Flemish pianomaker helps virtuoso’s dream come true
Renowned pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim recently teamed up with a West Flanders company to develop a wholly unique hybrid piano
3,000 hours
By the time Barenboim walked out, he had spent €200,000, and the two experts had hatched a plan for something unique: a hybrid of the type of piano on which most piano repertoire was composed before 1885, and the type of modern piano on which it is now most usually played.
There are now two examples of the instrument: one in Barenboim’s home in Berlin and the other, constructed at the same time, in Maene’s workshop. That one was built to provide a comparison and research double.
It all started in 2011 when Barenboim was in Siena and had the opportunity to play an upright piano that had belonged to Hungarian composer and piano virtuoso Franz Liszt. “The warmth and tonal characteristics of the straight-strung instruments is so different from the homogeneous tone produced by the modern piano across its entire range,” Barenboim said at at recent press conference in London. “The clearly distinguishable voices and colour across the registers of Liszt’s piano inspired me to explore combining these qualities with the power, looks, stability and other technical advantages of a modern piano.”
Barenboim, an Argentinian-born virtuoso who has played in concert halls all over the world since his international debut in Vienna at the age of 10, first approached piano maker Steinway with his idea. Although intrigued, the company decided it did not have the resources to carry out the research required. Instead, they pointed Barenboim in the direction of Maene (pictured), their distributor in Belgium and the country’s only remaining piano builder.
Under wraps
The main difference between Maene’s hybrid piano and those found in concert halls the world over is the stringing. Around 1885, Steinway developed the technique of cross-stringing, where the strings for the very lowest keys lie over some of the higher strings.
Before then, the strings of the piano had been installed in parallel. Steinway’s innovation affected the instrument’s touch, its power and its stability, setting the standard for piano-making for the next century and more.
He landed with his private jet at Ostend to try the piano out in secret
Maene’s research took 18 months, and the building of the piano 3,000 hours with a team of eight from his workshop, where he employs 50. He was in charge of every step of the construction process, from the selection and drying of the wood, to the painstaking task of applying multiple layers of varnish for that impeccable concert hall shine. Steinway staff were on hand to advise on details.
Meanwhile, Barenboim insisted the whole project be kept under wraps. “He landed with his private jet at Ostend to try the piano out in secret in the empty concert hall in Bruges,” Maene recalls. “Fortunately, he was very enthusiastic.”
“I am so delighted to have worked with Chris Maene, who had the same dream,” confirmed Barenboim. “And I must pay tribute to his incredible technical expertise and his deep respect for both tradition and innovation. It may not look that different, but its construction and sound possibilities make it a brand new piano, which I hope will be embraced by pianists and music lovers as a real alternative for the 21st century.”
Maene, meanwhile, intends to build two more by the end of 2016, doubling the number each year after that. But, he warned, the Barenboim-Maene piano, as it’s now known, is not for everyone.
“It’s a concert grand for the great concert halls, not for the living room,” he explains. “It’s not cheap, but if it’s well looked after, my piano will certainly be good for another century – easily.”
Photo: Chris Maene (left) in his workshop in Ruiselede
