“Today, it may still come as a surprise to many of us pianists and piano students but numerous major composers of the 19th and 20th centuries swore by and owned Blüthner pianos. They include Liszt, Wagner, Brahms, Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Debussy, Rachmaninov, Shostakovich to name a few. When I visited the Blüthner HQ in Leipzig, there were Blüthner pianos that belonged to Liszt and Grieg in the showroom! Blüthner really shaped the ways a lot of piano works were conceived through their sound. To be honest I didn’t realise this myself until I owned a beautiful 1922 Blüthner myself. So many things in the late romantic and impressionist repertoire just make so much more sense now. If you think about it, pianos’ characters naturally affect the way which we practise and conceive the works we play, and I am only now beginning to realise that I have not really had access to the right instruments to realise such things, as simple as tempo choices to more multi-faceted elements like voicing, rubato and tone production. For example, I feel closer to understanding why Rachmaninov’s own recordings of his second concerto sound the way they are. I am looking forward to rediscovering the pieces I have known for a long time!

After 165 years, Blüthner amazingly still remains a family business. That means they are really good at providing personal touches and retain the flexibility in their decision making. I was welcomed by Ingbert and Christian Blüthner-Haessler as well as Tom Neubauer and Kristina Richards in Leipzig and I immediately felt so comfortable. We had a lots of chats about new ideas for concerts, masterclasses, and of course about the pianos. I’m really looking forward to working with them for the years to come!” -Hiroaki Takenouchi  December, 2018