The International Beethoven Project

Written by George Lepauw

My preliminary trip to New York was full of great surprises. I arrived on a beautiful Summer day, hot but not excessively so, and after having lunch at a surprisingly good and tasty French style bakery and cafe, Le Pain Quotidien, at the corner of 58th and 7th, which I later found out is a multinational chain (but what quality! Much is organic and the bread is really French and really fresh!), I headed straight to Klavierhaus. Klavierhaus is located at 211 W. 58th, between Broadway and 7th Avenue, and is on what is known as “Piano Row,” which makes sense because it is only a block or so away from Carnegie Hall. Some great pianos, and some lesser pianos, all have dealers on “Piano Row.” Klavierhaus is a magical place, and unless you knew what was inside, you may not hardly notice it from the street, as the storefront is truly very modest. Once inside, however, beautiful historical pianos and of course gorgeous modern pianos await admirers and pianists. I immediately met the pair of brothers who own and run the place, Gabor and Sujatri Reisinger, Hungarian expatriates. What I admire in them is their infinite passion for these instruments, which they know everything about, and upon which they do much of the work themselves, being some of the finest technicians in New York. I was immediately led to the two pianos reserved for me to try, a beautiful Hamburg Steinway, and a magnificent Fazioli F278.

Now some people might think that here comes the grand moment of truth: George Lepauw compares the best Steinway to the best Fazioli side by side, and makes a defining choice that will affect not only his instrument choices for the rest of his life but also inspire others to choose one instrument over the other! So is Steinway truly the “finest piano” as advertised on the Steinway website, or is Fazioli, this beautiful Italian newcomer, about to supersede Steinway’s claim?

Objectively speaking, I think I can easily make the claim, supported by technicians the world over, that Fazioli is a more perfect instrument. From all standpoints of the mechanics of piano making, Fazioli is simply a very high-tech instrument of the modern era of precision engineering. In many ways, it is comparable to a finely tuned modern sports car, perhaps in the Ferrari range. If Fazioli is akin to a Ferrari, however, a great Steinway is probably akin to a beautiful Rolls Royce… and as different as these two cars are, these two pianos are similarly different. They ‘ride’ very differently, they do not feel the same at all and they sound like two very different, but unique, voices. I think it might be easier to get a more beautiful sound out of a Steinway, but if you know how to ‘drive’ the Fazioli, you can get incredibly beautiful sounds as well. In truth, they each have very wonderful qualities, and neither can be anything like the other. Who said there was anything wrong with enjoying both Ferraris and Rolls Royces? Maybe one day you want a spectacular ride through Tuscany, maybe another day you want to enjoy a leisurely ride through the English countryside! They are both unique and wonderful experiences.

After playing each of them for a little while, I eventually settled on the Fazioli. I felt that it was a more unique piano (now it is not all about the make, but also about the individual instrument that was presented to me on that day), and that the Hamburg Steinway, for all of its truly amazing qualities, did not quite ring the way I was hoping for this particular recording and for this repertoire. I wanted a sound that was in some ways youthful, energetic, and full of life, to record pieces that Beethoven wrote in his twenties when he was himself full of life and youthful energy. I wanted the listener of this recording to be especially aware of that quality, and to me, the Fazioli was better suited to helping me achieve that goal. It had a youthful energy in its sound without being superficial and thin; indeed, the Fazioli has tremendous power! Yet this piano had a certain ‘bite’ that I enjoyed.

Once the piano issue was settled upon, I left Klavierhaus and went on a search for an apartment to sublet the following week, which is by far the most economical way for us to live in New York for a week. I visited several interesting and nice places, and found one that was truly spectacular and unique in very many unexpected ways. I will say more about it later.

Then, I was thrilled to go have dinner with an old college friend whom I had not seen in many years, Mike Cahill. We met in the East Village, one of New York’s great areas, filled with fantastic restaurants and very European – small streets, people everywhere, artists, bohemians, etc. The dinner having hardly given us enough time to catch up, we continued over wine at his house not too far off, where we talked (I even played some piano for him) until four in the morning! By that time, it had been agreed that Mike, an amazingly talented filmmaker everyone in the world will soon know, would film our recording sessions and develop a documentary about our project. From that moment on, Mike has been a member of our team and I must say, it has and will continue to be a blast.

Somehow, I managed to get myself up early the next day to run a few errands, including some score purchases at the Juilliard bookstore (which happens to be in a trailer until the main building’s renovations are finished), before heading off to the airport. Luck would have it that once in the plane, after having departed from our gate, we were grounded for three hours until a major storm passed over and we could finally fly to Chicago. Unfortunately the plane was packed, and I was stuck between two strangers. That did not keep me from dozing off and making the most of that situation!