piano shop

The Piano Shop on the Left Bank was apparently pretty popular when it came out in 2001. Its not a long book, 300 pages or so, and it traces the author's rediscovery of the piano. The sub-title: Discovering a Forgotten Passion in a Paris Atelier gives you a little more info on where Thad Carhart is coming from.

Carhart is an American living in Paris, with his family. Carhart spent years in Paris as a child with his own family, where he took piano lessons, and enjoyed playing the piano for himself, but was never interested in pursuing piano as a musician, and certainly not as a career. It was his childhood impression that once his teacher's learned that, they weren't as interested in teaching him. That may or may not be true, but he eventually left Paris and returned to the US, leaving his piano lessons behind.

As an adult, who has moved back to Paris with his wife and two school age children, Carhart steps into a piano shop in a quiet neighborhood on the Left Bank, and his love for the piano is reignited. What follows is Carhart's re-immersion into the world of pianos, their history, construction, maintenance, tuning, restoration, and differences. Carhart's decision to write about it, inspires his delving into the finer points of fine pianos, what makes a piano fine vs. what makes an inexpensive piano crummy (in most cases) and even leads to a visit to Fazioli Pianoforti.

I would imagine this book will strike a chord with pianists especially, which I am not, but I did enjoy Carhart's matter-of-fact style, and how he is able to share his love for these old, mysterious pieces of furniture. It was also nice to look inside the neighborhood life of Paris and some of its people. The descriptions of the people he meets and the friends he makes along the way are just as fun to read.