Music Educator Angela Nuefeld Chooses Bosendorfer
As a pianist and a piano instructor, I dreamed of owning a beautiful new Steinway Model B. During my undergraduate and graduate studies in performance, I played most if not all of my recitals on Steinway pianos and longed to own one myself one day. Last September, my husband and I decided to invest in a new piano for our home – to use for my own practicing and for my teaching. Also, my two sons ages 6 and 9 had both become more serious about their music studies and we felt that we wanted both of them to grow up practicing on a "quality" instrument - the very best we could afford. Eagerly, I visited Steinway Hall playing all of their Model B’s but was disappointed. They were all so different – some more muted without any projection and some seemed almost harsh and far too bright. I had heard about the wonderful Bosendorfer piano but had never played one. I decided that if I was going to spend a great deal of money on a piano, I should at least play a Bosendorfer before I committed myself to a Steinway that would require a lot of work by a technician to get the sound just where I needed it to be. I set up an impromptu appointment at Collora Pianos in Dallas and was greeted by Phil Gibbs who invited me to play all of the Bosendorfer models in their showroom. I sat down at one of the pianos and began to play and almost immediately, tears came to my eyes. The sound of the piano was how I had always imagined a beautiful piano should sound. It was rich and warm and the tones were even, clear and almost "bell-like." The piano’s treble voice sang out and almost did a lot of the work for you while the bass was deep and strong but never muffled or muted. After playing all of the Bosendorfer models in the showroom, I was astounded at how similar they all were! They all had a very consistent "Bosendorfer" sound - so unlike the Steinway pianos I had played earlier. I mentioned to Phil that I was also considering a Steinway B and he was courteous and professional saying that he completely understood and that if I would like, I could have a piano delivered to my home on a trial basis and If I wasn’t happy with it, they would be willing to take it back with no questions asked. I decided that day to buy a Seven Foot CS Series Bosendorfer and have fallen in love with the piano as it has acclimated itself in my home. My students love it, I have been inspired to practice more, and my children feel blessed to have an instrument of the highest quality to practice on. My nine year old son, who is also a cellist, claims it’s like having the entire Vienna Philharmonic at your fingertips! He is practicing the piano more than two hours every day and recently won Second Place in the Dallas Solo Competition and First Place in the Dallas Symphonic Festival at SMU. He doesn’t get to perform on a Bosendorfer at these events, but he always carries the sound of his beautiful home piano in his ears and that is the sound he tries to re-create when he performs on other pianos. Last week, my graduate school piano professor came to visit me for a couple of days and she spent hours on my new piano playing the music of Debussy, Ravel, Bach and Beethoven. She exclaimed over and over again about what a wonderful choice I had made and she can’t wait to come again to visit my beautiful Bosendorfer!