FAMOUS RECITALS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 20027, 7 February 1935, Page 6

FAMOUS RECITALS

PIANOS TAMPERED WITH Mysterious attempts have been made to wreck recitals given in London by many of the most famous concert platform artists in the world, states the “Daily Mail.” They have taken the form of interference with the pianos about to be played on by such master musicians as Schnabel, Lamond, Rubenstein, Backhaus, and Harold Bauer. Fear of further attempts has led to the posting by the manufacturers of guards over the pianos supplied for such important occasions. Deliberate de-tuning, partly severing the strings, and, in one case gouging sections out of the soundboard are the methods of the culprits, whose object appears to be to bring discredit to both artists and instruments. At a recent recital at Queen’s Hall the Steinway piano used by the accompanist of Mrae. Lotte Lehmann, the singer, was so appallingly out of tune that Mr Edwin Evans, the “Daily Mail” music critic, drew attention to the fact in his criticism. Yet in the morning it had been in perfect condition. Mr J. O. Eshelby, of Messrs Steinway, said: “One of the three strings to one particular note had been pressed down, throwing the note at least an eighth of a tone out of tune. It was obviously the work of someone who knew pianos and their construction.” The recital given by Schnabel at Queen’s Hall on November 10 escaped misfortune by a chance test. Mr Charles Titheradge. managing director of Messrs Bechstein (England), Ltd., said:— “In the morning the piano was tuned and left ready for the recital at 3 p.m. Fortunately at 2.15 one of my men ran his fingers over the keyboard, and at once three of the strings in the centre snapped. “They had been partly severed by pliers or other sharp cutters and only a light blow was needed to complete the break. "My man dashed by taxi-cab to the factory for new strings. He fitted them and was still tuning them when the audience filed in for the recital. A Bosendorfer piano, hired out by Mr Winchester Beridge, of the Wigmore Piano Galleries, for a dinner and entertainment at the Burlington Galleries, suffered perhaps most of all. When it was opened it was found that over a space of three octaves in the middle register the sides of strings had been rubbed, while holes had been gouged in sections of the soundboard underneath.