Often, when speaking to someone about pianos and piano tone, the topic of power comes up. Frequently whether or not a piano has sufficient “power” becomes a de facto determination of whether a piano is acceptable or not. In these situations, the real question is: acceptable for what?
If a piano is going to be used for a concert with an orchestra, or as a recital piano in a hall with poor acoustics or over 1000 seats, power is important. The simple reality is that the piano must be heard whether one is battling a huge space, an insensitive conductor and orchestra, or uncooperative acoustics.
Many young pianists, striving to make a name for themselves and influenced by some iconic references including Horowitz and Russian school proponents, find themselves striving for power at the expense of color, dynamics and range. The phrase I heard at international piano competitions is that the contestant wants to “pin the ears of the jury to the back wall” as if the jury is there to simply identify the loudest pianist, or the one that scares them the most. This may be the nature of a circus, action movie or fireworks display, but it is not the nature of music.
Music is a vehicle for expressing emotion. Yes, emotions can be fiery and loud, but they are more often subtle, quiet, like a soft hand on a shoulder rather than a slap in the face.
Is power the only, or even the most important attribute a piano must exhibit? There are 2 other adjectives that are too infrequently used to describe piano tone, but are even more important; color and range. The ability to produce a range of tonal colors is all to often lost on many pianists, for the basic reason that many pianos cannot produce colors, no matter the technique used. My personal belief is that once you use lacquer as a hardener you destroy a pianos true ability to create color. The fibers that make up hammer felt must be able to move through the voicing process. Once you glue these fibers together with lacquer, the result is simply gradations in volume, not color changes.
A punch in the jaw has more power than a kiss on the cheek. But, which one would you rather have?