Chopin had a favorite piano, it was a Pleyel. He loved it so much that he took it with him on his sojourn to the remote island of Majorca, with his mistress, George Sand.

“There are certain times when I feel more inspired, filled with a strong power that forces me to listen to my inner voice, and when I feel more need than ever for a Pleyel piano.” — Frédéric Chopin

In 1839, the year Chopin wrote his famous 24 Préludes, pianos looked and sounded significantly differently than pianos today. Many engineering advances have shaped the acoustic and mechanical properties of the instrument. First and foremost, the frame of the piano, which supports the pegs between which the strings are strung taught, is now made from cast iron. Chopin’s Pleyel boasted a wooden frame. The difference is a matter of tension, and strength. Iron frames can support strings that are strung tighter, exerting up to 20 tonnes of pressure on modern grand pianos. This allows modern pianos to produce a louder, brighter sound.

Frédéric Chopin

The mechanics, or the “action” of the piano is also different. Pleyel pianos from that time don’t have the double repeater mechanism, ubiquitous on modern instruments, which allows a second playing of a note even if the key has not been completely lifted to the top starting position.

The sum of the differences means that the historical pianos have a darker, more veiled and etherial sound; less brilliance, not as much volume, but certainly very intimate and nuanced. Perfect for the music Chopin wrote.

A dedication to Camille Pleyel

From Majorca, Chopin wrote to his friend, Camille Pleyel, owner of the Pleyel et Cie piano company. He sent him a copy of the newly finished Préludes, and dedicated the work to him as well. Camille Pleyel was the son of Ignace Pleyel, who founded the company in 1807, and was himself a virtuoso pianist.

Cover of Chopin’s 24 Préludes, showing the dedication to Camille Pleyel.

Island mountains, ocean air, a poetic mistress, and a sublime piano certainly provided inspiration for Chopin during his time on Majorca, but they weren’t the only influences. He had taken with him the score to another famous set of preludes (and fugues), namely The Well-Tempered Clavier of J.S. Bach, a set of pieces that Chopin adored, and studied thoroughly. The influence of this score — the only book he had with him during his stay on Majorca — is immediately obvious. Chopin’s 24 Préludes follow the very same pattern as Bach’s 24 Preludes, in that they cycle through all 12 keys in both major and minor. Further similarities and inspirations can be identified when comparing the like-keyed pieces of each composer side-by-side.

Two stars in the musical sky

J.S. Bach and Frédéric Chopin are composers lauded in the superlative. It is often said that Chopin was the greatest composer for the piano, but that Bach was the greatest composer overall. For Kimiko Ishizaka, the pianist behind both the Open Goldberg Variations and the Open Well-Tempered Clavier, the music of Bach and Chopin forms a complete diet, and she hasn’t studied or performed anything else for the past four years.

In 2012 and 2013, Kimiko Ishizaka was in an extend phase of preparation. She was studying to record Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, and her process involved several world tours, plus arduous theoretical analysis of the music. However, aware that practicing and performing Bach alone for such a long time would neither be good for her pianistic abilities, nor completely interesting to her audiences, she began performing the Chopin 24 Préludes alongside the Well-Tempered Clavier.

One of Kimiko’s performances was in the Manifold Studios in Pittsboro, North Carolina. In attendance was Tom Kenan, as well several of the Kenan Fellows — piano students from the University of North Carolina. After the concert, Tom suggested to Kimiko that she should someday come back to the Manifold Studios and play on the Pleyel piano that he owned.

The Kenan Pleyel

The last piano that Chopin owned was the Pleyel et Cie no. 14,810, from 1848, and it can now be seen in the Fryderyk Chopin Museum, in Warsaw. A similar piano, no. 9,758, from 1842, was purchased by an American family in Paris, and transported to the U.S., where it found its home in North Carolina.

The piano has recently been refurbished, and is in performing condition with all of its original mechanical parts. Its pin block — the wood that holds the tuning pegs in place which are used for tightening or loosening the strings — has been replaced following an unfortunate incident in the 1960's where an overzealous piano technician put modern piano strings on the instrument, thus breaking the pin block.

Pleyel on the Internet

There are no pictures or videos of the Kenan Pleyel piano available online, despite the instrument’s remarkable history and significance in linking us to the sound and equipment of Frédéric Chopin. In fact, recordings and images of Pleyel pianos from that era in general, especially anything licensed for re-use, ie. under a Creative Commons license, are rare or impossible to find. This explains why so many of the related Wikipedia.org pages have either no photos and recordings, or very unsatisfactory photos, and never any recordings of Pleyel pianos. Creative Commons video of 19th Century Pleyel pianos is simply impossible to find.

Kimiko Ishizaka wants to change that, however, and in doing so, complete a chapter in her own education on the performance practice of Chopin’s music. Kimiko has long questioned exactly what sound Chopin had in mind when he wrote some of the pedal and phrasing markings in the music she’s studied. Chopin’s pedal markings appear to be exceptionally precise, but yet they are somewhat unorthodox, and are regularly disregarded, sometimes completely, by modern pianists.

An excerpt from the Prélude #24, showing a plethora of pedal markings.

To answer these questions for herself, Kimiko will be following Tom Kenan’s suggestion, and traveling to Pittsboro, North Carolina, to record on the Kenan Pleyel in the Manifold Studios. The repertoire, suitably enough, is the 24 Préludes, thus closing the circle with Bach, Chopin, and Pleyel.

Reality TV with Kimiko, and a piano

But this recording will not be easy; the piano is different and foreign to Kimiko in almost every respect. The keys are narrower and shorter; they are single repeating instead of double repeating, meaning the pianist has to play more at the top of the range of the key instead of always pressing down into the key; the dampers are lighter and don’t stop the strings from vibrating as quickly when you release the pedal; and the tuning is different. The Kenan Pleyel will be tuned to A=435 at the highest, instead of the modern standard A=440, meaning the tonal colors of all notes and keys will be different. It’s strings are made out of a different material than modern strings. This piano will be a sonic adventure for Kimiko.

To prepare for the recording sessions, Kimiko will be living with the Pleyel piano for a week in the guest house at the Manifold Studios, and spending every waking hour getting to know it. The entire process will be filmed, including interviews with the people who have cared for the piano. Then, an ambitious concert will be held in the Manifold Studios, which will form the basis of the recording. A chance for corrections will be had the next day, ensuring that the recording quality will be top-notch.

Manifold Studios

All of this material — the recording, the videos, the photographs — will be released under a Creative Commons license so that people can experience the 1842 Kenan Pleyel in ultra-high quality, and to freely enhance other resources, such as Wikipedia, with this glimpse into the acoustic world of Chopin at the time when he found inspiration to write his masterpiece, the 24 Préludes.

This project is seeking funding on Kickstarter.com. Please consider contributing to making a Creative Commons recording of the 24 Préludes on a Pleyel piano — beloved by Chopin — that is 173 years old.