On NovemSergei Rachmaninoff gave his first performance in the United States at Smith College, and in doing so began forging a connection with Smith that would endure beyond his death in 1943.According to biographer Max Harrison, the 1909 concert was the first completely solo recital Rachmaninoff ever gave, despite his renown as a pianist by that date. The concert was presented in the Assembly Hall (now office space) in College Hall on a Mason and Hamlin piano as part of the Smith College Concert Course. The brief review of Rachmaninoff’s performance was written for The Smith College Monthly by Elsie I. Sweeney, after whom the Smith concert hall is named.Rachmaninoff’s Smith College concert was the first of 26 U.S.
I hope some of you can help. This is going to be a long post with a lot of questions. All three concerts took place in John M. Greene Hall and were played on Steinway pianos.Besides welcoming Rachmaninoff’s artistry over three decades, Smith College would eventually welcome a member of his family. His cousin, sister-in-law, and a key source of biographical information about the composer, Sophie Satin, arrived at Smith in 1942 as a research associate to Professor Albert Francis Blakeslee in his Genetics Experiment Station.
It is in ebony and the cabinet shows small scrapes, chips, etc from being moved around a lot. It was traded in by a church group for a newer instrument. My local Steinway dealer has taken in a 1970's Mason-Hamlin Aeolian CC grand-9' I believe.
I think I found the serial number-it was on the harp just left of center under the CC designation: 1599. One string was missing (an F really high up on the treble) and the damper on the E below it was off-set and needed repair, but otherwise all of the keys worked well and it sounded good. The action wasn't bad, either, although not as nice as a nearby new Steinway.
Next question: The dealer quoted me $15,000 for this piano. Does anyone know the date of this piano, or if this is not the serial number, where is it? There is an Aeolian label affixed to the inside of the rim on the left near the keyboard but I didn't look closely at it to see if it had a number or not. Were the CC's ordered separately? One piano dealer had a 1980 CC restored for sale and gave a similar kind of serial number.
Does anyone have experience with M-H pianos of this era and how much it cost to get them to their best, or experience with CC's at all? I get the feeling this is a rare piano and I am kind of excited to think I might be able to afford a concert grand.The next part of the dilemma: The dealer also has a Steinway C from the 1880's on consignment. I know there are supposed to be problems with the Aeolian era pianos but have heard most can be addressed in the restoration stages. Is the piano new enough to get by with possibly new strings and hammers to bring it to its best playing potential or do you think I am going to need to do a full restoration? I have seen some M-H's on the web from this era that were restored but kept the original soundboard (it does have that tension resonator thing underneath) and they were quite a bit cheaper than the same models from the earlier Golden Age restored. I haven't done any negotiating because I am sure I will need some work done and don't know if that will blow my budget completely.
You should buy a C which was built after 1890 (> #70.000). So there were several little design changes. Such old style II grands also will not have a full cupola plate: the pinblock is open and this may have some consequence for tuning cycles.Also if it is a “real Câ€: in the first years Theodore Steinway was not very convinced of the sound performance of the C grand.
I know-my budget of $20-25,000 doesn't buy much in the better pianos but I am going to play this piano several hours a day for the rest of my life (24-30 years, I hope! I am 62.) I just want to really enjoy the time each day.Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths &a.MY NEW PIANO or KEYBOARD! - Share Your Story!Member Recordings - Non Classical Pianist CornerEVENTS! Piano Concerts, Recitals, Competitions.Fun Stuff! - Parties, Tours, Projects & More.Forum Members Parties, Tours, Cruises, & M.Who's Who - Professional Pianists on Piano WorldOrgans - Electronic (B3 etc.), Pipe, Theatre. If they had a few conservatory level pianos or something bigger I would look at them more, but they just feature lower-priced items. One is the excellent Steinway dealership which has been here for decades, and the other is a strip mall piano shop which features low-end Yamahas, etc. I know someone will recommend I look at a lot of other brands, new or newer, but around here there are only two shops that I know of. I still could look for something else, but I don't think my budget will buy such a nice, big piano from one of my first choice companies. The questions I still have on the Mason-Hamlin: is 1599 the right serial number? What date is that? Does anyone have a piano of this vintage from MH (BB or CC for instance) and did you have a lot done to it or keep the original parts? How much was the work? I anticipate that I could buy it, have two or three small things fixed, and play it for a few years before having the work done, but if it was affordable, I would go for the whole thing upfront so I could get the maximum enjoyment out of it.
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