Well, you see: it is not mine and any investment on it benefits solely the piano shop from whom I rent it. The thing is that I must pay transport charges and having it taken away now and a new one brought in only to have it moved in two months does not seem sensible, as it would also involve tuning the new one twice.

Oh, there is no problem with the keys. It is the sound which is appalling and the piano that is as sensitive as a rhinoceros after anaesthesia. The tuner almost made my sign a document exempting him from all responsibility! In the end he achieved a miracle, but even a miracle was not enough.

I thought I might ask the music school with whom I now work, but there there would a a great amount of noise, what with other instruments playing and a doorbell that is louder than a steeple on Sunday. Imagine half-way through this lullaby a big RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!

Ok, Richard, I have listened to your recording. It's a pretty piece, however, besides your piano being out of tune a little, I heard a lot of background hiss. Granted, I was running on a treadmill just now during my lunch hour while I was listening, but even with the noise from the machine I still heard the hiss. On every note that comes down, a splash of hiss comes with it. I don't understand why it's always just me who hears it, though. Is there any chance of changing your recording gear?

Now you mention it, I hear it too, if I turn the volume up enough. But I don't hear a splash on every note, just on some, like on many of the downbeats. Could it be pedal-related swish which just sounds a bit like hiss?
Inasmuch as the piano itself is part of the recording setup, I'm sure Richard would be delighted to change it!

I'm surprised its owners have the nerve to charge him rent for something so bad he'd be only too pleased to have someone take a sledgehammer to it.

Yes, I would love to, but at the moment I have to figure out how we are going to pay for next months food bill.

No, Rainer: it is the editing and I hear it too. The souind editor removes the hiss between the notes, leaving it on the notes themselves. At times I think it best not to remove the hiss.

They were willing to sell it to me, considering the first year of rent as part payment and not chargins transport. That is how much they wanted to see the back of it. Why did I take it? because in the flat where I lived before it was the only one that could negotiate the stairs, as bringing in through the terrace would have required major egineering works.

I just hope they do not decide to give it to me, rather than forking out (I paid for its removal when I rented it) to take it. I raher think that the transport cost is higher than its value.

This one is up.

Really? I thought the piano sound had made that impossible, Thank you, then!

Its IMO only the first couple of bars that are really bad. Otherwise it's an acceptable recording. It helps that it is a piece we did not have before.

I will see if I can use one of the music school's grand pianos, though their best one is off-limits for now. The only problem is... It is a music school with little boys learning the violin, Russian tenors being coached (funny that one should have come in the very day I was introducing a Russian soprano to the director!) and a doorbell that can be heard over a fff! No recording will survive that!

You'll have to book for the night then ! And hope nobody rings

Hi Richard,
I'm trying to catch up here - sorry for the late post.
I had to listen to this on lower volume than usual because of sleeping children in the house (ironic because it's a cradle song) and thought it was fine. (There's something slightly funky at the beginning but that's already been noted.)

I can see why you don't like the piano, though. This is probably a really stupid suggestion, but have you tried playing an entire piece una corda? The sound will be different - who knows, maybe better?? Of course, finding repertoire for which that's appropriate is challenging, but there are pieces in which it's used heavily.

Hello Richard,

You did a very good job with the echoing of the phrases at a softer dynaic level. It was highly effective.
The character of the piece throughout was solid.

Thanks for sharing.
Kaila Rochelle

Thank you, Stewart. Funny about sleeping children. Yesterday my daughter wanted to take a nap half-way through the ballet she was watching (composer Valerij Gavrilin (1939-1999). Asked if she would like me to play the piano for her she said, "Yes!" so I practised one of my later pieces, by a certain living composer (I am not giving my secrets away! and it was not Ismagilov, either!) and she was aleep in 2 minutes - and your children wake up with 19th century cradle songs!

Technically I cannot play "una corda", because I must be the only member who does not have a grand (or 1/4) piano and, as you know, on uprights all the action does is bring the hammers closer to the strings.

Thank you, Kaila. It took practice that, as I did not want to use the soft pedal, as it changes the quality of the sound.