Friday, December 13, 2013

The Best Hour

Yesterday morning before work, I put in an hour of piano practice.

On this piano:


That is a Bösendorfer grand, and it is a whole lot bigger and shinier than it looks in this photo. It stands along with its twin brother in a studio at the Bösendorfer shop here in Wien. I say "studio", but what I really mean is "elegant Viennese room with a chandelier, seating area, double doors, and two world-class pianos".

Yes, if you were wondering, it did sound like liquid gold. It took my fingers a few minutes to remember what to do with acoustic, rather than digital, piano action. And I had forgotten how rich the timbre of a nice grand piano is, how the notes all flow into each other and swallow you up.

I'm still not clear on how exactly my boss got his hands on a voucher for one free hour on the Bösendorfer, but how brilliant was it that he passed it on to me? Now I'm all warmed up for my other favourite piano, my piano, which I'll be seeing and playing again in less than 48 hours.

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