An American journalist living in Paris stumbles across a small
piano atelier in a street near to his apartment. Initially he is
just curious at the strange eccentricity of the shop and its
inhabitants, but he is soon overtaken by his long buried interest
in the instrument and the desire to own a piano once more. With the
help of Luc, the shop's owner, the process of finding a piano that
is 'just right for him' begins. This Luc assures him is not
something to be rushed. A piano is finally found and duly
purchased. He then begins to re-develop his playing skills, dormant
since adolescence. This brings him into contact with many local
characters, including piano movers, tuners, tutors and back room
musicians of all kinds for whom music is also an all-consuming
passion. Based on his real-life experiences this is more a book
about pianos than Paris. Carhart leaves us in no doubt of his
passion for the instrument and it is the depth of this passion that
carries the book. Whether or not you share his love of the piano
and his extreme delight in playing and listening to the music it
makes, you will be infected by the excitement and pleasure with
which he imbues this simple tale of Paris, friendship and a
life-long love of music. (Kirkus UK)
Ever since the piano was invented, people have longed to own one. By the nineteenth century the big, unwieldy instruments were everywhere: they shrank in the heat of the colonies, swayed on steamships and sang in the drawing room of every genteel home. Some of these old pianos have become treasured family heirlooms, some just firewood. But others have led a more itinerant life, occasionally finding their way to a secret, glass-roofed workshop in Paris where they are lovingly restored by a piano repairer with a passion for his job. When T. E. Carhart came upon Luc and his atelier, his life changed. As he explored the Eldorado of pianos in Luc's back room, absorbed Luc's wisdom on life and music and finally found the baby grand of his dreams, he rediscovered his deep love for this most magical of instruments.
In this wonderfully atmospheric book, full of Parisian life, the story of a musical friendship and a mutual obsession is intertwined with reflections on how pianos work, their glorious history and the people who care for them, from the most amateur pianist to the tuners and craftsmen who make the mechanism sing.
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