The above picture is that of master piano technician Ulrich Gerhartz. He trained at Steinway’s Hamburg factory and is now Steinway’s director of concert and artist services. He is the lifeline when it comes to tuning and maintaining the Steinway grand pianos used by the cream of classical pianists. His mobile has the numbers of every top piano player on the planet. Pianists he has worked with include Alfred Brendel, Lang Lang, Mitsuko Uchida, Evgeny Kissin, Imogen Cooper, Murray Perahia, Maria João Pires, Joanna MacGregor, Richard Goode, Nelson Goerner, Wayne Marshall and Barry Douglas. Not bad, I say.
I was intrigued while reading his interview in The Guardian (UK) website. Simply because not only is piano tuning an art, it’s a science. And a serious one at that. His job is to make the instrument be in as tip-top condition as possible, so that when a maestro plays on it, it feels like music from heaven. Just have a read from these interview excerpts:
With one hand, Gerhartz has isolated a particular hammer. With the other, he is brushing a clear liquid on to its green felt coating. "There was one note here, an F sharp, that wasn’t bright enough," he says. "So I used a mixture of collodium and ether to bring the note out. You apply it right on the nose of the hammer and it stretches the felt, so it makes it slightly harder and gives it a bit more tension." This gives the note more attack and brightness – but the process is not yet finished. From his array of little instruments balanced on the strip of wood above the keyboard, Gerhartz chooses a small screwdriver-shaped device, attached to what looks like a hypodermic dart, and starts pricking the felt of the F sharp hammer nose once, twice, several times.
And another:
Preparing a concert grand for performance is quite a task. Every note has to pull its weight, every hammer, every string, every key. This is why, when Gerhartz gets under the bonnet of a piano, he might not come up for air for an hour and a half. There is regulating, voicing and balancing between bass and treble to do. His fingers trickle neurotically up and down the keyboard playing chromatic scales. Anyone else would be doing this to hone technique. But Gerhartz is hunting for bum notes. When he finds something, he takes a stick of chalk – which has its own smart golden holder – and deftly marks the wood above the offending key.
I was very impressed because Gerhartz was surprisingly nonchalant about sharing some of his secrets in this interview. And also the fact that the piano is probably one of the most complicated musical instruments ever invented. Many people think that just because it sounds when played, then “it’s alright.” This is utter bollocks. OK, I’m no Brendel, or Ashkenazy, or Elton John. But when I play on a wretched piano, it’s absolutely hell on earth for me. Which is why digital pianos like the Yamaha Clavinovas are a godsend (yes, I embrace technology with open arms). I can’t afford to own a Yamaha CFSIII or Steinway Model D (about £100,000) but with the sampled concert grand sound in my Clavinova, I can close my eyes and pretend that I’m playing on one.
Listen to this wonderful conversation
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where Gerhartz talks to Classic FM’s Bob Jones about his 23 years of experience preparing pianos for some of the world’s greatest performers.
