mm
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
VOL. LXIX. No. 8
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill, Inc., at 373 4th Ave., New York. Aug. 23, 1919
SIng
'| 0 W * ±°
The Serious Shortage of Concert Grands
A
interesting and at the same time serious phase of the present inadequate output of pianos as com-
pared with the existing demand—a phase that is not widely appreciated, perhaps—is that which af-
fects the supply of concept grand pianos for the use of artists in concerts and recitals.
From the present outlook some artists, who may be said to rank with the foremost, are going to
find it next to impossible to secure concert grand pianos of the leading makes to meet their requirements during
the coming musical season. Even at this early day at least two prominent manufacturers of concert grand
pianos have found it necessary to refuse the requests of pianists of more than ordinary note that they set aside
instruments for their use in the fall. And on more than one occasion, recently, one company has been forced to
refuse point-blank to furnish piartos to artists who desired to use them on vacation tours during the past summer.
This shortage of concert grand pianos made itself felt last season to a considerable extent, even with the
biggest artists, some of whom were compelled to play pianos in a condition that would not be tolerated as a usual
thing. In a two-hour recital a pianist will give a piano harder treatment than would an ordinary family in a
month, and in the usual course of events manufacturers who are interested in concert work insist upon return-
ing pianos to their repair shop after each recital for a thorough overhauling, not alone to keep the pianist
satisfied, but to uphold the reputation of their instruments for quality.
During the past season, however, taking the situation in New York as an example, the limited number of
concert grands available, according to one of the piano men, spent their time for the most part on trucks
going from one auditorium to another and there was no opportunity to give them the proper rest between con-
certs for overhauling purposes. In a prominent Western city a leading house had available last season only
two concert grands of a certain make for public recital purposes, and neither of the instruments found much
time on the wareroom floor during the season.
When a noted pianist goes on tour the question of piano supply, even in normal times, is a perplexing
one. He takes one grand, and perhaps two, with him en route, and in many cases, where it would prove
burdensome to ship the instrument, or instruments, to certain cities for his use, the local representative of
the piano manufacturer in that locality is called upon to furnish the concert grand. Out of fifty recitals perhaps
twenty-five are given on pianos furnished by local agents. It means that these local agents must have at
least two or three concert grands on hand to meet the call of the artist, for it may require a week to ship
one instrument to another city for recital, and have it returned and put into condition again. For a single artist,
therefore, over a score of grand pianos must be available. As the number of pianists for whom the manu-
facturer must make provision increases so increases the problem of piano supply.
In certain warerooms where concert grands in days agone were frequently placed on end, or on their
sides, in order to make room, it is now a problem to find one or two such instruments in the entire wareroom.
Factory departments and repair shops where concert grands were formerly thick now look barren. The worst
of it is that concert grands of established quality cannot be produced over night, and the manufacturers
predict that the situation is going to get worse before it gets any better.
Not only are leading manufacturers refusing, through necessity, to grant the request of pianists that they
provide concert grands for practice and recital purposes next season, but there are a surprising number of instances .
where artists of no mean standing, who have used particular pianos during past seasons, have been advised with
regret that the manufacturer would be unable to take care of them next season. Moreover, earnest appeals to
other manufacturers have met with like response, and a number of artists, to drop into the vernacular, are "up
in the air." It is a situation that is going to prove embarrassing to the pianists, and will likewise bring no joy
to the manufacturers.