Home Music Lane

It's all about the music, dude! Sit down, relax and listen to some tunes.

If you can play, you are welcome to make an appointment to play it!

Dear Rick,

It's really very simple.

There is no "deal."

There is, however, a recording engineer in NYC named Jerry Bruck. I happen to be in awe of his mind-boggling accomplishments. You can research his accomplishments for yourself, but, the high points are:

Jerry was absolutely instrumental in personally persuading Gustav Mahler's widow Alma to rescind her decades-long ban on public performances of completions of Mahler's 10th symphony. And not too long a time after Jerry and his colleagues achieved that, Alma was dead. Had they not brought the issue to a head when they did, her ban would have been cast in stone for as long as the manuscripts were in copyright.

An even more heroic task: Over the course of 40 years, Jerry spent his own time and money Quixotically to research the issue and build a case that the Internationale Gustav Mahler Gesellschaft's ordering of the inner movements of the Sixth Symphony was a tragic mistake. Gilbert Kaplan funded the printing of Jerry's monograph, which is now almost universally regarded as definitive (but Kaplan funded only that--Jerry paid his own expenses for 40 years), and even the IGMG has revised its own version of the Sixth.

If that weren't enough, Jerry has recorded hundreds of significant classical recordings in performance venues all over the world. For me he has recorded Rejoice! A String Quartet Christmas, Volume Two; Nathaniel Rosen's Bach Solo cello Suites (which was a Stereophile Recording of the Month years before I began writing for Stereophile, and which many critics and listeners still regard as a high-water mark in recorded Bach), and "Music for a Glass Bead Game."

I consider it an honor to call Jerry a friend, and visiting his studio is a peak experience for me.

When the Stuart Piano people told me they were coming to America to scout out the lay of the land, that Serendipitously coincided with one of my audio-journalist trips to NYC, so we met up. I introduced them to Jerry and suggested that if they found no better place to place a demo piano, Jerry had a nice room and a fat Rolodex, and I'd help spread the word.

NB I have no commercial relationship with Stuart & Sons or their trading entity or their investors, or with their ilk, ith, kin, or Popish minions.

And I think that if you had heard the piano or played it, you'd understand what the fuss is about.

Steve Martorella is an old friend of Arturo Delmoni's and of mine. He is Music Minister of The First Baptist Church in America, which was founded in 1638, which one might think would make it one of the oldest organ benches in America, except for the fact that they got an organ only in 1834, and a large chunk of the congregation left, precisely over that issue--if you need that explained, re-read "Paradise Lost."

Steve is a heart-on-sleeve kind of person. Every player who had played that piano has wanted to own it. In fact, when I dropped off the DVD to Steve today (TFBCIA is about a mile up the street from me), Steve asked me to tell Jerry that if he ever needed someone to demo the piano, he'd be happy to travel to NYC to do it.

BTW, so Steve could play the piano, he drove us both from Providence to New Haven; we both paid our fares on Metro North; I paid the cab for the two of us to Jerry's; Jerry made a 24/96 recording at no charge; I paid for a nice dinner for Steve and for me; Steve paid for the parking for his car in New Haven; I made a DVD for Steve for free.

NONE of these expense will be reimbursed by Stuart & Sons--at least as far as I know.

In future times, I hope to get other players in to try the piano and consent to be recorded and YouTubed, and how horrible a thing is that?

If we eventually get the room and the mics working to the point that we are high-fiving, we might even record an album, but at the moment that is a long way off.

In the meantime, if you know any keyboard players who might want to indulge in the equivalent of test-driving a Maserati with no sales pressure, get in touch with Jerry.

OK?

Also: as occasions allow, I hope to be able to add to my YouTube channel videos of Arturo Delmoni and Nathaniel Rosen playing solo Bach. Perhaps even some solo classical guitar. Harpsichord. Whatever.

Just. Because.

Any more questions?

JM






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