vladimir horowitz's piano tuner - to russia - 1986

brief archival clip of vladimir horowitz's tuner, franz mohr, going to moscow with horowitz in 1986.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• vladimir
• horowitz
• piano
• russia
• franz
• mohr
• moscow
• 1986

[memoryrach]

THIS was the piano i played today. oops.

[kasyapa]

memoryrach - i played it several years ago - CD 314 503 - and was upset at its deterioration in the middle register especially. how did it feel to you?

[jjp009]

@kasyapa Hey there. I think I commented with you before on this subject. But, I played 314503 in September 2002 at Rice Music House in Columbia, South Carolina, and whoever the technician was there, he/she maintained that piano beautifully. I did notice a few gouges and cigarette burns in the case here and there, but the tuning, voicing, and regulation were absolutely perfect. I played everything I knew twice.

[kasyapa]

jjp009 - i'm glad it was in good shape then. when i played it around 1992 it was the greatest piano i ever played - about 10 years later it had deteriorated horrifically, especially from c4 down to about f#2 or so - the sound was very dead in that range. there were still traces of greatness in the bass and the treble. i did some recordings - my playing was mostly not good, but they're good documents of the remains of a mighty piano.

[123demaio]

Horiwitz could play pianomisimo like no other . playing so softly and controlled as he did demanded a piano regulation and touch to that degree

[kasyapa]

123demaio - the pianissimo is actually the foundation of his art.

[cplai]

I went to a book signing event of Franz Mohr yesterday. He is the author of the book "My Life with the Great Pianists" He told good stories able Horowitz and his wife Wanda.

[xistr]

No, what Horowitz actually did was he drove a nail into the front of each key, tied a string to each nail then tied a brick to each string, so there were 88 bricks dangling from the front of the piano. Then, for good measure, he spray painted the keys bright orange. When Steinway got the piano back in this condition they were understandably very upset and told Horowitz he couldn't use their pianos anymore and he'd have to play a Yamaha upright for the rest of his concerts.

[jjp009]

@kasyapa I'm really sad to hear that they would let a national treasure like the Maestro's piano die a slow death like that. As a piano technician, I would have done all the work to bring it back in to spec for free, but they never would have let me touch it if I asked.

[frances0130]

solute to the 2 maestros~~~

[GreeneMusicSanDiego]

If anybody is in the San Diego area, Greene Music will have Vladimir Horowitz's 9' Steinway & Sons Concert Grand piano at our store from September 19 - October 6. Go to our website for more details.