Bechstein and Jorge Bolet

Mattheus Smits has sent me this very interesting piece. I am very grateful to him for the insights which he has provided to this website, things which would otherwise be lost..

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There is no doubt in my mind that Jorge loved the Bechstein piano, especially the model EN, above all others.

The important technical reasons for this were:

The smoothness of the action.

The use of agraffes in the treble.

The functioning of the left pedal

The functionning of the middle pedal.

The functioning of the right pedal.

About the Bechstein pedals, it is important to know that they are closer to the ground/floor and that the brass parts are longer. This gives better leverage and less tension in the feet of the player. As Jorge used the left pedal often, even in forte, he could always trust its correct functioning. Jorge also used the middle pedal more often than other pianists in order to get the desired effect. Playing on the Bechstein, Jorge knew that the middle pedal would always work thanks to its different mechanism. As Jorge used the right pedal in a different way than most other pianists, he had full advantage of the fact that the pedals were longer and closer to the floor.

It must also be mentioned that Jorge had an extremely good relationship with Edwin Bechstein, the grandson of Carl Bechstein. He had always appreciated the fact that Edwin Bechstein was a family member, and thus able on occasion to see beyond the world of business and finance. I witnessed this good relationship several times in Germany at concerts and at dinners afterwards. When Edwin sold his shares to Baldwin, as his children were not interested, it was no problem for Jorge to play on Bechstein in Europe and on Baldwin in the Americas. Problems came when Karl Schulze bought Bechstein back from Baldwin. Bechstein still provided Jorge with his beloved instrument, but the chemistry between the two parties was no longer what it used to be. I know that the new Bechstein management tried to find a market for Bechstein in the Americas where Jorge could have been very intrumental; there were contacts with Maximilian's House of Grand Pianos in New York (no longer in operation), but this did not work out. When things became very difficult for Bechstein around 1985, the company was forced to finish the providing of Bechstein concert grands to Jorge. I remember that this was a big blow for him.

As far as Jorge was concerned, I know the Bechstein had been his great favourite and he was always happy to have one at his disposal for concerts and recordings.

A major issue here was also the fact that when Jorge knew there was a Bechstein on stage waiting for him, he knew he did not have to worry. When he had to play on a different instrument, he always had to spent a lot of time getting to know it. Not that it made any difference. In Arnhem (Holland) in 1974, he had to play on a Steinway; the result can be heard on the Marston set. Listen to the Paul de Schloesser étude and the Saint- Saens/Godowsky both played as encores.

There is a nice anecdote I should mention: when Jorge was on tour in Holland with the new model Bechstein EN, he was invited onto a live broadcast of a radio programme with a live audience. When Jorge was asked what the difference was between this Bechstein and “another famous model”, he answered: “Yes I know what model you have in mind but they do not make pianos for pianists, they make pianos for elephants!" Great laughter and clapping hands! Jorge added that no matter how difficult the music, everything felt to him easy on this instrument.

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During a harmony, lets say G major, Jorge very, very slowly moved his right foot upwards, so the dampers were going very, very slowly downwards. This resulted in the pedal and the dampers being already very close at the point when there was the shift to the next harmony, let's say C major. This way of using the pedal is written down in copies which I have from Jorge from his student days, possibly by Godowsky, as the piece involved is Godowsky's arrangement of Chopin's Waltz in E flat, op.18.

Jorge many times showed me how slowly and with how much control he could make the right pedal go up and prepare for the next harmony without any hiccups resulting from a fast up and down movement of the pedal. In other words, this technique makes the harmonies blend more naturally into each other.

I remember that the individual regulation of all the dampers by the technician was always a time-consuming task when working for Jorge. Jorge told me that such pedalling required a pedal close to the ground/floor and long pedals to provide longer leverage, and - as a result - this made things easier for the right foot and for the pianist.

With all this knowledge in mind Jorge never understood why students showed up for a lesson wearing sneakers or worse high heels. For concerts Jorge always had special shoes with very thin leather material between his foot and the brass of the pedal.

Another important point of the Bechstein was that when Jorge got to know them before the [2nd world] war the key-weight was the same in all the registers of the instrument, just under 60 grams. In other words there was no difference in key-weight between the bass side and the treble side, even though the hammers in the bass are heavier. After the war this was changed but only a little bit. This gives the Bechstein a more even action.