Bosendorfer sound

[NetherMagic]

Just wanna ask, I have never played a Bosendorfer before (my local music store doesn't deal with Bosendorfer anymore), and judging from how people often say how Steinway, Bosendorfer, and Yamaha are the top 3 piano brands with contrasting musical sounding, I just want your description on how Bosendorfer sounds.  I know that you cannot generalize how a brand sounds since there are so many different models, but please bear with me

Well I know that Bosendorfer is an European brand, it should have a pretty pure and pristine sound.  I just want to hear it in my mind, so in order to do that, can you make descriptive comparisons with a Petrof grand?  I know again its hard to make generalizations but the Petrof grand I played (don't ask me for the model, i dun have it) Petrof originating from the Czech Republic, had a pretty lively and bright sound, so can someone compare the Bosendorfer sound to the Petrof sound for me?  That'd be great, thx  

[eddie92099]

Yamaha is not in the top three! Fazioli is often the third of the "Big three" although they are much rarer than Bosendorfers and Steinways since they are handmade and Italian and therefore slow to produce. They also make the largest piano (the F-350) and they are very expensive! My school seems infatuated with Bosendorfers though (I don't know why) and we have virtually all the models - I find they have good basses and trebles, but are slightly lacking in singing tone in the middle part of the keyboard,
Ed

[Bosendorfer_214]

NetherMagic-

You are really missing out if you have never played a Bosendorfer.  The sound is pure and warm and powerful in the middle register.  I have a 7'. Mine sings like no piano I have ever played.  (I have played Horowitz's 9' Steinway and Van Cliburn's 9' Steinway)  The highregister is crystalline, and the bass rumbles the bottom of your very soul...The perfect piano.  I have owned 2 Petrofs.  If you compared the two pianos to an orchestra, the Petrof would be the brass section, where the Bosendorfer would be the violins, violas cellos, basses, and timpani.

eddie- The largest Fazioli is the F-308(10'2'') not 350, woud be over 11ft.

[eddie92099]

My mistake - I was getting it confused with a Ferrari (easy to do - they cost the same and are both Italian)!!!
Ed

[allchopin]

where the Bosendorfer would be the violins, violas cellos, basses, and timpani.

?How can the timpani go with the violins?
And where did you get the chance to play on Horowitz's and van Cliburns' pianos?  Where are they?

[pianomanrsn]

I have played serveral Bosendorfers recently from the 200 up to the Imperial and while there is no doubt that they are excellent pianos, they are not for everyone. At the low end, I actually liked the Mason Hamlin A better than the Bosie 200 or 214. The 225 Bosendorfer was a pretty impressive instrument and I liked it better than the Faziloi 228 I played.

The Bosendorfer Imperial 290 was in a class by itself and I liked it so much that I have entered into negotiations to buy a used one that I have had my eye on for a while. The base on these big pianos is wonderful and deep and the treble part of the scale never runs out of gas and has a sweet clear bell-like quality for which the high-end European pianos (Bosendorfer, Bluthner, Grotrian, Steingraber, Bechstein, Fazioli, and Borgato) are famous.

I have heard the treble of the Bosendorfers described in terms of "breaking glass", but in my own experience, this is not the case.

Robert in Dallas

[eddie92099]

I find the Imperial very impersonal and cold compared to the Steinway Model D,
Ed

[fcpchan]

hello,

Bosies - very clear sound, almost pristine type sound,
bass sound is not as big compared to Steinway... tre-
ble is very tinkly and angelic, depending on the piano's
settings, can sometimes be a bit almost metallic on the
high ends... recently fiddled around on the Porsche
Bosie... it was really really nice. Great action, i prefer
the action on the Bosies in general over Steinways.
Steinways' sound is generally capable of louder
projection but the high end is not as pronounced as
the Bosies. The sound from Steinway I generally find
not as crisp as Bosies either, and is a darker, more
brooding sound, which some prefer.

i've only ever played a Fazioli once (and i don't even
recall the model #), so this is only in relation to the one
i played. it was not as big of a sound as Steinways... higher tones are warmer compared to the Bosies... not as mellow sounding as a Steinway and not as crystalline as a Bosie, if that makes any sense. kind of a happy medium.

[eddie92099]

The Fazioli F-308 has the biggest sound of any piano I have played,
Ed

[xenon]

At 308 cm?  I'm sure  Heh, I was trying to find the F-350, but all I was getting was the Ford truck.  Woudn't it be neat to commision a leading piano manufacturer to construct an 18' piano?  Wow, imagine the power!