Last night I attended the Yamaha Clavinova Experience Tour – Coventry, which was being staged to demonstrate the Clavinova CVP800 series pianos. The stars of the show were Peter Baartmans and Susan Albers, both world class musicians and plus Susan's outstanding vocal ability.
The show was truly excellent in most respects, but I have to say I came away a little disappointed, regarding the content of the show.
Both the CVP805 and the CVP809 were on stage and I had expected the performance to concentrate on demonstrating a selection of the wide range of voices/styles available, via various songs etc.
In the event the vast majority of the music was based around the truly excellent piano voices, plus the odd departure to the Classical/hammond organ and a clarinet voice. It would have useful to hear a wider range of voices, ie the brass section didn't feature, or many others sections
Now I'm not sure who Yamaha regard as the target audience, certainly I expect there were a few there, simply to enjoy a free concert. Others were there as possible future customers. I was there as a 805 owner, hoping to learn more about the instrument's capability.
I did find it interesting to note that, when played through additional external amplification, there was absolutely no difference in sound, between the two models, which to my mind was further justification for my decision to purchase the lower model. (who am I kidding, I couldn't afford the 809 anyway!)
I understand that 1-hour personal experience slots will be available shortly at local dealers, which I guess would go some way to bridging the gap, nevertheless it would have nice to have had a slightly wider range of voices and with great respect to Susan, a little less vocals, given the limited time available. However my congratulations to all concerned for an excellent show.