorfer model 200 with hand-set capo d’astro

Sparks fly when after at least three months’ storage time, work on the cast iron frame begins with grinding.

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The Bösendorfer CEUS is the highest-quality reproducing piano on the global market. All movements of the keys

and pedals are recorded and accurately reproduced using special sensors.To be able to reproduce the precision of the recordings as well, Bösendorfer developed a proprietary data format (BOE), since the prevalent format, MIDI, is far from being up to CEUS’s demands.BOEdit first offers a complete optical presentation of piano pieces that were recorded on a Bösendorfer CEUS grand pi-ano. Even the slightest movements of the keys and pedals are recorded and displayed graphically. Using this display, the recorded piano pieces can be edited as the pianist desires.

The new editing software is separated into two workspac-es, the note editor and the track editor.

In the note editor, the individual notes are presented in a real-time grid. At the highest zoom level, the times of the keystrokes can be displayed in a grid at a resolution of two milliseconds. In addition, depending on the option selected, either the note length view or the velocity view can be dis-played graphically.In the note length view, the individual notes are arranged in different colours according to volume. If the curve descrip-tion display is selected, the individual keypress events are graphically subdivided.

Upon selecting and opening the action window, all notes can be edited using the mouse or keyboard commands.

During editing, the work steps are registered and can be re-called at any time so that the user does not lose track while editing the selected piece.What about editing the pedals? No problem: The representa-tion of the pedals can be shown or hidden (also individually) as needed. In the pedal window, even the slightest move-

ments of the pedal are displayed, even those that have no direct influence on reproduction.

With the Track Editor, an entire concert recorded on CEUS can be edited. The possibility thereby arises of remov-

ing pauses in order to create individual tracks that can then be edited in the Note Editor.

Bösendorfer has designed the programme to be as simple as possible. It should enable users without prior knowledge of editing music to learn quickly and work without problem. The new editing software will be available for free to every CEUS customer starting in January 2011.

Jan Sauerzapf

Shift notes in 2-millisecond steps, correct the length and volume of notes, optimise the velocity – with BOEdit, all this is now child’s play for every pianist.

BOEdit, Editing Software Exclusively for CEUS

S O F T W A R E

The green area shows the attack curve of the key, the lowest point is yellow, the length of time the key is held is displayed in orange and the key release is red.

With the Track Editor, the user maintains an overview of the en-tire recording. A window with information on interpreter, com-poser, title and model of piano of the original recording can be displayed at any time.

The blue and purple beams represent the quiet keystrokes; the harder the keystroke and louder the sound, the more the colour changes to red and then yellow. In this screenshot, the orange-coloured beams represent the damper pedal.

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With the Bösendorfer disklavierTM E3, music lovers can at last enjoy to the fullest all the benefits of Yamaha’s

comprehensive entertainment offer – previously the exclu-sive domain of Yamaha customers – with the sound of a Bösendorfer grand. Operation is simple and self-evident. The control panel is used like a CD player and the system can be controlled comfortably from the couch using a clearly ar-ranged remote control. Turn on the Bösendorfer disklavierTM E3, insert a CD and go: Your Bösendorfer plays for you. That’s how easy it is to get your Bösendorfer to sound – if desired, with musical audio accompaniment as well, thanks to the speakers mounted on the lower surface. The offering of the comprehensive Yamaha Library encompasses all the usual genres and is constantly expanded by Yamaha. If the Bösend-orfer disklavierTM E3 is connected to the internet, it can access live musical broadcasts by Yamaha Disklavier radio stations and thus make for a varied entertainment programme.

For those who prefer to play themselves, the disklavierTM E3 naturally contains a record function. Pianists have the

option of saving a recording to a USB stick in addition to the internal memory. Recordings can thereby also be played on other Disklaviers entirely straightforwardly. With the Bösend-orfer disklavierTM E3 it is possible to change tempo and key at any time while the piano is playing. When recording, only the left hand can be recorded and subsequently the right hand. These features are very helpful when learning new pieces.When playing back pieces of music with audio accompani-ment, there is the possibility of turning off the piano track in order to give free reign to one’s creativity and play the piano part oneself. Jan Sauerzapf

Presenting a traditional grand piano from Bösendorfer with the perfect entertainment elec-tronics from Yamaha – with an impressive result. The Bösendorfer disklavierTM E3 is not only a reproducing piano, it is also the first product designed and realised jointly by Yamaha and Bösendorfer and that is now being presented to the public. It will be available in the US and Canada starting in Q2 2011; the launch date for the rest of the world will be announced.

Bösendorfer disklavierTM E3, the Entertainer

E N T E R TA I N M E N T

Bösendorfer E3

Works as easily as a CD player: the Bösendorfer disklavierTM E3 self-playing device for grand pianos

The Bösendorfer disklavierTM E3 self-playing device can also be retrofitted into a piano.

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b u d a p e s t

Having grown up in the multicultural climate of the im-perial Danube monarchy, his life as a pianist, composer,

conductor and teacher led him all across the continent. How much time Franz Liszt spent in uncomfortable horse-drawn carriages and later in demure rail cars can perhaps be gath-ered from a comment that can be found in his Austrian pass-port of 1840: “Celebritate sua sat notus est” – “He is amply known due to his active travel.” His pronounced cosmopoli-tanism was atypical at a time that was so enduringly marked by the idea of the nation state, which was elevated to an identity-defining category. Liszt, by contrast, was at home in all of Europe: in Hungary and Austria just as much as in Ger-many, Italy and France. The manifold cultural influences that he encountered thereby found their expression numerous times in his works.

In the second half of his voluminous output, there were three cities to which Franz Liszt was especially devoted:

Starting around 1869, Liszt spent several months at a time in Rome, Weimar and Budapest, without giving up the rest of his travels. Every now and then there was a year during which he did not visit Weimar and another time he stayed clear of Rome, yet there was never a year in which he omitted Budapest from his stays up to his death (in 1886). Franz Liszt initially found accommodation at the rectory in the inner city. Afterwards he moved into apartments near the Szèchenyi Promenade or on Hal-Platz (Fish Square) before receiving, in 1881, a representative and long-term residence from the Hun-garian Ministry in the newly constructed, noble building of the (old) Academy of Music. Liszt always occupied the three rooms on the first floor of the Academy whenever he stayed in Budapest (mostly during the winter months). Here, in his “service flat,” the master gave his students piano lessons, of which the sign displaying Liszt’s teaching times reminds visi-tors to this day.

Franz Liszt Museum Budapest

Today, the former Liszt apartment serves as the Franz Liszt Museum. On display are personal effects, instruments,

musical scores and manuscripts from the final years that Franz Liszt stayed in Budapest. The instrument on which he taught in the salon is among the collection’s most valu-able treasures. For the past year, the Liszt Museum has of-fered its visitors audio guides by the Tonwelt company. When Tonwelt employees installed the audio guide system on-site, they showed the director, Dr. Zsuzsanna Domokos, a very special treasure: the seven-octave Bösendorfer grand piano on which Franz Liszt taught, and alongside it another Bösen-dorfer grand piano in the possession of the virtuoso, which continues to be used regularly for concerts (primarily by stu-dents of the Academy of Music) today.

However, both instruments had not escaped the ravages of time. In order to stop the damaging ageing process,

the action in particular had to be restored as soon and as ex-pertly as possible. Since the Liszt Museum lacked the neces-sary funds by itself, the dates for the restoration of the two magnificient grand pianos would have remained uncertain. Spontaneously, Tonwelt director Gürsan Acar – himself for-merly a professional musician – decided to finance the nec-essary restoration work and thereby secure the preservation of this cultural inheritance.After careful restoration of both instruments by the piano workshop of the Hungarian Academy of Music, the museum treasures were returned to the Franz Liszt Museum in May of this year in a celebratory concert. To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Franz Liszt, Bösendor-fer will be creating a limited edition version of our stunning “Franz Liszt” model.Rupert Löschnauer

Franz Liszt, the great composer with Pannonic roots, is often described as “the first European.”

Franz Liszt, Europe and Bösendorfer

A museum treasure – the seven-octave Bösendorfer baby grand on which Franz Liszt taught in Budapest

Franz Liszt’s study and bedroom in Budapest

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M i s c e l l a n e o u s

Bösendorfer Downtown in Vienna’s Musikverein is a par-adise for piano lovers who wish to get to know what

makes an instrument manufactured by Bösendorfer unique. Bösendorfer Downtown’s elegant showrooms contain the complete product line, with all of our grand and upright pi-anos for you to examine, play and discover for yourself.

Artist studios – practise in the Musikverein

Pianists and piano teachers have both of our practise stu-dios available to them: the large Salon Studio with Impe-

rial and model 280 concert grands, and the small Solo Studio with a model 170 grand piano. The practise facilities are avail-able for rent by appointment.

Competence centre for piano fans

Whether you’re seeking a low-priced introductory model or a concert grand piano – you’re in good hands at

Bösendorfer. In addition to Bösendorfer’s own instruments, you’ll find interesting uprights and grands by Kemble and Yamaha, as well as used instruments and pianos with a si-lent feature. We guarantee professional piano sales with the best price/performance ratio. All instruments are naturally serviced by our excellent service team of Bösendorfer con-cert technicians.

How to find us

Bösendorfer Downtown is located in the Vienna Musikv-erein building: 1010 Vienna, Bösendorferstrasse 12 (Cano-

vagasse entrance). Telephone: 504 66 51- ext. 144, 310 or 311. Opening hours: Monday – Friday 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM

Stefan Radschiner

Bösendorfer Downtown

Vienna’s Musikverein, famous worldwide for the Vienna Phil-harmonic’s New Year’s Concerts

Romanian National Radio – Societatea Romana de Radiod-ifuziune – was founded as a public broadcaster in 1928

with the goal of preserving and promoting Romanian cul-ture. The founding of the Orchestra Nationala Radio followed that same year. The list of names of important Romanian and international artists with whom the orchestra has collabo-rated is long: conductors such as Kurt Masur, Vaclav Neuman, Sergiu Comissiona; famous singers including Montserrat Ca-balle, Angela Gheorghiu, Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti; eminent pianists including Radu Lupu, Sviatoslav Richter, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Nikita Magaloff; great violinists such as Yehudi Menuhin, Gidon Kremer, Isaac Stern, David Oistrach and famous cellists, including Natalia Gutman and Mstislav Rostropovich, to name but a few.

It is thus not surprising that Romanian National Radio has decided in favor of Bösendorfer’s giant of the stage – the

famous model 290 Imperial.The selection of this piano took place in September 2010 in the new Bösendorfer Selection Centre in Wiener Neustadt. The painstaking selection was made by the artistic director of the Romanian National Radio, Oltea Serban-Parau, togeth-er with the distinguished Romanian pianist and soloist of the Romanian Radio Orchestra Horia Mihail.

This is the beginning of a long and beautiful friendship with this Bösendorfer Imperial which Romanian Na-

tional Radio just decided on. The moment finally arrived on November 12, 2010 and the Bösendorfer grand made its de-but onstage at Romanian National Radio under the hands of Horia Mihail. Oltea Serban-Parau compared Bösendorfer with Rolls-Royce: “a work of art, fabulous, a jewel, a magical instrument…” were only some of the attributes which she connected with Bösendorfer in her press, radio and television statements. Ion Zaharia

Romanian National Radio Plays Imperial

Maestro Horia Mihail, solo pianist of the Romanian Orchestra Nationala Radio

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