Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Interview with British Pianist Stephen Hough

musicandliterature.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 28 posts

Re: Interview with British Pianist Stephen Hough

#11

Post by pantulis »

Mediterraneo10 wrote: post #10
pantulis wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Resonance between instruments? Do you know a piece or recording, sounds awesome!

Luciano Berio's Sequenza X is generally a solo trumpet piece, but it requires a piano nearby for resonance. Henri Dutilleux’s Figures de résonance for two pianos also exploits the idea. Also, when it comes to purely solo piano works that require one to leave certain keys silently depressed for resonance effects, György Ligeti's Touches bloquées comes to mind.

Thanks for this. I was aware of half-damper resonance on a piano, but making the piano resonate to a trumpet is just awesome.

Re: Interview with British Pianist Stephen Hough

#12

Post by bjornlouser »

"I am composing the test piece for the 2021 Van Cliburn competition ... One issue [about Bach] may be that I celebrate a certain chaos or irresolution in art ..."

Can't help but wonder if modern composers use 'chaos and irresolution' as a way to rationalize their terrible compositions.

Hopefully Hough will give us a beautiful pastiche.

Previous Van Cliburn test pieces:

Bernstein's Touches https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFjdVP_tQYA

Christopher Theofanidis BIRICHINO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXuKF20h480

Re: Interview with British Pianist Stephen Hough

#13

Post by TheOtherHobbes »

robdoherty2 wrote: post #7
pantulis wrote: post #2

Learning to play piano takes years, but rewards can be more or less immediate if one knows how to set the right expectations. As an adult learner, you need to make sure you are enjoying the instrument so it should have the right action and sound. It's unbeliable how you can purchase a Casio CDP S100 these days for less than 400 bucks and get a decent keybed and sound, advances in digital piano technology are staggeri…

It is absolutely true that adults can begin to learn piano (or any musical instrument) and reap rich rewards. And as you say the key is to set the right expectations and enjoy the sound, enjoy the process. However, I don't agree that affordable to even high-end digital pianos will be able to approximate real acoustic pianos within 10 years in two primary areas: dynamics (being able to produce the full range of sounds…

Kawai's midrange and higher pianos have a soundboard feature that provides tactile feedback.

I've heard the top-end models are very good. They have the same piano action as the five-figure acoustic Kawais but with electronic sound generation.

(I have a cheaper Kawai which is suits my needs, but I'm planning to get either the top end Kawai or Yamaha when my playing gets good enough to justify it.)

They're more than fine for amateurs, even dedicated amateurs. The equivalent Yamaha model - no soundboard, arguably better action - has become a kind of semi-mobile standard for professionals to practice on when there's nothing better around.

Of course you can't compare a four/low-five electronic design with a hand-made prestige six figure concert hall acoustic. But you can compare it with an equivalently-priced acoustic, and increasingly the electronic designs are winning.

Re: Interview with British Pianist Stephen Hough

#14

Post by mrbonner »

pantulis wrote: post #2

Learning to play piano takes years, but rewards can be more or less immediate if one knows how to set the right expectations. As an adult learner, you need to make sure you are enjoying the instrument so it should have the right action and sound. It's unbeliable how you can purchase a Casio CDP S100 these days for less than 400 bucks and get a decent keybed and sound, advances in digital piano technology are staggeri…

What I don’t like about the Casio digital P72 I have from Amazon is that I could hear the thumping sound when I play a bit harder. It just annoys the heck out of me. I never play an acoustic one before so I don’t know if this is an issue with such on as well. Hell ya, the reward is exceptional once I could play easier pieces from Bach’s.

Re: Interview with British Pianist Stephen Hough

#15

Post by yomly »

bjornlouser wrote: post #12

"I am composing the test piece for the 2021 Van Cliburn competition ... One issue [about Bach] may be that I celebrate a certain chaos or irresolution in art ..." Can't help but wonder if modern composers use 'chaos and irresolution' as a way to rationalize their terrible compositions. Hopefully Hough will give us a beautiful pastiche. Previous Van Cliburn test pieces: Bernstein's Touches https://www.youtube.com/watc…

>Can't help but wonder if modern composers use 'chaos and irresolution' as a way to rationalize their terrible compositions.

I can somewhat sympathise with artists feeling everything is done. I'm not convinced you could be novel in a baroque or classical form without ending up feeling derivative

Re: Interview with British Pianist Stephen Hough

#16

Post by iainctduncan »

robdoherty2 wrote: post #7
pantulis wrote: post #2

Learning to play piano takes years, but rewards can be more or less immediate if one knows how to set the right expectations. As an adult learner, you need to make sure you are enjoying the instrument so it should have the right action and sound. It's unbeliable how you can purchase a Casio CDP S100 these days for less than 400 bucks and get a decent keybed and sound, advances in digital piano technology are staggeri…

It is absolutely true that adults can begin to learn piano (or any musical instrument) and reap rich rewards. And as you say the key is to set the right expectations and enjoy the sound, enjoy the process. However, I don't agree that affordable to even high-end digital pianos will be able to approximate real acoustic pianos within 10 years in two primary areas: dynamics (being able to produce the full range of sounds…

I wouldn't say it would prove you wrong, but the StudioLogic SL88 Grand with the sound coming from Pianoteq is stunning for the money. Obviously it's not going to feel exactly like a real piano, but it is absolutely similar enough to feel way more like a real piano than anything else I've tried, and at a bit more than $1KUS, the price is unbeatable for anyone up to a very advanced level. StudioLogic is Fatar's in-house brand, so you get the key-bed of a much more expensive digital piano in a cheaper minimal housing, blowing away anything else in the same price bracket on key feel. You might have to hunt for them. They have weird arrangements as a part supplier for other brands, so for instance I found it at long & mcquade in Canada, but it was not on their websites.

Re: Interview with British Pianist Stephen Hough

#17

Post by yomly »

Mediterraneo10 wrote: post #6
pantulis wrote: post #2

Learning to play piano takes years, but rewards can be more or less immediate if one knows how to set the right expectations. As an adult learner, you need to make sure you are enjoying the instrument so it should have the right action and sound. It's unbeliable how you can purchase a Casio CDP S100 these days for less than 400 bucks and get a decent keybed and sound, advances in digital piano technology are staggeri…

> One can safely predict that in a decade the only difference between an affordable digital piano and a real acoustic piano will be the keyboard action. There is still some chamber repertoire that really does rely on a real acoustic piano for resonance effects: the pianist silently depresses keys, so that the strings are left to vibrate, and then they will sympathetic-resonate with notes played by another instrumenta…

I wonder whether the even the synthetic pianos model the second order resonant effects of key presses. Managing "colour" as my teacher would call it is an important part of performance

Re: Interview with British Pianist Stephen Hough

#18

Post by pantulis »

mrbonner wrote: post #14
pantulis wrote: post #2

Learning to play piano takes years, but rewards can be more or less immediate if one knows how to set the right expectations. As an adult learner, you need to make sure you are enjoying the instrument so it should have the right action and sound. It's unbeliable how you can purchase a Casio CDP S100 these days for less than 400 bucks and get a decent keybed and sound, advances in digital piano technology are staggeri…

What I don’t like about the Casio digital P72 I have from Amazon is that I could hear the thumping sound when I play a bit harder. It just annoys the heck out of me. I never play an acoustic one before so I don’t know if this is an issue with such on as well. Hell ya, the reward is exceptional once I could play easier pieces from Bach’s.

Real pianos also have the thumping sound if you hit them hard, but you cannot put headphones ;)

Re: Interview with British Pianist Stephen Hough

#19

Post by pantulis »

yomly wrote: post #17
Mediterraneo10 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One can safely predict that in a decade the only difference between an affordable digital piano and a real acoustic piano will be the keyboard action. There is still some chamber repertoire that really does rely on a real acoustic piano for resonance effects: the pianist silently depresses keys, so that the strings are left to vibrate, and then they will sympathetic-resonate with notes played by another instrumenta…

I wonder whether the even the synthetic pianos model the second order resonant effects of key presses. Managing "colour" as my teacher would call it is an important part of performance

Most high end models do, albeit I guess in a limited way. Again, this is only a matter of CPU power so this will definitely improve.

Re: Interview with British Pianist Stephen Hough

#20

Post by pantulis »

iainctduncan wrote: post #16
robdoherty2 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is absolutely true that adults can begin to learn piano (or any musical instrument) and reap rich rewards. And as you say the key is to set the right expectations and enjoy the sound, enjoy the process. However, I don't agree that affordable to even high-end digital pianos will be able to approximate real acoustic pianos within 10 years in two primary areas: dynamics (being able to produce the full range of sounds…

I wouldn't say it would prove you wrong, but the StudioLogic SL88 Grand with the sound coming from Pianoteq is stunning for the money. Obviously it's not going to feel exactly like a real piano, but it is absolutely similar enough to feel way more like a real piano than anything else I've tried, and at a bit more than $1KUS, the price is unbeatable for anyone up to a very advanced level. StudioLogic is Fatar's in-hou…

On a similar spirit, the Kawai VPC1 although you need a PC to generate the sounds. Most people tend to use Modartts' Pianoteq.
Post reply on HN