Preserved historical instruments provide a tangible link to our musical past. But pianos are delicate creatures, and unlike violins, violas, and cellos, don’t always age very well.
piano
When Theodore Roosevelt took office in 1901, America was in an era of great technological and industrial growth. Within the previous half-decade, Alexander Graham Bell had invented the telephone, Thomas Edison had invented the modern light bulb and railroads connected
Dozens of girls in tiaras and boys in tuxedos who dreamed of becoming China’s next musical sensation stared at the beast onstage. At nine feet long and nearly 1,000 pounds, with a steely black sheen and a price of more
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. London Symphony Orchestra first violinist Rhys Watkins snapped this photo last night at the intermission of the LSO concert at the Wiener Konzerthaus. Yefim Bronfman was the soloist in the Bartók’s
Great pianos are like sports cars: They have passionate adherents, their owners are often fiercely loyal to one brand, and at the top of the line, the differences between one and another come down in part to personal preference. Here’s
Classical piano pieces by such composers as Beethoven, Mozart and Chopin likely sounded much different when the masters first performed those works than they do today. Pianos themselves have changed considerably — but so, too, has technique.
The Hindenburg featured the first piano ever to be carried on a passenger aircraft.
Little has seemingly changed in piano design over the past century and a half, but over that time several distinguished pianists have tinkered with the instrument to serve their needs, including the five musicians below: