Acoustic

& Digital

PIANO
BUYER

THE BEST CHINESE

PROFESSIONAL-SIZE GRANDS
REVIEW:

JUDITH COHEN

For this issues piano review, Piano Buyer asked concert pianist Judith Cohen to
try out five of the highest-rated Chinese grands between 6' and 6' 6" long. This
is a size range of piano commonly used by professionalslarger than the pianos in most homes, but smaller than those found on concert stages. The author
concludes by commenting on the tradeoff between price and performance when
considering whether to purchase a moderately priced or a high-end instrument.
Editor
Every time I perform a concert, I have
to evaluate, analyze, and sum up my
impressions of the instrument put
before me. I often have less than 15
minutes of quality time to spend with
the piano. The hall acoustic is always
a factor in my assessment, as well as
the type of concert: solo piano, chamber music, concerto with orchestra,
etc. Unfortunately, even if there is an
excellent piano technician nearby,
he or she is rarely given the time to
change anything once the piano is in
its performance position on stage.
For this article, I have enjoyed
the process of trying out and evaluating five different pianos without
the pressure of actually having to
give a concert on any of them! My
responses, opinions, and reactions
to each instrument are as a performing pianist, not as a piano technician or builder. Like most pianists,
I have very little knowledge of this
most complex and mysterious mechanism. I know that technicians often
speak a different language from
pianists, but we need each other, and
must appreciate our differences.
I decided I would try each instrument with a variety of repertoire
spanning close to three centuries of
piano music, from Domenico Scarlatti (who had at least five early pianos in his inventory at the time of his
death) through Bartk, and including Beethoven and Debussy.

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predict how softly I will be able to

play on an instrument after just a
few minutes of Debussys subtle and
exquisite music.
The Hungarian composer Bla
Bartk has long been a favorite
composer of mine. His music demands rhythmic precision and control of articulation. I am always able
to tell how much subtlety of articulation (varieties of staccato, accents,
two-note slurs, tenuto, portato, etc.)
I can execute on an instrument after
playing Bartk. I like to try With
Drums and Pipes, one of the movements from his Out of Doors suite.
Besides being, rhythmically, lots of
fun to play, this piece uses the lowest bass notes of the piano for the
drum effect. Instantly I can hear
how much resonance, power, and
color I can expect from the lower bass.

Scarlattis sonatas K.14 in G Major and K.33 in D Major are full of

light, quick passagework, and instantly give a pianist an impression
of how responsive a piano action
is, how good the repetition might
be, and how easy or difficult it is to
control. The Beethoven Bagatelles,
Op.126, contain long lyrical lines.
The pianist can feel and hear how
well the tone sustains, and how easily a sense of melodic line can be
created. This is always a challenge
for pianist and pianoone needs a
legato touch, pedaling finesse, and
an instrument that sings. I always
Ritmller GH-188R (6' 2")
hope for a piano with a long tonal
sustain, as well as tonal color and
I was more impressed with the
complexity. This is very subjective,
Ritmllers tonal color, and its susof courseespecially the perception
tained singing quality in the midof colorand not all
treble, than with those
pianists experience
of any of the other intone in the same way.
struments reviewed.
I always love playThe tone didnt deI always hope for a
ing a couple of Decay as rapidly as with
bussy tudes, such piano with a long
some Asian pianos
as Pour les huits tonal sustain, as
Ive played, and the
doigts or the Artonal color was more
well as tonal color
peggio. These fiendcomplex and varied
ishly difficult works and complexity.
characteristics that
encompass an instrumade playing the
ments extreme bass and treble, and
Beethoven Bagatelles enjoyable on
give the pianist a sense of its possithis instrument.
bilities in dynamic range and color.
The clarity of the high treble
Debussys music requires a tremenwas good, though too bright for
dous variety of volume levels in the
my taste. The transition from the
softer dynamic ranges. I can always
bass up through the tenor and lower

49

treble strings was smooth, and the

resonance and clarity of pitch in the
low bass were quite good. I noticed
that the showrooms acoustic was
flattering (high ceilings) but not
overwhelming (carpeted floors).
Unfortunately, my positive impression of this instrument was
marred by a touch that felt shallow,
uneven, and somewhat heavy and
tiring to play. A lack of speed and
reliability of repetition also contributed to the impression that the
action probably needed further
regulating. The pedals were easy to
depress and worked well, but unlike what Ive come to expect from
high-end instruments, use of the
una corda (soft) pedal didnt seem to
change the timbre.

Heintzman 186 (6' 1")

When I arrived to try the Heintzman,
I found I had the pleasure of having two samples to try! They had
recently been used for a theater
production about two pianists, and
each instrument had been voiced to
one pianists taste. I spent most of
my time on the piano in the main
showroom, but after spending some
time playing both instruments, I was
struck again by the importance of
the piano technician in determining
the sound (voicing) and feel (regulation) of any particular piano.
I enjoyed playing the Debussy
Arpeggio tude because of this
instruments wide dynamic range
and good singing quality. The transition from the bass section to the
tenor was very smooth. An abrupt
change in tone from the mid-treble
to the much brighter high treble was
a bit disconcerting, however, and
some tubbiness in a few of the bass
notes suggested the need for a little
voicing to even things out.
As with the Ritmller, the Heintzman action felt shallow and a little
tiring to play; with the Heintzman,

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PRICES OF MODELS REVIEWED*

Brand/Model (alphabetically)

Size

MSRP ($)

SMP ($)

Brodmann PE 187

6 2

25,900

18,267

Hailun 198

6 5

24,900

22,510

Heintzman 186

6 1

Perzina T-188

6 1

24,090

17,060

Ritmller GH-188R

6 2

24,995

18,176

18,780

*Prices are for models in polished ebony.

MSRP = Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price. Not all manufacturers issue MSRPs.
SMP = Suggested Maximum Price. Most sales take place at a discount to the SMP.
See Model & Pricing Guide in Piano Buyer for more information about prices.

however, repeated notes were nevertheless easy to execute. I did find

some distracting action noises in the
treblesoft clicking sounds as the
keys were depressed. This seemed
to happen starting from C above
middle C and proceeding about an
octave and a half upward. Also,
the touch felt uneven and a little
difficult to control, especially in
the tenor section. The three pedals
worked well, though I had to work
quite hard to depress them. I especially appreciated that I was able to
play quite softly with the una corda
pedal depressed.

Perzina T-188 (6' 1")

Perhaps due to its being voiced very
brightly, even shrill in some places,
the Perzina seemed lacking in tonal
color, especially in the treble. I realize that this is a matter of taste, and
that, in general, all pianos seem to
be voiced more brightly today than
they were 20 or 30 years ago. Larger
concert halls, changing expectations
of sound, and an explosion of piano
competitions have undoubtedly contributed to this trend, with the result
that a piano in a showroom now
probably must be voiced brightly to
compete in the marketplace. I was
taught to pull the sound out of
the piano, and to produce the tone as
much as possible. I think most piano
customers today prefer the tone to
jump out at them.

The transition in the low tenor

from treble to bass strings was very
good, however, and the bass section
was one of the best of the five pianos
I playedits clarity and resonance
were superb. Because of this, the
Bartk With Drums and Pipes
worked very well on this piano. Interestingly, despite the brightness, I
found it quite easy to play softly on
the Perzina. I did not have to use
the una corda pedal to do so, and I
always appreciate that. In general,
the action felt easy enough, but trills
and turns were somewhat difficult
to execute. All three pedals worked
well and were easy, but not too easy,
to depress, and the una corda provided a nice tonal contrast.
I also enjoyed looking at this pianos interesting hardware and cabinet detail, including a Perzina coat
of arms with lengthy wording on the
fallboard decal, and a chrome coat
of arms over one of the plate expansion holes.

Brodmann PE 187 (6' 2")

When I first sat down at the Brodmann, I was relieved to be playing a piano that, despite a rather
live room acoustic, didnt sound
too bright. It had a singing quality
in the mid-treble, with a very nice
sustain. However, I missed being
interested in the toneit just wasnt
that complex or compellingand
the resonance and tonal color varied

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a lot throughout the various registers. For example, the two octaves
proceeding upward from F# above
middle C seemed a little dull, almost
tubby in sound, and it was hard to
experience any tonal color in this
area. The same could be said for the
upper bass. On the other hand, the
transition area in the low tenor was
quite good, and there was excellent
resonance from the lowest notes
on the keyboard up to the second
E from the bottom. Despite these
variations, in general the instrument
had a quite wide dynamic range.
I enjoyed the feel of the action; it
felt very free, and it was easy to execute trills and passagework. On this
well-regulated action, I was finally
able to enjoy playing the Scarlatti.
This was, perhaps, the most enjoyable
of the actions I played for this review.
All three pedals seemed fine, and
the una corda produced a nice tonal
shift that was not too shocking a
contrast.

Hailun 198 (6' 5")

The Hailun had good sustain in
the treble. The tone didnt decay too
quickly and wasnt thin. But, as
with the Brodmann, the tone lacked
color and just wasnt that interesting.
There was very good clarity in the
high treble, however, and the piano in
general was evenly voiced. Debussys
Pour les huits doigts tude is filled
with rapid scale passages that are
supposed to blend seamlessly into
one another; it worked well on this
instrument, whose tone never got
nasty or too bright. My impression
of the Hailuns tone was probably influenced by the showroom acoustic,
which was slightly drier than the others I had visitedbesides the carpeting, the ceilings were lower.
The transition from treble to bass
was very good. The resonance and
clarity of the bass strings were very
impressive, especially in the lowest

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notes. This may have been influenced by the instruments size: three
or four inches longer than the others
I tried. Bartks With Drums and
Pipes was really fun to play on this
piano. The tone was very resonant
in the lowest bass octave; above that
it was still good, but not as thrilling.
The dynamic range throughout was
quite good, though I would have enjoyed greater variety at the soft end
of the dynamic spectrum.
For the most part, the Hailun
action was enjoyable to play and
musically responsive. There were
distracting noises, however, from a
number of notes in various registers
of the piano when the sustain pedal
was depressed. And when I depressed the una corda pedal, I heard
little difference in volume or color.
Im not an expert on piano cabinetry and hardware, but in general, I
was impressed with this aspect of all
the pianos I reviewed. All the lids
except that of the Ritmller were
quite heavy to lift, however, and
Im used to lifting the lids of 7' and
9' grands. The music desks of the
Ritmller and the Perzina were fitted too tightly to be easily removed
and replaced, and the propstick on
the Heintzman didnt fit well to the
lid. Other than these minor issues,
however, the finish, hardware, and
cabinetry seemed fine.
To conclude, given the good quality of pianos being made today in
China and elsewhere in Asia, it is
interesting and only natural to wonder whether a high-end piano such
as a Steinway is worth five times as
much as one of the instruments reviewed, and whether the Chinese
instruments would be suitable for
an advanced pianist such as myself.
Clearly, a pianist looking to upgrade
from an old upright or an electronic
keyboard will find a wider range of
dynamic and orchestral possibilities with these pianos, especially if

the instrument has been voiced well.

The Chinese pianos allow a pianist
to perform the full range of piano
repertoire and technique. Composers from Bach and Beethoven to
Chopin and Liszt, as well as jazz,
contemporary, and popular music, can sound quite good on these
instruments. I can imagine that a
pianist looking to develop his or her
technique could grow a lot while
practicing on any of these pianos.
As a concert pianist, I have spent
most of my performing life adapting
to whatever piano is put in front of
me in a concert space. I was trained
to get the most out of any piano, even
if it meant imagining and trying to
create a sound different from what
was emanating from the instrument
I was playing. But if I could no longer
perform on a high-end piano, or at
least practice on one at home, my musical existence would feel quite barren.
I think the main quality I missed
in all five pianos was tonal color and
complexity. I am used to working
with a whole world of tonal color that
I just did not experience with these
instruments, or did not experience as
fully throughout the entire keyboard
as I do with more expensive pianos.
To me, this is what separates pianos
that are simply very goodwhich
these arefrom those that are superb. That said, for those whose
needs are not at the concert level,
these professional-size pianos from
China offer tremendous value for the
money, and can take a pianist very
far in his or her musical training.
Judith Cohen began playing the piano at the age of five, and studied at
the Chicago Musical College until
the age of 18. She has been a prizewinner in numerous piano competitions throughout the world, and
regularly performs, especially in the
Pacific Northwest, as soloist, with
orchestras, and in chamber ensembles. Since 1989, Ms. Cohen has
served as Artistic Director of the

51

Governors Chamber Music Series in

Seattle, Washington, where she resides with her husband, piano technician Steve Brady. Ms. Cohen has
been a Steinway artist since 2005.
For more information, visit her website at www.judithrcohen.com.

Thanks to the following piano dealers

for making these instruments available for review:
Allison Piano
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
(Heintzman)
Heritage Pianos
Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
(Brodmann)
Northwest Pianos
Bellevue, Washington (Hailun)
Prosser Piano & Organ
Tukwila, Washington (Perzina)
Skelley Piano
Tacoma, Washington (Ritmller)

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