BEAUTIFUL INSIDE AND OUT - Rediscovering Piano Art Cases
Fall is here with its magnificent colors and shorter days.
After a long practice day at the piano I love to marvel at the beautiful sunsets of the season as I look forward to the holidays.
Recently I got to revisit my favorite art case pianos. I love pianos and I love art, and of course the combination of both.
Here are my favorite six :
1. The Alma Tadema Steinway
Commissioned in 1884 artist Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema designed what then was considered the “grandest grand piano of all time.” This is the magnificent re-creation of the Alma Tadema Steinway capturing the elegance of the Victorian Era.
Adorned with inlay of mother-of-pearl, the piano features an exquisitely hand-carvings for its case, lid and legs. Above the keyboard is a rendering of Sir Edward J. Poynter’s oil painting The Wandering Minstrels.
What fun it must be to play this piano whilst enjoying the art work!
2. The Fibonacci
To celebrate its 600,000th piano, Steinway & Sons unveiled The Fibonacci featuring the iconic Fibonacci spiral.
The instrument case was designed by Frank Pollaro, it is made of Macassar Ebony.
This is how the music rack looks. What amazing attention to detail!
3. The Steinway Peace Piano
Created for UNICEF in 2004 this beauty was patterned after a historic Steinway concert grand first exhibited at the New York World’s Fair in 1939. The original piano was designed by Walter Dorwin Teague, a renowned art deco designer.
I have such fond memories of seeing this piano during a Steinway factory tour. It was housed at the factory and I got to see it when I was in Queens, NY selecting a concert instrument for a performance venue in the States. Take a look at the little flags on the fallboard.
4. The Sphinx
C. Bechstein built the original Sphinx in 1886 for an exhibition in London. It was a fabulous instrument in the great Empire tradition and - as was customary during the time - it was heavily decorated with gilt adornments.
Unfortunately the piano was lost, and just a single image of the original instrument remained.
130 years later the Bechstein company decided to build a new Sphinx. They studied the original photograph and spent 32 months completing the project. The result was unveiled in 2016.
5. The Flying Fazioli
This fascinating and cutting edge design is just breathtaking.
The only part of The Flying Fazioli that touches the ground is the piano bench. The piano itself seems to float which makes this instrument so unique.
The instrument itself weighs 650 pounds (around 300 kg). The piano is attached to and supported by a heavy-duty steel bracket anchored to the wall which makes it seem weightless.
6. The Pictures at an Exhibition Steinway
My all time favorite would have to be the Pictures at an Exhibition Steinway!
In 2012, pianist and portrait artist Paul Wyse proposed a Steinway based on Pictures at an Exhibition by the Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky who wrote it based on the artwork of his friend Viktor Hartmann.
I love the clock on the piano leg paying tribute to Modest Mussorgsky’s Hut on Fowl’s Legs, the abode of the witch Baba Yaga!
Take a look at the details and aesthetics of it all!
The piano case depicts a fun journey through the artistic imaginations of Mussorgsky and his friend, and it recreates the musical promenade through an art museum.
I hope you enjoyed my favorite six art cases!