Topic: Frederic Chopin - Nocturne E-flat Major Op.9 No2

My newest recording of Chopin's Nocturne made with light modified Bluethner model One. I hope you'll enjoy it. All the tips you have for this recording will be valuable to me.

https://soundcloud.com/user-456766191/f...es-op9-nr2

Re: Frederic Chopin - Nocturne E-flat Major Op.9 No2

Just beautiful!

Re: Frederic Chopin - Nocturne E-flat Major Op.9 No2

Some more Chopin recorded with Pleyel sound.

https://soundcloud.com/user-456766191/f...r-op-posth

Re: Frederic Chopin - Nocturne E-flat Major Op.9 No2

Pianoteq's Bluthner and Pleyel (Chopin's favorite piano) sound so convincing and authentic, and the performance is wonderful. Thank you.

--
Linux, Pianoteq Pro, Organteq

Re: Frederic Chopin - Nocturne E-flat Major Op.9 No2

Stephen_Doonan wrote:

Pianoteq's Bluthner and Pleyel (Chopin's favorite piano) sound so convincing and authentic, and the performance is wonderful. Thank you.

+1.
Kacper_ek, if you don't mind me asking, what presets did you use and how did you modify them? I have been a Bluthner fan ever since my student days, when I was lucky enough to have access to a beautiful grand in a room with excellent acoustics. The 1926 Pleyel is one Ptq instrument I couldn't get along with in v5 - I found it too clattery in louder dynamics, a bit like throwing rusty nails at corrugated iron, I thought! But in v6 it's so much better, and I love it. (The 1922 Erard is great too). Chopin alternated between Pleyel and Erard, depending on his mood - Erard if he was 'not on top form', but Pleyel if he felt 'alert'. I like to think that Chopin would have enjoyed Bluthners as well, but sadly he missed out on them by just a few years (Bluthner started production in 1853).

Last edited by dazric (23-09-2017 18:31)

Re: Frederic Chopin - Nocturne E-flat Major Op.9 No2

dazric wrote:

+1.
Kacper_ek, if you don't mind me asking, what presets did you use and how did you modify them? I have been a Bluthner fan ever since my student days, when I was lucky enough to have access to a beautiful grand in a room with excellent acoustics. The 1926 Pleyel is one Ptq instrument I couldn't get along with in v5 - I found it too clattery in louder dynamics, a bit like throwing rusty nails at corrugated iron, I thought! But in v6 it's so much better, and I love it. (The 1922 Erard is great too). Chopin alternated between Pleyel and Erard, depending on his mood - Erard if he was 'not on top form', but Pleyel if he felt 'alert'. I like to think that Chopin would have enjoyed Bluthners as well, but sadly he missed out on them by just a few years (Bluthner started production in 1853).

dazric, I used Bluthner Model One AB and the modifications were cosmetic (if I can say so ) - only some more aliquote string noise, little bit more sympathetic resonance. I've change also unison width to 1,21 and condition of piano to 0,29, because for me mint condition is some kind of unreal.
I must say, that Bluthner is still my favorite sound in PTQ (now v6) but changes they made in Steinway are for a great plus. Couple days ago I've play on a Steinway concert grand D4 (analog one, and completely new one ) and my feelings about are, that in higher registers sound in PTQ is a little to bright (on standard settings) so I try to achieve sound I still have in my ears
Best regards for you and sorry for every grammatical mistakes

Last edited by Kacper_ek (24-09-2017 23:36)

Re: Frederic Chopin - Nocturne E-flat Major Op.9 No2

Thanks for your reply, Kacper_ek, your modifications are quite similar to the ones I make - I like a piano sound with a little bit of 'character'. And yes, Bluthner is my favourite too!

Re: Frederic Chopin - Nocturne E-flat Major Op.9 No2

Interesting on what the real D sounds like versus what we imagine that it should sound like.. I went into my local store a year or so ago and found a D to play.  I was amazed at how utilitarian it felt, compared to the M and the B that they had (maybe the "home" models are made to be lighter and "more singing" for the amateurs at home, as opposed to for the professionals on concert hall stages).  The upper registers of the D were much more neutral than that of the M and the B, and the whole piano appeared to take more effort to play, like driving a manual shift truck instead of a sports car.  But the mids and the bass were wonderful!

- David

Re: Frederic Chopin - Nocturne E-flat Major Op.9 No2

dklein wrote:

Interesting on what the real D sounds like versus what we imagine that it should sound like.. I went into my local store a year or so ago and found a D to play.  I was amazed at how utilitarian it felt, compared to the M and the B that they had (maybe the "home" models are made to be lighter and "more singing" for the amateurs at home, as opposed to for the professionals on concert hall stages).  The upper registers of the D were much more neutral than that of the M and the B, and the whole piano appeared to take more effort to play, like driving a manual shift truck instead of a sports car.  But the mids and the bass were wonderful!

The difference in sound of every grand concert piano compared to smaller brothers is very complex, like the sound itself but, in my opinion, most important thing is the length of strings which influences directly to resonances between them. You'll never get same sound from longer and shorter string. Once I was in Yamaha store, where I've had opportunity to play every grand piano from their offer - from small to concert grand (2.70). It was such mysterious experience - I started from smallest one and ended with "monster". Differences in sound on every registers were colossal and fun of playing concert grand is priceless - for every other stuff you can pay with VISA

Best regards

Re: Frederic Chopin - Nocturne E-flat Major Op.9 No2

Yeah, I may not be a Yamaha fan, but I've played from short to long as well as their ubiquitous U1 (maybe that's what the U stands for, no?). 

If I was in a room with a Steinway M and a Yamaha C3, and I was given the C3, I'd feel a little remorse.  But Yamaha's 9 foot CF III is fabulous - I'd rather play the CF III than a Steinway S, M, L, or O.  If, in fact, the room held a Steinway D and a Yamaha CF III, I would not feel slighted at all if I drew the the straw to play the CF III instead of the Steinway D.  It's solid and very rewarding!

- David

Re: Frederic Chopin - Nocturne E-flat Major Op.9 No2

dklein wrote:

Yeah, I may not be a Yamaha fan, but I've played from short to long as well as their ubiquitous U1 (maybe that's what the U stands for, no?). 

If I was in a room with a Steinway M and a Yamaha C3, and I was given the C3, I'd feel a little remorse.  But Yamaha's 9 foot CF III is fabulous - I'd rather play the CF III than a Steinway S, M, L, or O.  If, in fact, the room held a Steinway D and a Yamaha CF III, I would not feel slighted at all if I drew the the straw to play the CF III instead of the Steinway D.  It's solid and very rewarding!

Actually, the U stands for "upright" when it comes to naming the U4.  Generally, U1 and U3 is sold in the USA with an occasional U5.  The U2 model upright Yamaha is sold mainly in Asia.  I have no translation for what CF means by Yamaha, but I do know that the C designation stands for the "Conservatory" model.   Likewise, I suspect that the higher-priced, handmade-in-Japan S model series stands for "Special".

Cheers,

Joe

Re: Frederic Chopin - Nocturne E-flat Major Op.9 No2

Lovely playing with a beautiful simplicity.

Re: Frederic Chopin - Nocturne E-flat Major Op.9 No2

sistermusic wrote:

Lovely playing with a beautiful simplicity.

Thank you

Re: Frederic Chopin - Nocturne E-flat Major Op.9 No2

Another recording - this time sound and vision
...and the question is: Is it Bluthner or Steinway?

I know that it is KAWAI VPC1


https://youtu.be/i1nQ80IcySM

Re: Frederic Chopin - Nocturne E-flat Major Op.9 No2

Nice video. The dark room for the Kawai controller in such angle, and the natural sound makes it almost like a real piano video.

Last edited by Beto-Music (01-10-2017 15:28)

Re: Frederic Chopin - Nocturne E-flat Major Op.9 No2

Beto-Music wrote:

Nice video. The dark room for the Kawai controller in such angle, and the natural sound makes it almost like a real piano video.

Thank you