Being hailed as “the poet of the piano”, Polish composer Frederic Chopin was very particular about the craftsmanship and tone of the pianos he played was especially fond of those manufactured by the French company Pleyel. According to the pianist-composer’s contemporary Franz Liszt, this preference was because of “their silvery and slightly veiled sonority” and their “lightness of touch”. 

 

However, the craftsmanship and timbre of the piano has changed significantly after two centuries of development. "Do modern people still have a chance to hear the unique piano sound that once fascinated Chopin?", asks the film director, Karen Kwok. In pursuit of an answer to this question,  Ms Kwok has created a music documentary, The Sound of Chopin, to be shown online in the 2nd  Hong Kong Early Music Festival.

 

Born and brought up in Hong Kong, Kwok is currently engaged in film and television production in France. In The Sound of Chopin, she interviews four music experts, including piano restorer Olivier Fadini, who has carried out in-depth research on the Pleyel piano from the Chopin era; fortepianist Matthieu Schweiger; master pianist Yves Henry; and Swiss musicologist Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger, a leading authority on Chopin. Part of the interviews took place at at the George Sand’s House while the Nohant Festival Chopin 2021 was taking place.

These experts explore the characteristics of Chopin's piano from different perspectives including instrument structure, musical interpretation, and history.

 

The film allows us to watch piano restorer Olivier Fadini tuning the Pleyel piano in the George Sand’s House at Nohant, where the brilliant writer and her beloved Chopin once lived. The film also takes us to M. Fadini’s studio in Paris, to see how an antique piano is lovingly restored.

 

The Sound of Chopin is premiered online on Concerto da Camera’s YouTube Channel. Don’t miss it!

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