Music in the Atrium: CC Dedicates Steinway Grand Piano
EPISODE #16
Uploaded: April 22, 2009
Running Time: 6:20
SCHMALFELDT: From the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, this is CLINICAL CENTER RADIO.
(PIANO MUSIC ESTABLISHES AND FADES UNDER V/O)
Music filled the seven-story atrium of the Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center at the National Institutes of Health on April 17 as dozens of staff and visitors turned out for the dedication of the Clinical Center’s beautiful Steinway concert grand piano. Dr. John I. Gallin, director of the Clinical Center, called the piano “a culmination of the architect’s dream.”
GALLIN: When this atrium was first designed by Bob Frasca, our architect, his hope and dream was that this would be a gathering place where people would relax, exchange information, occasionally we might hear a “hurray” when some great observation was announced, and it was the hope that this would be a place where beautiful things would happen. I think the culmination of that dream of the architect is going to be possible from this special gift.
SCHMALFELDT: The piano’s presence in the Clinical Center atrium was made possible by a generous donation from Michael and Pattie Batza, and Earl and Darielle Linehan – they’re the brother and sister-in-law of Dr. W. Marston Linehan, chief of the Urologic Oncology Branch at the National Cancer Institute. He spoke about a past event in the atrium that inspired the donation of this magnificent piano.
LINEHAN: As a surgeon, it’s a wonderful opportunity for us to take care of patients in this beautiful space. We like to say, we give these patients help and hope, and this area has turned out to be such a magic place. The first time we got the idea about a piano here was when we were dedicating the wing. Our offices are on the west wing, our laboratories. Leon Fleisher, the great pianist, had played here the same week and we rented his piano, which was a piano like this. And when he was playing, we said, “This would be so wonderful here.”
SCHMALFELDT: Dr. Tracey Rouault is chief of the Section on Human Iron Metabolism and head of the Molecular Medicine Program at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the NIH. She’s also an accomplished pianist. She recalled visiting the Steinway Piano Factory in New York City and the process of selecting the piano.
ROUAULT: Among the things you consider when picking a piano is the action of the keys, meaning how much pressure and force does it actually take to make the key sound. That’s very crucial to the pianist, because if it’s too difficult to make the key sound, you can end up injuring your hands, not making the piano sound beautiful and not having anybody want to play it. So, the first feature to check in a row of six concert grands I was evaluating was the action. The second most crucial feature, since Steinway pianos are all made by hand and they differ in various small ways, was to check to see if the high notes had a bell-like singing quality, because that can vary from piano to piano and you have to check it out by ear. In order to be methodical, consistent with my NIH training, I decided to use the piece I’m going to play for you next, which is the Chopin “Aeolian Harp” Etude. It demands quite a bit. It demands a nice action on the piano, but it also has a lot of high notes that should create a bell-like quality and be very beautiful if the piano is beautiful and the pianist is playing the notes as they should be played.
(MUSIC ESTABLISHES AND FADES)
SCHMALFELDT: Dr. Rouault also performed the Third Movement of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto in E Major.
(MUSIC ESTABLISHES AND FADES)
SCHMALFELDT: To wrap up the performance, Dr. Rouault was joined by noted concert pianist Grace McFarlane from the Levine School of Music for a four-handed rendition of Brahms’ Hungarian Dance in G Minor.
(MUSIC ESTABLISHES AND FADES)
SCHMALFELDT: A plaque honoring the donors will be on permanent display near the piano, which will be featured in an upcoming Clinical Center Concert Series. For more information about the series, as well as updates from NIH Clinical Center, including news about the medical research going on here every day, log on to http://clinicalcenter.nih.gov. From America’s Clinical Research Hospital, this has been CLINICAL CENTER RADIO. In Bethesda, Maryland, I’m Bill Schmalfeldt at the National Institutes of Health, an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
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