The finish of this piano is Pyramid mahogany polish.

The thing I love most about the Bosendorfer is how it human it's voice is. They really just seem to sing.

The Full Perimeter Plate is a result of the raising of the tuning standard from A-435 to A-440. Many manufacturers thought that their plate design would not be strong enough for the additional tension of the higher tuning standard. That caused many makers to use that full perimeter plate. Most eventually redesigned their plates to be stronger using better materials or different bracing. But if you look at many grands of the very late 1800’s to early 1900’s you will find full perimeter plates. Upright pianos also went through a period of plate experimentation with a higher tuning standard. A Victorian Upright had the plate stop at the pinblock. As the newer tuning began to take hold many manufacturers simply added on a separate piece of iron/steel that “extended” the plate so that it encompassed the tuning pin area. There was a lot of experimenting with plate design until today’s full perimeter plate became standard in uprights.

How so very nice to listen to sweet, calming music. Seems everyone today is into fast, aggressive and LOUD. Love your style.

The sound is very clear, clean and transcendent.

There was a gorgeous concert grand Bosendorfer that was used by visiting pianists at Heinz Hall in Pittsburgh for rehearsals. It was made of rosewood and was to die for. I also thought of the word translucent to describe the sound. I received my Bosendorfer as my wedding gift from my husband. I wanted that piano rather than an engagement ring. Great decision.

Fantástic and beautiful piano sound!

Bosendorfer's treble is so delicate, I can't believe it's not butter...

So sweet, pure and beautiful sound! I love it!

I could listen to you play day and night. Thank you for sharing your expertise and musicianship with us.

They just don't come better than that one. What a beautiful sound.

Beautiful, thank you so much for sharing.

Amazing color and sound!!! Oh my good a beautiful piano!!!!

Awesome beautiful and great sound Thnx

Beautiful “old” lady and a beautiful gentle sound. I like it.

Thank you - you combine so well with this piano.

Absolutely the most beautiful piano I've ever seem

Just to describe the look and sound of this beautiful piano in a word: Gorgeous!!!

Captivating, soul-calming sound . Great job !

Bösendorfer 😍 Clair de Lune 😍 Fantastic as always, James!

I realize now why I play guitar...$4000 is a very nice instrument in the guitar realm, but I don't even want to know how long I would be paying off one of these instruments. Lol! The day I can afford to own one will be a good day. Another amazing demo, James. Thanks for doing these. I learn a lot from you. 🐰❤️🎸🎵🤝✌️

I love everything about this piano, and l am amazed at how you are so knowledgeable about pianos. I could listen to you play all day.

Man this piano is a beauty - luxurious and stylish. To own it .... instant heaven. Translucent is the word dude - not apologies needed ! A benediction to have the crystal clear sounds of Debussy wafting through one's being. Man you nailed it!

Very beautiful sound!

That piano sounds better than any other you've already shown. Also, it looks actually new. Impressionist tune that you had just played is nearly perfection perception of my ears Thanks for sharing!

Wow! it's good to showed me the unique piano.

Wonderful piano and pianist

lovely!

Just beautiful harp-like qualities to this piano when playing Clair de Lune. So peaceful and lovely! Especially at 13:12 and 13:22

Beautiful playing. Great review.

Fantastic piano sound!

Beautiful piano.

Thank you for your review.

Beautiful piano and sounds wonderful. Love Claire DeLune, always love hearing that piece. very good review on such an exceptional looking piano.

What a gorgeous piano. Beautiful sound and beautiful playing, James. Thanks! And if I could be annoyingly pedantic for just bit. It’s common - most people who don’t speak German pronounce it Boh-zen-dorffer (or worse - Booz-en-dorffer). The umlauted “o” is actually more akin to an “er” sound (or that’s the closest, way I could describe it to an English speaker). So, the correct pronunciation is more like, Bers-zin-daw-fahr. Check out Google translates for an audio pronunciation sample.

Magical. That is an ideal studio piano for new works of jazz, rock and beyond. It has atmospherics yet there is a super solid voice across all registers. In this day and age, where sampled pianos grace almost everything, the wise choice is an instrument like this that has a unique and identifiable character that doesn't sound like a triggered file.

I love that brand!

Gawd man, you need to get an album out, would love some of these songs on my shop player . . .

très beau Clair de lune ! Et quel piano !!!

wonderful playing magnificent piano super video would like to be able to afford one great

Looks like cherry wood What a lovely sound, what a great piano player. 👍🎶 -> here's the ö for the word Bösendorfer especially for you 😉💕

Phenomenal Pianos ! Dont see to many in the woodgrain finishes. ! Nice find James

wow... Claire De Lune really sounds good on this beautiful piano... Yahua God bless...

Great episode!

I was thinking cherry wood, too. What a beautiful work of art this piano is! Takes my breath away. For some reason, when I think of Bosendorfer, I always think of the great German Boogie Woogie master, Axel Zwingenbeger. Hope that's not too sacrilegious. But I think from now on I will think of Clair de Lune as played by another young master. Thanks for this. Wonderful!

Full perimeter plate! Woah. Incredibly beautiful looking and sounding piano. Wow.

It is mahogany, the higher grade of the veneer is Honduras mahogany. The selection of the wood is crotch cut or flamed mahogany. Common types used on pianos may be ribboned mahogany which runs in ribbons. In this piano You see the beautiful flaming as it is cut from the crotch of the tree which gives it a beautiful design. The orange colour of the harp is copper, metallic like a new penny. It shows the wealth of the material such as silver, gold, copper, brass. A lovely studio or apartment piano delicate and charming crisp and clear. Great presentation, It’s wonderful as you discover the piano and share it with us, thanks 🙏

you should play with lights off in dark and with lighten candles on :)

Great!

My guess is rosewood. Bosendorfer is in a class all its own. My only exposure to this brand was at Wanamaker’s Dept. Store in Philadelphia, many years ago. It was a 9.5’ Imperial Concert Grand. Thanks for another great tour!

Beautiful piano. Incredible musicianship. I'm not sure if you're a man of any faith (and it's ok if you're not) but God has truly blessed you.

You say translucent, I'll say limpid. I could listen to this piano for hours.

Very beautiful voicing...

The wood in the case of Bosendorfers is spruce. I don't think it incorporates any other type of wood, it's a better question for a piano technician to be honest. What I can tell you, though, is that while in most pianos only the soundboard is made of spruce for its sound projection characteristics, Bosendorfers use the wood more extensively throughout the piano which ultimately is part of the reason the sound is more clear. The spruce transmits the sound rather than bouncing the sound around which would ultimately result in less of the harmonics being present in the sound and featuring the fundamental pitch. There's a whole lot of research on sympathetic resonance and the physics of sound which would help contribute to your understanding to the tone of this piano if you were interested in it.

3:54 Useless? A glass of Cognac on the left and an absinthe on the right.

Flame central A, Honduras mahogany, great work,

what a beautiful marvel of mechanical engineering of the old times!

i played one of these this week, near Frankfurt Germany. it was built in 1894. I find the tones to be wonderful in all the octaves..

Rose wood has been used for the music desk on high end pianos because it’s beautiful and smells sweet!

AMaZinG

That is a very "musical" piano. Lovely sound. Looks like rosewood to me, too.

I would think Mahogany or Rosewood...Beautiful looking piano. Now I can't wait to hear how it sounds. / Just as I suspected - it sounds BEAUTIFUL !!!

What I find a bit intriguing is that the letter "s" in the "Bösendorfer" logo is really incorrect. In that typeface (called "Fraktur") the correct "s" in the middle of the word looks like the letter "f" without the crossbar and is sometimes referred to as "the long s". What we consider the standard "s" today was used in Fraktur only at word endings or certain compound word syllable endings. The "long s" was used in English as well, for example Isaac Newton used it as a shorthand for "sum" in a certain context which we call "integral" (that's where the integral sign comes from). Anyway, it's a bit strange given the fact that Bösendorfer was founded in 1828 when Fraktur was still widely used and people had to learn at school which letter "s" to use when, it was a part of routine spelling lessons.

It's a dream!

Cleanest-sounding Bosendorfer I have ever heard on KZfaq. Less resonance than the later ones (with the extended compass), more like other older pianos. I guess Bosendorfer had not yet differentiated into trying to make the most resonant pianos.

It is most definitely pyramidal mahogany of a grade that is unavailable today. The Bosendorfer Senator model is available in pyramidal matched mahogany. If you notice the grain patterns repeat on the fall board as well as the sides and top lid. Bosendorfer is masterful at veneer matching. Thanks for the great demonstration!

Thank you for sharing the video of this Bosendorfer grand piano. You really brought the best out of that Bosendorfer grand piano.

Hi James, your videos are always informative and in depth. I'm no expert on wood however, there is a bit of intrigue here because of the polish being so glossy it's difficult to actually ascertain the type of wood due to the reflection. I'm going to say this is mahogany and it looks like flame mahogany because the pattern extends outwards. I'll let you research that. Well done. Darryl

Listen to what this young man says. "Sweet, gentle, calm type of sound". And you know what ? He's right !!!

thou shalt not covet thy neighbours piano? I confess, I confess.

I have a 1906 fully restored Bosendorfer, very similar to this one. Unfortunately, my piano is in storage. Listening to this piano, makes me miss having my beautiful Bosi with me.

This bosendorfer, is mahogany like u guessed, also one of the prettiest ive ever seen. Clair de lune sounds perfect like it was written on this piano. It is sweet and romantic sounding

It is Mahogany - the real thing, and you won't get that particular strain anymore anywhere. Nor will you hear a sound like that amazing piano anymore

Looking at the richly-patterned fall board, I think this is a rosewood veneer. It was a popular wood for furniture at that time, so this piano would fit in nicely in any stylish home of the day.

Rosewood , mahogany, and spruce are used by guitar makers for the woods' ability to resonanate sound as well as the beauty of the grain and color.

I want one

Clair de lune is a perfect selection for testing any piano. It utilizes a lot of keyboard all the way down to C2 sharp and up to the fourth treble quadrant, also plenty of full and 1/2 notes that linger

The candle stands could probably work as a platform to place GoPros at, either for tutorial or when recording one's performance, or for vlogging. Go figure. :) And that Bösendorfer just sings beautifully.

When that Song was written,he must have had precognition,that you'd play it on That piano.Thank you.

firm natural nice resonance nice tone i could listen to all day should be more of these on stage theatre beautiful piece of furniture how high are the frame strings above soundboard

I agree with the comment @ 8:16 about this piano having “... a sweet, gentle and calm...” sound. I like the shorter fallboard and it appears that sheet music would sit a little lower than most other grands. Nice instrument but weird swivel beer holders.

WELLDONE YOUNG MAN I CAN SEE YOU LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEEETHE BEAUTY YOU EARN , MAY YOU REACH EVERY ONE THAT LOVES WHAT YOU DO , WHILE IM NOW WRITING YOU ARE PLAYING , THERES MANY HEARTS WHO NEED THE MEDICINE MUSIC PROVIDES BE BLESS AUWSOME , MUSIC AND THE ONE PLAYING , AND THOSE LISTENING NOW , BE BLESS WELL DONE ,

Is it true that bosendorfers tend to be heavy in the fundamental tones and have less overtones? Lending to that cleaner less complex sound? Or am I off base? I thought I had heard that somewhere

If you like music, you might want to check out my second channel "Milan Recording Studios". Feel free to subscribe and hit the bell icon if you want to! kzfaq.info/love/u1LrpmWwK1ztTvIayRar9w

Looks like seven octaves - 88 keys. I know some Bosendorfers have 92 or 98 keys (8 octaves). Have you played a 98 key Bosendorfer? Beautiful playing BTW. I like your interpretation of Claire de Lune (sp?).

That is such a unique and incredibly beautiful piano it litteraly takes my breath away, I would love to be present and hear a sweet sonata coming from it.

I was today in green music San diego ,there is bösendorfer and a yamaha keyboard who have mechanic like a upright and the sound of imperial bösendorfer is unbelievable!! You have to go! By the way do you know where I can finde some public piano in San Diego?

There are many styles like Chippendale, Art Deco, this is called Biedermeier. It's the way pianos where usually made during XIX sec. This seems to be a modern grand reproducing an early Biedermeier style, late ones were a little bit more devoid, with less inlays. The Suite Bergamasque Claire de Lune it's probably the best piece to test the typical Bosendorfer sound.

What is he playing on 9:00 minutes?

Turns out I saw one of those going second hand for 500,- bucks, in absolutely shocking state in need of a full revision. Apparently the Bosendorfers from this era have a single escape action, referred to as Viennese action. Bosendorfer doesn't supply parts for this anymore and only for the "English action", according to their website anyway. Of course it can still be restored but not with original parts.

This is the make of piano favoured by the amazing classical, now jazz musician Oscar Peterson.

Some of those middle range notes sound almost Rhodes-like. If only I had the money for this lol

Just curious what's the year, model, and rough cost? I've been looking for a good "starter for intermediate level players" like myself (been years since I played or had lessons) but either A)the really nice pianos are out of my price range; B)the low cost/free cost ones are a huge gamble with gawd knows what kind of problems, and c)our local piano dealer/music stores seem to be going out of business at an alarming rate. I'll search the channel for a "starter" piano but if you haven't covered it or recently I suggest a video on that...and preferably for someone on a budget.

Блестящий!

I own an A Proksch grand piano nearly built in the early 1900 may be German or Austrian it looks very similar to the one you are playing but all the strings are prallel i would like to ask you if i can tune it on 440Hz because the strings are the same age as the piano and i would like ti ask you if it has viennes or english key actions how do i know and is there any difference between both actions thanks

I see cup holders where you have candle holders.

Bösendorfer is famous for high quality and very musical instruments. This one has been lovingly restored to a very high standard. I suspect the action has been replaced, too. Most Bösies from this period would have had Vienese action fitted. Have you played on one?

What's the name of the Bach piece at 8:50? The name of the test piece really ought to be mentioned somewhere in the video or description.

Wow...as expected from a Bösey..

I think this piano is veneer with walnut but lacqured with red finish...the exotic wood for wien at the time would be really unusual...