Striking a New Chord
The Jack 1953 and Mac 2011 Morris Recital Hall's Steinway Model D
If you are a violinist or cellist, you can pore over instruments, choose the size, the model, the timbre you prefer. You carry that instrument with you from stage to stage. But for pianists, it's a completely different story. They must adapt to whatever piano sits in each venue, and they must do it quickly.
Hop pianist-in-residence Sally Pinkas puts it this way, "I make love to a different piano every day." Each one has its own personality. There are different makes, different tones, actions. There are practice pianos and performance pianos. None of which a pianist gets to take home.
So how do you choose the right piano for the Hop's new Jack 1953 and Mac 2011 Morris Recital Hall, before the space even exists, and knowing that this one instrument must serve countless performers, styles and sensibilities?
You bring a fellow pianist and you go to Steinway New York.
Pinkas traveled with pianist Rieko Aizawa of the Horszowski Trio (performing at the Hop as part of the Recital Series on January 10th). At Steinway's selection room, they alternated at the keyboard, trying different repertoire to draw out each instrument's distinct character. "Every time you go there," Aizawa said, "it's like opening a present. But it's amazing how each instrument has a different personality."
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Aizawa has helped select pianos for many spaces and institutions. During these trial sessions she usually turns to Mozart, Chopin and Schubert. "Those are the ones that have a delicate quality," she said. "They don't use too many notes to compose … between the notes, we have to create some kind of nuances. Otherwise, we will sound totally flat."
She had a clear goal for the Hop's new instrument: "I was personally looking for the instrument, which could give us a big palette … that each performer can explore all different kinds of sound, colors and nuances."
Pinkas shared similar priorities. "I want it to have clarity of sound—when the sound is beautiful, it's not harsh. I want the piano to have a lot of power. I want it to have a soul. I want to have a kind of sound that I can mold and do things with."
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The piano—made possible by a gift from Garth and Lindsay Greimann, both Class of '77—also had to be aesthetically striking. In the new recital hall, a stunning wood-lined space overlooking the Green, the instrument sits center stage and remains visible both inside and from outside the building.
The hall itself shaped the decision. The Jack 1953 and Mac 2011 Morris Recital Hall is an intimate, flexible space designed for chamber music, solo recitals and small ensembles; its adjustable acoustics allow it to shift character depending on the performance. A piano placed at its heart must therefore be capable of extraordinary nuance, color and projection.
After hours of testing and comparing notes, the choice was a nine-foot Steinway Model D concert grand piano. The Steinway D is considered the gold standard for concert grands. Its dynamic range, rich tone, clarity and responsiveness make it a top choice for many professional artists.
Now after the Hop's opening, Pinkas finally gets to try the piano in its new home. She welcomed the instrument with pieces by Brahms and Beethoven, which she will perform during the Recital Series in February and April.
"It was wonderful to have this encounter with the piano because now it's alive in the room where it's going to be, and I think it's going to blossom," said Pinkas. "What I look for is a piano that does what I tell it to do, and some of it is pretty subtle, and this piano has the capacity of being so subtle."
For this first meeting, Pinkas began with a piece by Johannes Brahms that she has played all her life and which she describes as deeply expressive and intimate, which she performs in the video above.
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"It's a way of saying, 'You're welcome in our world, Mr. or Mrs. Piano,' because it brings the piano alive and the piano was responding."
She then shifted to one of Beethoven's last sonatas, using the contrast to test the instrument's agility and brightness.
"Beethoven's piece is in a lovely key; it's a flat major. It's a very warm, optimistic piece, and it has all this fast finger work. I wanted to see what the piano will do, and it did very well."