To play the huge piano, the musician must first access the balcony of the concert hall, climbing stairs almost vertical, and finally, mount it on a platform where the waiting for his stool, facing the keyboard. The metal of the instrument, presented as the largest in the world by its creator, David Klavins, a German Latvian-born, reached six metres. It is fixed solidly to a wall of the new concert hall in Ventspils, in the north-west of the country.

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With strings for which the longest reach 4.7 metres, the instrument has a sound that is deep and powerful, unique in the world. “The paintings are the most appropriate for this instrument would be all the works are very expressive, for example, Rachmaninov, Scriabin, but also the Beethoven sonatas, which sound totally new on this piano. After all, it is the public who will judge what he likes, but in my opinion, this instrument suits the music, typically classical,” says AFP David Klavins. The instrument has not yet been officially measured to be in the Guinness book of world records.

New concepts

David Klavins, 65 years old today, has spent nearly all his life in the pianos, motivated by the desire to push the limits of the instrument created by Italian Bartolomeo Cristofori around 1700. “Since the age of 16 I left school to become an apprentice in the restoration of pianos, I try to explore new concepts and principles that depart from the construction of the grand piano, a traditional 140-year-old”, he explains to AFP, sitting at the keyboard of his instrument.

He built his first piano in 1985. Now, in his workshop, the Klavins Piano Manufaktura, installed in Hungary, in the town of Vac, just north of Budapest, he imagines his creations vertical features. Because this is not only the gargantuan size of her new piano, which sets it apart. The absence of a wooden crate allows the audience sitting in the concert hall in the see its long steel strings. This also enables the music lovers “to hear all the nuances of sound, non-attenuated”, enthuses David Klavins.

The first concert took place on Friday during the inauguration of the new centre of music LATVIJA of Ventspils, which, in addition to two concert halls, able to accommodate total of 1000 spectators, is also home to a music academy. “The pianos traditional are expected to be transported in and out of concert halls, but my vertical construction must be fixed to the structure of the building,” says David Klavins.

The “best imaginable”

“the size of The piano and the string length are not made to break records: it’s about creating the best sound imaginable for all of the performers and listeners that come in this room”, he adds. And according to the official art of the new concert hall in Ventspils, the instrument is already generating enthusiasm. “The composers and performers around the world want to play the new piano Klavins, which will open new avenues of artistic expression,” says the AFP Miks Magone.

The canadian pianist Lubomyr Melnyk, known for his technique, using a succession of notes extremely fast, will be among the first to play the piano Klavins next week, according to Miks Magone. A pianist will also be used during the execution of Six Pianos of Steve Reich by six German artists, he added.

The mayor of Ventspils, Aivas Lembergs, fingers crossed. The piano beating all the records may help the port city of 40,000 residents to become a tourist destination, to the same “also attracting music lovers foreign”,-he hoped.

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How we put one tone of the piano in place… – video courtesy of @samtellman

A publication shared by @ klavinspiano May 10, 2019 at 3 :05 pm PDT