Two Chopin’s favourite pianos will be presented and compared.
Before Paris, Chopin played pianos with Viennese action; his Warsaw instruments belonged to this tradition. From Vienna he wrote to Warsaw that all musicians there agreed that Graf was the best piano maker, and he also chose a Graf for his own concert in Vienna.
After arriving in Paris in 1830, Chopin discovered Pleyel and called it his “non plus ultra” – nothing could be better. Liszt described Chopin’s playing on Pleyel as “the marriage of crystal and water”. Chopin’s music also changed, as Pleyel opened possibilities for new colours and effects. During the presentation, both instruments can be heard, compared and tried. Presented by V.Sofronitsky, Paul McNulty and Sergei Kramer
