The Abandoned A

Notes from the Berkshires, Day 41

Lenox Coffee, 7.09 a.m.

Back in IL, I would usually wake up in a leisurely fashion on a Saturday morning in the summertime, not necessarily having a plan in particular, but contemplating filling my day with things like yardwork, exercise, cooking, perhaps some shopping. I have to say, as much as I enjoy what I’m doing here, I do miss that type of morning just a little. Today is a work day, for the most part, starting with continuing to attempt to make the A in the Chamber Music Hall palatable to the pianists again, after the “malfunction” earlier in the week. I went in to tune the piano yesterday, and found it shoved against a wall, closed up, with the Boston 163 (a decent, but definitely lesser piano) front and center, having just been used in a vocal masterclass with Maestro Levine. Poor Steinway A! No one wants to take a chance. So – I checked it out thoroughly after tuning it, found one regulation issue causing a key to miss on hard blows (easy fix), and a number of issues with the damper system (not so easy). Those will be my focus of my first two hours this morning. Afterwards we’ll meet as a team for a technical session with SC, and then there’s the annual meet-the-fellowship-sponsors luncheon, de rigueur attendance for all fellows. After that, the day (and most of tomorrow as well) is mine.

Yesterday’s tech session was a nice talk by/with a pair of technicians from Manhattan (one of whom had been a Fellow previously, the other employed by a couple dealerships, currently at Juilliard, and having had a brief stint with Steinway before falling victim to the layoffs back in April) on their career path and current business, in addition to some light discussion of regulation issues. Very nice, and good to hear the viewpoint of others just getting started in the field. It also happens that one of them works at the same dealership as one of my CSPT classmates. Small world, yet again.

Heard the first half of the BSO concert at the Shed last night: Beethoven Piano Concerto #1 with Emmanuel Ax as the soloist. I’ve never had the opportunity to get to know this piece either as a listener or as an orchestra member, and it was a pleasant surprise; late enough in the master's output to be harmonically daring, but still light and with a sense of humor. Well-played, of course, and once again the Hamburg shone. We’re very spoiled here for quality of listening experiences.