Great News for Lovers of Piano Concertos…
During Season 28
Bösendorfer Grand Pianos
Will Grace the VoxAmaDeus Concert Stage!
For the 2014-15 performance season, Valentin Radu and VoxAmaDeus have scored a pianistic coup. Thanks to a very special arrangement with the Cunningham Piano Company of Philadelphia, during Season 28 our stage will be graced, exclusively, by the incomparable, world-renowned pianos of the Austrian firm of Bösendorfer. And this means that you will be treated to the one-of-a-kind sonorities of what has been described as the “biggest, baddest piano in existence”—the 9-foot 6-inch long, 97-keyed, $250,000 Imperial Grand.We have two stories to relate about this musical triumph:
Since he was a child piano prodigy in Romania, Valentin Radu has performed on these magnificent instruments. Read his personal story about what makes the Bösendorfer such a world-renowned instrument.
Following that, read how a lad from upstate Pennsylvania—who used to play in rock-'n-roll bands—became an operatic tenor and is now the Philadelphia region's exclusive purveyor of the exquisite Bösendorfer piano…the fascinating personal journey of Timothy Oliver.
A Note from Maestro Radu about the Bösendorfer Piano
As an aside, I must mention that I have the added pleasure of the use of the unmatched Bösendorfer piano in the choir rehearsal room of the church where I am organist and choir director. All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Wynnewood has a 6-foot Conservatory Grand at my disposal. What a joy!
To be frank, in this part of the world most people believe that the renowned Steinway is the peak—the summit—of quality; and it certainly is that. However to a fine pianist-connoisseur or discerning listener there are significant differences between the two brands. As far as the player is concerned, the two most significant differences are: 1) the Action (i.e., how the keys feel under your fingers); and 2) the Sound.About the Action, basically I find that the Bösendorfer “fights you back!” By this I mean that the keys are harder to push down, and deeper, so that you have far more control—sort of like the difference between a manual stick shift and the automatic transmission of a car! It is really a very rewarding feeling playing the keys.
As for the Sound, when you “win the battle over the action” (Maestro Radu chuckles in mid-sentence), what comes out in terms of the sound is really an amazing refinement of the richness of tone, the resonance, the volume, the clarity of the harmonics (i.e., the overtone series heard above the fundamental note) that spans all the way from the lowest to the highest tones. Also the Bösendorfer is an amazingly balanced instrument; it covers a spectrum of sound that is formidable. This is summed up in the Bösendorfer motto, Der Klang, Der Berührt, which translates as “The sound that touches the soul.”
I have to say that in my wildest dreams I never, until very recently, imagined that Season 28—a concert year that I referred to as a “Perfect 10” in my article in the August E-Newsletter—was going to be so wonderfully enhanced. And this enhancement comes in addition to the amazing variety of repertoire, the stellar soloists, and the customary high quality of the VoxAmaDeus orchestra and chorus. To all of this we add the icing on the cake of the Bösendorfer Piano.
I am extremely grateful to Mr. Tim Oliver, co-owner of Cunningham Piano Company of Philadelphia, for agreeing to this very generous arrangement to lend VoxAmaDeus two different sizes of Bösendorfer grand pianos throughout Season 28. The first is the Model 225 Grand Piano. Its 2-meter-25-centimeter length translates to about a seven-foot-long grand piano, comparable in size to a Conservatory Grand of Steinway. But the sound and the keyboard action of the Bösendorfer, which I discussed above, set it apart from other fine grand pianos.
With great pleasure and honor I will perform on a Bösendorfer 225 on September 14 at Daylesford Abbey as part of the opening concert of Season 28. This September 14 concert will also feature a first for me, in that I will perform two piano concerti in one performance—something I have not done before. Also, the music is from two very different genres and eras, one being Bach’s Keyboard Concerto in f minor (probably from 1735) and the other Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in d minor of 1785. These are extremely exciting and challenging works for both the pianist and the orchestra. And of course, in addition to playing the difficult solo parts, I’ll also conduct the orchestra from the keyboard. This mirrors something that both Bach and Mozart used to do in their times. And I must mention that the amazing sound qualities of the Bösendorfer 225 with its four extra keys will be greatly enhanced by the marvelous acoustics of Daylesford Abbey, making it a truly memorable musical experience.
The second piece that will be performed, the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 20 in d minor, I also played as a young piano prodigy for the first time in Bucharest with the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra when I was barely nine years of age (!). Since then I have performed it many times; on several occasions I have performed and conducted it with various orchestras in Europe and the United States and recently recorded it on compact disc (on the VAD Classics label).
I have also conducted (but not played) the Mozart D-Minor Concerto. That was in November of 1997 with my mentor and beloved piano teacher, Maestro Dan Grigore from Romania, who performed it on an original fortepiano in Philadelphia, with the Ama Deus Ensemble under my baton (the Bösendorfer Imperial Grand, alas, was not available to Mozart in his time, nor to VoxAmaDeus in 1997!).
Speaking of Bösendorfer, as I mentioned before, I have many beautiful memories of performing on it during numerous concerts on the stage of the Bucharest Philharmonic, as well as a few times in Vienna and Paris. But this is the first time that my humble, fast fingers will have the honor of glancing over its strong keys on this side of the ocean.
Last May 16 at the Kimmel Center I performed the Beethoven “Empress” Piano Concerto No. 3, and will, by popular demand, repeat it at the Kimmel Center next November 21. Only this time I will perform on the Model225’s “Big Brother,” the monstrous, 97-keyed Bösendorfer Imperial Grand Piano, with all the extra bass keys and the amplest sonorities, unmatched by any piano in existence.
VoxAmaDeus invites you to meet “Mr. Bösendorfer” of the Philadelphia region, a vocal artist with the Vox Renaissance Consort and Ama Deus Ensemble—Mr. Timothy Oliver, co-owner of the Cunningham Piano Company, Philadelphia’s oldest and most respected piano company since 1891.
A Journey From
Shaggy, Long-Haired Rock-'n-Roll Keyboard Man
To Purveyor of the World’s Greatest Pianos
(in conversation with Richard Shapp)
Richard Shapp: Tim please take us back to the start of your love of music performance.
Tim Oliver: I grew up north of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, near the New York state line, in the small town of Ralston. It boasts 100 homes, three churches, two bars, and one cemetery. I have three older brothers, and my mom wanted one of us to learn to play the piano. Being the youngest in my family, I was the last shot. As a total aside, we recently found out that I’m a direct descendant, on my mom’s side, of a Massachusetts colonist named Daniel Elliott. During the infamous Salem Witchcraft Trials he was the first to go on record in a court of law declaring that the girls at the Trials were liars. This came up at a recent Elliott family reunion!
At age 15, I auditioned for Dr. Gary Boerckel, who was the head of the Lycoming College Music Department. Although I was officially too young for Dr. Boerckel’s studio, he made an exception and began giving me lessons. He became a very, very influential part of my life and still remains a good friend. A few years later (1990 to 1994), I went to Lycoming College on a partial scholarship; my family sacrificed a lot to make this happen.
From about age 16 to 24, I played in a number of successful, localized rock bands. I call this my “seven years in smoky bars.” I was a skinny, long-haired kid and was having the time of my life playing keyboards and singing hard rock music. I played in lots of bars, racking up hundreds of performances. Now, you do the math—that meant for about five years of this career I was under-aged, and more than once had to hide from Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board agents! But I loved what I was doing. Plus being able to sing and play meant I never had to flip burgers to make money. And there were some obvious side benefits that I probably shouldn’t mention here.
However, even as a rock musician, I never shunned classical music. I had always appreciated the emotional stimulation that I got from both rock and classical music, but as I got older, I became more and more drawn by what I can only describe as the intellectual stimulation from classical music. So, I eventually turned away from the bar scene and pursued classical music gigs, with an emphasis in operatic performance.
RAS: How did you discover that you had a quality, classical voice?
TO: Throughout high school I sang in the choir, and went on to sing at the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association All-State chorus. So the vehicle to explore classical voice had been there, but still I was known as a pianist. At Lycoming College the primary instrument for my major was piano, but I began to get more traction as a singer. At Lycoming I opted to perform my “Senior Piano Recital” at the end of my Junior year, and for my Senior year graduation project I presented a full-length voice concert. Also, I was approved to have an independent study program in conducting with an eight-voice jazz ensemble.
At about this time (1994) I met a second tremendously influential musical figure. This was heldentenor (German for a Wagnerian-type dramatic tenor) and 1960’s-era Curtis Institute graduate Guy Rothfuss. He was a native of Williamsport who had spent about 25 years singing in Germany. Guy was semi-retired and living in the Philadelphia suburb of Abington.
It took quite a commitment to study with Guy. For starters, taking a lesson meant a six-hour drive back and forth from Williamsport, where I was managing a music store. So, with about $50,000 in loans hanging over me, I quit the store job and slept on a friend’s couch in Philadelphia to be able to really study with Guy, and to try and build a career in vocal music. This was in 1997, and this move was a pretty big risk for me at the time.
RAS: How did you pay the rent or put food on the table?
TO: Well, I worked by day in the well-known Zapf’s Music Store and I sang wherever I could. Soon I began to hang around Cunningham Piano looking for work—which they offered me—booking piano-tuning reservations. In time, Cunningham gave me a sales position, and I soon began to sell an average of almost $1,000,000 worth of pianos each year. I kept studying with Guy Rothfuss, and continued to sing anywhere I could land a singing gig or stage role.
I appeared with many organizations, and sang 30 to 40 leading or supporting operatic tenor roles. One of these groups was the Delaware Valley Opera Company with which I still sing and serve on its Board of Directors. Between 2001 and 2004 I also sang regularly with the Lancaster Opera Company in several leading roles including Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville, Ralph Rackstraw in HMS Pinafore and Tamino in The Magic Flute.
RAS: Is it true that you met your Leading Lady on stage?
TO: You are correct! As a member of the Delaware Valley Opera Company’s La bohème chorus I met the beautiful Elizabeth Russell, also of the chorus. Liz was a graduate of the University of Indiana, where she had been a music minor at its famed college of music. Her major, however, was in journalism. When we met she was writing for Montgomery Newspapers at the Montgomery County Court House. We were married in 1999, and after a while she worked for next to nothing for several years at Cunningham Piano, during and after my purchase of the company. Her faith in me is one of the many reasons why I love her.
RAS: Did you two travel to Europe to try to land positions in the German opera houses, as do so many American singers?
TO: We talked about it a lot—the pros and cons. And in 2004 we finally agreed to try the infamous European audition tour. Over almost a month we sang auditions for six German opera theater agents, and also for the famed Glyndebourne Music Festival in England. Two agents in Germany were interested, but needed us to immerse ourselves in the German language so we could be used in operetta. They advised that we learn to speak German and come back in six months to audition at opera houses. But Liz and I ultimately decided that we did not want to live the lives of expats. So we did not return to Europe, and I finally accepted Cunningham’s offer to join its management team in 2004.
We settled down in Philadelphia, and I was amazed to find an inner peace with our decision. I was extremely happy to sing in the greater Philadelphia area—which includes VoxAmaDeus—and to concentrate on working at Cunningham.
RAS: Tim, so what was your second big gamble?
TO: As I just alluded to, this was my decision to buy Cunningham Piano! Founded in 1891, Cunningham had operated continually for all but two years, and that was during World War II. From about 1978, Cunningham had been owned and operated by two wonderful ladies who didn’t have family able to take over the business. But they trusted us [i.e., Tim and his business partner] to carry on their tradition. Now understand, except for managing that small music store in Williamsport, I had absolutely no business management background! But in March 2008 my business partner, Rich Galassini, and I successfully transferred ownership of this prestigious company, and—I am relieved to say—things are going very well.
RAS: What is your secret to this success?
TO: From a retail perspective, I am a musician who knows how to help people buy a piano. I listen and match them to the proper instrument. I don’t try to sell people something, but rather try to help them fulfill a need and/or a dream. From a business perspective, I surround myself with people whom I trust and respect. I listen to them and try to boil things down to a simple level. And then I make definitive choices and act quickly on them.
RAS: What draws you to VoxAmaDeus?
TO: In brief, there is the fabulous music VoxAmaDeus presents. And without doubt, there is the tremendously exciting way in which Valentin Radu interprets the masterworks we perform! It’s the whole ball-of-wax. I even enjoy it when Valentin gets frustrated and colorfully reads us singers the riot act, because I know that he is only trying to get every ounce out of us, so that we can give the audience a great musical experience. I am 42 years old and am having the musical time of my life!
RAS: Tim, can you sum up the “Bösendorfer experience” in a few words?
TO: Bösendorfer is the Stradivarius of pianos, hand-built in Vienna, Austria. Bösendorfer makes almost the entire piano out of white Bavarian Spruce wood that has grown a minimum of 800 meters above sea level and is harvested only in the winter, when the sap is at its lowest. The wood is then aged a minimum of five years before being considered for selection to be used in a Bösendorfer. It is by far the most costly and longest process of any piano manufacturer. The end result is a total body resonance that can only be achieved by these means. The tone of the piano is based on the truest fundamental of any piano you’ll ever hear.
To put it in more understandable terms, there are many wonderful cars on the road, from Toyota to Cadillac to Mercedes Benz. But when you see a Lamborghini, it is an exotic experience like nothing else. There are only about 50 Bösendorfers sent to the United States each year. We are lucky enough to have sold five of them so far this year, and we have three now in our showroom.
RAS: Then Tim sat down at both a Bösendorfer Imperial Grand and a Steinway 1876 Centennial Grand Piano that Cunningham had recently and lovingly refurbished. He played a sonorous section from Debussy’s richly evocative The Sunken Cathedral (La cathédral engloutie) of 1910. Both pianos responded gloriously to Tim’s touch. But the Bösendorfer’s extra strings down to the low C, and the amazing additional resonance given to its tone by the piano’s unique construction design made a world of difference even this singer readily recognized!
So, my dear Vox readers, if you are lovers of great piano music, then you really must attend the concerts when VoxAmaDeus shares the stage with the Bösendorfer. The Bösendorfer motto is: “Der Klang / der berührt” which translates literally as “The Tone / The Touches,” but loses its deeper sense in translation. The Spanish translate it as "un sonido que conmueve," which is in English, "a sound that moves". A truer translation into English is "the Sound (that) touches (the soul)."
Please join us this season. You will not be disappointed!
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Naturally enough, Bösendorfer Pianos have been (and still are) the favored keyboard instrument of scores and scores of internationally famous artists—vocal and instrumental soloists, composers, conductors and performers of many stripes. Here is a short—but incomplete—list of names, many you’d expect from the classical music world, while others who may bring a smile to the face!
| Greats You Might Expect | Some Who Might Surprise You |
|---|---|
| Leonard Bernstein | Paul Anka |
| Victor Borge | Tony Bennett |
| Anton Bruckner | William F. Buckley, Jr |
| Ferruccio Busoni* | Chevy Chase |
| Pablo Casals | Bing Crosby |
| Antonin Dvorák | Phyllis Diller |
| Plácido Domingo | Roberta Flack |
| Herbert van Karajan | Jane Fonda |
| Zoltan Kodály | Marvin Hamlisch |
| Franz Lehár | Dustin Hoffmann |
| James Levine | Bob Hope |
| Franz Liszt** | Michael Jackson |
| Gustav Mahler | Jack Lemmon |
| Mstislav Rostropovich | Dudley Moore |
| Anton Rubinstein | Willie Nelson |
| Arnold Schönberg | Oscar Peterson |
| Richard Wagner | Lionel Richie |
| John Williams | Frank Sinatra |
| Sting | |
| and many others! | Peter Ustinov |
| Frank Zappa |
* During the first decade of the 20th century, Busoni’s transcriptions for the piano of Bach’s organ works were the catalyst for the development of the Imperial Grand. His transcriptions demanded lower notes than those possessed by the typical grand piano, and so Bösendorfer responded with a titanically large piano.
** Liszt’s ecstatic praise of Bösendorfer pianos was a tremendous impetus to the fame, success, and piano-crafting technical developments of the brand.