Forget speakers, get live audio in your living room!

[hopkins]

I read the following notes on an album ("Echoes of Ellington“) by jazz pianist Johnny Guarnieri:

"The performances on this album were captured on a Stahnke Reproducing Piano, a normal piano fitted with a computerized recording/playback system. When a pianist plays on this piano, the movements of all the parts of the piano action -- keys, hammers, pedals, etc.-- are measured and stored digitally on tape. When this tape is played back, the piano itself plays a performance identical to the original. Johnny Guarnieri was not present when the performances were recorded onto the audio tapes which were used for the mastering of both LP and CD. This technology was used here for the first time under the supervision of its inventor, Wayne Stahnke."

More information in this NYT article: Technology; Ivories That Tickle Themselves https://nyti.ms/29jiabo

So if I understand correctly, the album is not a recording of Guarnieri playing, but of the piano played using Stahnke's system.

Here is a track from that album:

https://storage.googleapis.com/cloudplayer/samples/Johnny%20Guarnieri%20-%20Mississippi%20Moan.wav

So you can forget about speakers and just go for the real thing by purchasing one of these pianos and some tapes from your favorite artists (provided their performance were recorded using this system, and are available for sale).

 

[Keith_W]

Piano rolls have existed for more than 100 years. Rachmaninov left us piano rolls. Read this Wikipedia entry. I guess the only thing new about Stahnke is that it is digital.

Many years ago, there was a company called Zenph. I don't know if they are still around. They had the technology to analyse old recordings, then figure out the timing and attack of hitting piano notes. They then feed this information to a robotic piano which played back a remarkable facsimile of the original performance. I own both the 1955 Glenn Gould recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations, as well as the "Zenph Re-Performance". Here is a review of the re-performance, as well as Rachmaninov playing his own works. I don't know what happened to Zenph, they only released two recordings and they have disappeared. Can't even find a website.

If someone were to design a robotic piano that could play digital piano rolls that you could purchase, I would certainly be interested.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

In between the piano rolls and the Zenph system, there were others, e.g., Yamaha Disklavier.

 

[JackD201]

Bosendorfer has a system too. You can also use it to have remote lessons.

 

[PYP]

I read the following notes on an album ("Echoes of Ellington“) by jazz pianist Johnny Guarnieri:

"The performances on this album were captured on a Stahnke Reproducing Piano, a normal piano fitted with a computerized recording/playback system. When a pianist plays on this piano, the movements of all the parts of the piano action -- keys, hammers, pedals, etc.-- are measured and stored digitally on tape. When this tape is played back, the piano itself plays a performance identical to the original. Johnny Guarnieri was not present when the performances were recorded onto the audio tapes which were used for the mastering of both LP and CD. This technology was used here for the first time under the supervision of its inventor, Wayne Stahnke."

More information in this NYT article: Technology; Ivories That Tickle Themselves https://nyti.ms/29jiabo

So if I understand correctly, the album is not a recording of Guarnieri playing, but of the piano played using Stahnke's system.

Here is a track from that album:

https://storage.googleapis.com/cloudplayer/samples/Johnny%20Guarnieri%20-%20Mississippi%20Moan.wav

So you can forget about speakers and just go for the real thing by purchasing one of these pianos and some tapes from your favorite artists (provided their performance were recorded using this system, and are available for sale).

really enjoyed the NYT piece. Thank you. I especially like this quote, which if followed by a description of the technology necessary to make it happen: "I went with great fear, because I've always hated the piano rolls," said Earl Wild, a classical pianist, referring to the paper rolls with holes used to activate the keys on player pianos. "After I played it and heard the playback, I was absolutely knocked out," he said of Mr. Stahnke's piano. "All the little things I could feel in my hands were exactly as I had played," he said.

 

[Alrainbow]

The one drawback is this a real piano be it upright or grand style needs a large room
so where do you put this in many homes or apartments
my son plays an upright bin a room 9 feet high by 12 deep and 25 long
it is attached to an open room into a kitchen dinning room
way back it was in a typical room 15/15. My ears and head hurt lol.

 

[morricab]

I read the following notes on an album ("Echoes of Ellington“) by jazz pianist Johnny Guarnieri:

"The performances on this album were captured on a Stahnke Reproducing Piano, a normal piano fitted with a computerized recording/playback system. When a pianist plays on this piano, the movements of all the parts of the piano action -- keys, hammers, pedals, etc.-- are measured and stored digitally on tape. When this tape is played back, the piano itself plays a performance identical to the original. Johnny Guarnieri was not present when the performances were recorded onto the audio tapes which were used for the mastering of both LP and CD. This technology was used here for the first time under the supervision of its inventor, Wayne Stahnke."

More information in this NYT article: Technology; Ivories That Tickle Themselves https://nyti.ms/29jiabo

So if I understand correctly, the album is not a recording of Guarnieri playing, but of the piano played using Stahnke's system.

Here is a track from that album:

https://storage.googleapis.com/cloudplayer/samples/Johnny%20Guarnieri%20-%20Mississippi%20Moan.wav

So you can forget about speakers and just go for the real thing by purchasing one of these pianos and some tapes from your favorite artists (provided their performance were recorded using this system, and are available for sale).

My ex was living with rich patrons in Zurich in the early 2000s (she had won their violin competition) and they had a Bosendorfer concert grand in their living room that could record performances played on it. So naturally they invited a lot of talent to come play on it. I heard some great violin and piano sonatas played in that room.

 

[morricab]

I read the following notes on an album ("Echoes of Ellington“) by jazz pianist Johnny Guarnieri:

"The performances on this album were captured on a Stahnke Reproducing Piano, a normal piano fitted with a computerized recording/playback system. When a pianist plays on this piano, the movements of all the parts of the piano action -- keys, hammers, pedals, etc.-- are measured and stored digitally on tape. When this tape is played back, the piano itself plays a performance identical to the original. Johnny Guarnieri was not present when the performances were recorded onto the audio tapes which were used for the mastering of both LP and CD. This technology was used here for the first time under the supervision of its inventor, Wayne Stahnke."

More information in this NYT article: Technology; Ivories That Tickle Themselves https://nyti.ms/29jiabo

So if I understand correctly, the album is not a recording of Guarnieri playing, but of the piano played using Stahnke's system.

Here is a track from that album:

https://storage.googleapis.com/cloudplayer/samples/Johnny%20Guarnieri%20-%20Mississippi%20Moan.wav

So you can forget about speakers and just go for the real thing by purchasing one of these pianos and some tapes from your favorite artists (provided their performance were recorded using this system, and are available for sale).

Likewise. I have a friend in Zurich who was an organ builder and he got and restored an old paper roll player piano that you had to pump foot pedals to run it. Very cool thing but took some skill to keep it moving at the right speed or the music would be too fast or slow.

 

[morricab]

video of my ex, circa 2004, playing a Stradivarius at Tonhalle Zurich. She played all 24 Paganini caprices in on go. This was recorded on a Sony Handicam (smart phones didn't really exist then). The recording is ok but not world class but it shows her level of proficiency quite nicely.