Steinway & Sons grand piano recording

Track price: FREE


Three excerpts from Franz Liszt's Mephisto Waltz No. 1

Track Title Preview Track Quality File size
Mephisto Waltz Excerpt #1
Original: 24 bit / 96 kHz
103 MB
CD quality: 16 bit / 44.1 kHz
32 MB
Mephisto Waltz Excerpt #2
Original: 24 bit / 96 kHz
36 MB
CD quality: 16 bit / 44.1 kHz
11 MB
Mephisto Waltz Excerpt #3 (ending)
Original: 24 bit / 96 kHz
46 MB
CD quality: 16 bit / 44.1 kHz
14 MB
Experience the full dynamic spectrum of the symphonic power available from one of the most versatile musical instruments ever created.

Download three excerpts of this amazingly pristine grand piano recording. The audio quality will speak for itself. You shall notice a disturbance in the right channel. This had to do with the faulty electrical wiring of the facilities (there was no ground) and we could not manage to keep this disturbance from entring the audio recording. It is interesting to note that, like typical record pops and dust noise, it is an event entirely divorced from the audio event. The very low amount of jitter and background noise make this radio interference signal all the more evident. With usual recording gear, such low-level radio intereference would be buried beneath a larger layer of random noisiness of the gear itself. Here in this recording, using the LessLoss DFPC Signature power cords, the Firewall and Blackbodys, we have no such typical gear noise to speak of.

In Excerpt #1, notice at 50 seconds how the harmonics of the sustained strings remain true to the nature of the piano's natural sound, even when suspended this long. Notice the sound of the pedal action and the beauty of the wood sound of the hammers' action. And, at 2'50", notice how dead-on the harmonic content of the suspended strings is, with no artificial wavering or high frequency fluctuation. The recording seems as stable as the grand piano is heavy. Nobody would dare say that this recording sounds "digital" in the derogatory sense of the word.

At 13 seconds in Excerpt #2, marvel at the absolutely clear double-hand chords played at full fortissimo, and then the sudden grand pause at 16 seconds, giving testament to the dynamic power of a Steinway grand. Notice also how the overtones fade off in a natural way and are not "manipulated" by the recording technology. At 50 seconds, we get another glimpse into what "clear attack" can mean when the gear is fed via the DFPC Signatures and conditioned by the Blackbodys. This sound quality has the word natural written all over it.

In Excerpt #3, you can almost feel the natural tension in the strings, and how the wooden frame of the Steinway gives the real resonant body sound of this instrument. No one will doubt that this instrument is a fine one, and that the sound of a piano has as much to do with the quality of the body and the strings as with the hammers and their action. At 37" to 50", we have 13 seconds to marvel at the delicate sustain in the left hand, completely untouched by the recording technology. So intimate. Enjoy the power of the very end, too. You will hear the subdued applause of the only two audience members in attendance.

LessLoss Technologies used for this recording

The famous Steinway & Sons Grand Piano was recorded in very high quality using the DFPC Signature, Firewall, and Blackbody.

Piano: Viktoras Paukstelis
Concert Hall: Large Auditorium of Vilnius Music Academy
Time: Way too late at night.

What you can have heard here had you have been here to here hear

This is an excerpt from a recording session we had with concert pianist Viktoras Paukstelis. In this episode, you will hear the magnificent colorful overtones of the concert grand as the sustain pedal is pressed, revealing the sublime beauty and intricacies of tone quality available to the pianist. Then it explodes into the final round of closing powerful chords which end Franz Liszt's famous Mephisto Waltz.

On pianos, percussion, and expression

Often times people (especially beginners) consider the piano, the percussion instrument which it rightly is, to have only two parameters of expression: velocity and sustain length. The established pianist will realize that he is playing 'the room' as well, and that part of the real art of supreme piano playing is the adjustment to the venue and playing with one's own reverberation there. Thus, the simple hammer strikes become an adventure into the poetry and mystery of acoustics as a means of expressing the essence of existance.

"Music is the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend." -- Ludwig van Beethoven, 1810

We hope to soon record the Moonlight Sonata in this quality.


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