THE best PIano you've ever had the privelage of performing on

[pianoplayjl]

Hey guys, what is the best piano you have performed on? what did the piano feel like?

[perfect_pitch]

$270,000 Fazioli 9ft F278 Grand piano.

It was like playing while getting a massage for your hands and shoulders... while soaking in a bath of champagne.

 

I should become a poet.   

[pianoplayjl]

I played at a C5 Yamaha grand at an exam.

JL

[iansinclair]

My own 1898 Steinway A, after I'd had it rebuilt... it was finding an old love, and realising that you were still welcome and still loved.

[ajspiano]

I played a C5 at a few lessons at the conservatory in western australian when I lived on that side of the country, and I used to gig on one when I was doing the hotel restaurant cocktail pianist thing for a while.

Growing up I played on a Steinway B every year in the local eisteddfod.

We also have a pretty lax store here in melbourne, I have played on most of their range on pianos in the showroom at different times. Its included a number of steinways, C7's, some really nice high end kawais too.

I couldnt really tell you one of them was 'the best'

[johnmar78]

full size yamaha grand at Sir Robertman theratre at Mount Gambier and university of Wollongong; music consevatorium. All in Australia.

[pianoplayjl]

I played a C5 at a few lessons at the conservatory in western australian when I lived on that side of the country, and I used to gig on one when I was doing the hotel restaurant cocktail pianist thing for a while.

Growing up I played on a Steinway B every year in the local eisteddfod.

We also have a pretty lax store here in melbourne, I have played on most of their range on pianos in the showroom at different times. Its included a number of steinways, C7's, some really nice high end kawais too.

I couldnt really tell you one of them was 'the best'

They are all great, Ajs. If only I can see a Steinway piano UP CLOSE I would be very happy. I've only seen a steinway piano far away while I saw Leslie Howard's concert live. It sucked when I can't play it. Just once would be a once in a life time privelage. They say that Steinway made 500000 piano syet it seems that there are so few that exist and are operational in concert halls.....

JL

[ajspiano]

where are you from JL? you're aussie right?

I grew up in albany, west australia. The steinway B was owned by the towns concert hall and used only once a year for competitions, and when we were lucky enough to have a professional pianist come down our way..

Anyway, point is..  in the weeks preceding the eistedfod the hall allowed students to book the piano for an hour or so to practice during the day while nothing else was going on.. It cost something like $40 for an hour to be able to have a go on that beast of an instrument before competition day..

I've no idea if concert halls in general would allow you to do this, but whats the harm in asking right? conservatories may also be an option..

[pianoplayjl]

where are you from JL? you're aussie right?

Hi mate, I am relieved I am not the only Aussie here.
You are lucky. I my local vicinity there are no public concert grand pianos that I know of within 10 Km of my house, where anyone can try it anytime. Although, there is a grand piano  in the local piano dealer but I can't be bothered. What sucks is that I live within 15 km of the city and I thought there ought to be many grands.

JL

[keyboardclass]

$270,000 Fazioli 9ft F278 Grand piano.

It was like playing while getting a massage for your hands and shoulders... while soaking in a bath of champagne.

 

I should become a poet.  

+1 but I'm sure I'd get bored eventually - Faziolis play themselves!

[49410enrique]

hmm right now my favorite and the title goes to the fairly new-ish full concert grand estonia at a piano dealer nearby (they sell masons and bosies too but man i love that estonia) sweetest one so far. i've played a few of the art case grands in the piano porn thread but tonally they are nothing special over they normal looking bretherein. the estonia though was was really something, i'm going to run it through the paces again when some of my pieces are recital ready (i like to in every several months and play a few of them on it if it's still in stock).

this exact one (from their listing for it)
2007 Estonia 9' Concert Grand Piano, Ebony Polish, Serial No. L274-7566, $52,000


man that baby has some power to it but delicate soft playing is so easy you have tremendous control over the sound with incredible sustain inthe  upper registers even at p and pp

[ourredpiano]

I love myself a grand piano!

I remember playing on a grand piano at the old church. It was an electronic piano but it was still a grand piano at heart.

[indianajo]

My piano teacher's Sohmer grand was always reliable and pleasant, but the room was too small to allow the sound to develop. I haven't seen her nor played a grand that good since 1967.   I played a studio (44") at a piano guild competition in 1965 at an elementary school that was the loudest and best tone piano I've ever heard. The room was a tile cafeteria.   I asked later what it was, and a guild officer told me it was a Baldwin Acrosonic, but lately all the instruments of that name on craigslist seem to be tiny little spinets.  I tried a Steinway studio, an Everett Studio, and a Sohmer console in 1982 when I was buying a piano.  I liked the Sohmer 39 piano tone the  best, particularly on the bass notes. The Steinway 44 was a tiny bit faster, had a much heavier touch, but the tone was duller.  
I've since picked up a 1941 Steinway 40" console off craigslist and the bass and treble tones are great. I like a bright tone.   Its volume is suitable for a living room, not really loud like the Baldwin in 1965.  But it has a few sticky keys, and a spliced string that goes boink.  It is going to need some maintenance before it becomes the best piano ever.  The felts are good, the hammers are straight, the tone very even across the span. It keeps tune way better than the Sohmer, in a poorly heated and air conditioned house.  I haven't had to tune it in 17 months, after 7 tunings the months after I bought it. 
The Yamaha and Kawai  studio pianos at church are not even in the running.  The 5 year old Yamaha is feeble and has a lifeless tone.  The 20 year old Kawai is just okay.  I go to  low church, so there is no chance I am ever going to get an opportunity to play any grands.  They are in some churches I go to concerts at, but the grands  are always covered up to prevent prying hands from damaging them.     I tried a piano lesson last winter to see if I could still handle a heavy grand touch, but the teacher had a new Yamaha studio piano. It had a cute electronic play feature off a disk drive, but the tone was nothing special and the first damperless treble note kept ringing on and on beyond all control.  She was nice but the piano was nothing to draw me back over there.  

[hbofinger]

Not perform, but play on: Hamburg B in Stuttgart showroom (when I finally made a comment, they told me it was already gone), three Hamburg B's opposite of the Musikverein In Vienna (opposite of the Boesi showroom) Not knocking Boesi (I am a previous owner) - those are just among the best pianos I have ever played on.

One piano in the U.S. that set me on fire was a C. Bechstein B. at a showroom outside Washington D.C.

[john90]

Playing Uprights: A Grotian (Badged Grotian-Steinweg here in Europe). It is in the music school.  It has a fantastic dynamic range, is so easy and controllable when playing softly, so powerful when pushed. It really sings, and has a great tone. The Grotian has an interesting laminated back frame. A really nice hand made piece. I immediately felt I was playing a bit better than I should be.

[starlady]

A rebuilt Steinway grand, about 100 years old,  at the Steinway showroom in NYC.  It just felt better than any other piano I've ever touched.  More responsive, more in touch with the sound....man did I wish I had 100K$. 

--s.

[magichands]

I once, actually twice I went to this really old palace like-place. Many pianists when they came to play in this country they stayed over. Many legendary pianists like Rubinstein, Argerich, Gulda etc had stayed there. They had this concert grand steinway which they nicknamed the "Rubinstein Grand" because when Rubinstein came over, he asked the piano to be regulated in a certain way and then it has been kept that way since then.

It was really amazing experience, the sound, the quality and the history of people which had played that instrument.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

A 250k Fazioli.  It was after a salon concert an someone said I could play on it.

It was soo awesome!  I felt like I could play anything, I was unstoppable!  One thing that I really liked about it was how good the pedal was!  It made no noise!!!

[spb_jcb]

Fazioli Concert grand at Peidmont Piano on Oakland, CA. Great sound and incredible touch.

[hbofinger]

Performed or played on?

Played on: New Steinway B Hamburg in Stuttgart, Germany, at the dealership, or the ones I tried at the Vienna showroom in Austria right opposite of the Bösendorfer showroom.

Performed on: The best piano I ever "performed" on was a beat up New York D in a University recital hall. But it was nothing close to what I am mentioning above.