Customer Reviews

The Piano Shop on the Left Bank: Discovering a Forgotten Passion in a Paris Atelier

5 star:		(53)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I can't even begin to express in words what a joy it was to read this book. Thad Carhart has written a book that should appeal to a broad spectrum of readers that includes musicians, piano lovers, novices and professionals alike. Yes, even those who think a piano is just a piece of furniture will learn a lot, and probably be shamed into getting back to practicing once again. If you already own a piano, wish to own one, or just want to know more about pianos & their history this book is an excellent source of information. Did you know that "Fazioli" concert grand pianos costs well over one hundred thousand dollars, and that only sixty are made each year, and there are fewer than one thousand "Fazioli" pianos in existence, and each are essentially handmade? This book is chuck full of information that is so interesting, especially about the 16th and 17th century pianos. There is also a lot of technical information about how piano's work, that explains everything about the instrument, strings, sounding board, etc.

Wait, I can't stop yet. Not only is this book full of history and excellent information about pianos, there is a story, too. Thad passes a little piano storefront in his Paris neighborhood each day while taking his two children to their school. One day he decides to enter the shop to check it out, meets the grumpy owner & is rebuffed, but eventually gets the right introduction, (you have to be referred by an established customer) and the shop then becomes a daily part of his life. Here he learns from Luc, the atelier's master, the history and art of piano's. Luc becomes a valuable friend. He helps Thad find a piano for himself that he loves, a Stingl baby grand from Vienna. In Thad's almost daily visits to the store's atelier he meets many interesting and charming people. They all share their love of piano's, music, and life over a glass of wine. It made me wish I was part of their group.

The piano has always been my favorite instrument, and it has always fascinated me with it's beautiful sound. Yes, I am one of those people who have become lax, and not devoted enough time to keeping up with my piano playing. This book is certainly an inspiration to anyone who appreciates the piano. A wonderful & fascinating story, and detailed history of the piano. Highly Recommended.

A beautiful musical instrument can be compared to a great vintage wine; one does not need to know all its subtleties in order to appreciate its fine texture, bouquet, and unique taste. Familiarity with art, for example, bolsters one's appreciation of its many forms, and puts one in a frame of mind never to take it for granted. In ~The Piano Shop on the Left Bank~ we are permitted entry into the world of the connoisseur of fine pianos and the magic of superior music. This book describes a re-acqaintance with a love affair of pianos, against the backdrop of romantic Paris and the diverse and unusual characters that make-up this world.

An American living in Paris comes across a little piano repair shop that lies almost hidden from the frantic vagaries of modern life. Something about the little shop captures his attention - a spell is cast, and with some persistence, he gains admittance into a secret world for the initiated only - and his journey begins into that predominately guarded artisan society in Paris which the general, foreign public believe only exists in 19th century novels. This elegant text is written with thoughtful care and attention that displays an attitude of mind that is quite rare.

Because Carhart is honest about his love affair with the piano and the Classic and Romantic music that we associate with the instrument, Chopin, Mozart, Beethoven and Scarlatte, the reader cannot help but remember personal associations with this world. While reading the text, images from my own past concerning music and the piano rose to consciousness - lying at my mother's feet while she played Chopin, being facinated by the movement of her feet as she depressed the foot pedals and the distinct fragrance of the wood. This beguiling book captures many such images and much more.

The book is also unique in so far as the reader receives a history lesson on the piano, from its beginnings in 16th century Italy to its height with the American Steinway to its circular return to Italy, the Fazioli, the finest hand made piano in the world. We actually meet Paola Fazioli in the book and experience the utter majesty and beauty of his creations. To be sure, without question, I felt humbled in the presence of this man and his works of art, following Carhart as he's invited to sit down and play the legendary 'Faziloi 308' - 'the world's most expensive piano' - actually feeling the instruments power of tone through the words on the page.

~The Piano Shop on the Left Bank~ is one of those texts which is difficult to put down, but you do so anyway because you want the reading experience to last. And once the book is finally finished, there is a certain sadness that the experience is complete, however, the beauty of a good book is that you can return to it time and again, entering its world.

This mesmerizing little book is recommended to any lover of music, no matter what genre or classification. Carhart manages to harness music's universality, its common-shared magic that without, life would be much harder to tolerate. This book will enter, in time, the realm of classic. A pleasure.

The Piano Shop on the Left Bank is a beautifully-written book that will appeal to three different, although probably overlapping, audiences. The first audience is comprised of people who love playing the piano as adults. I recently resumed lessons after an interlude of half a lifetime, and Mr. Carhart's book expressed many of the feelings through which I have progressed in returning to pianos and to piano lessons, albeit far more elegantly than I could ever express them.

The second audience is comprised of people who love pianos. I also fall into this group; I love pianos for themselves. They are unsurpassed musical instruments, and this book gives you a glimpse at their history as objects as well as their existence as music-makers.

The third audience for this book is comprised of those who love to get behind the scenes in Europe, viewing a lifestyle that is hard to find (although it can be found) here in the United States. Luc, the primary craftsperson in the book, is immensely appealing both for his craft (and art) and for his perspectives on the world. He runs his piano shop as he feels it should be run, and because his customers appreciate his worth, he can do so successfully. Mr. Carhart manages to become part of the shop's world, and vividly takes the reader with him.

In short, this is an immensely appealing book that makes the reader eager to rush out and find a Luc for themselves.

Unique and delightful
Reviewer: Joanna Daneman from Middletown, DE USA
This book may be less meaningful to you if you are not a piano player (I happen to play, myself.) But Thad Carhart includes so much atmosphere and quirky French character in his memoir "The Piano Shop" that if you like memoirs, especially about life in France, you will be as charmed as I was whether you know one note from another or not.

Andre Watts, the great American pianist, once remarked that he is unable to walk in a room with a piano without going up to it and touching it. This urge is not unusual with piano lovers--most of us are pulled into any piano shop, compelled by the same love of the instrument, each one of which is as individual as a person. And this individuality is despite the fact that pianos, as Carhart points out, were one of the first mass-produced items in modern industrial society.

Carhart, too, is irresistibly drawn into a mostly-shuttered piano shop in his quartier of Paris. It seems unlikely the shop is merely a piano repair studio--do they, perhaps, sell secondhand instruments? Carhart, who loves to play as an amateur, decides to find an instrument. The crusty owner will hardly divulge information. Slowly, Carhart penetrates the mysterious, very private and French world of the piano shop, and it becomes a part of his life.

The shop owner Luc, his drunken tuner Jos, and all the other characters are well drawn and interesting, even tragic sometimes. The book ends up being about a lot more than pianos. This is a real treat of a book to curl up with in an armchair, perhaps with a glass of wine or a cup of tea and find yourself lost in a twisty Parisian alley, peering into dusty windows and wondering how what goes on behind the shutters of a dark Paris atelier.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED (even if you don't play piano!)

An enjoyable read even for a reader unfamiliar with pianos or playing music who gained a better understanding of both through the author's rediscovery of a long-lost joy. I skipped a part or two that seemed to bog down - went back to them later - this is the kind of memoir that doesn't demand a linear read, the vignettes can be picked up and savored anywhere along the way.
A small intimate story free of any attempt to impress, Piano Shop earns its keep for sincerity and the pleasure of accompanying the author on a meaningful search - and for the prodding it provides to anyone who has lost touch with what it means to learn and practice an art. An added bonus are the refrains of French life caught from apartment windows, in music classes, in the ateliers of neighborhood shops.
All in all, a good book for those times when you feel the need to slow down and reconnect with simple pleasures.

I held my breath throughout this enthralling account of Mr. Carhart's rekindled love of pianos and their potential to hold listener and performer spellbound. This is a marvelously written book to treasure for all the reasons other reviewers have already noted, including a fresh visit to an old section of Paris; Desforges, the special piano shop that invites personal introspection and new friendships amid the clutter of a wide variety of pianos and their disembodied parts; the seemingly impromptu lessons in piano history, construction, and restoration that offer wonder in the process as much as factual information; and a revisitation to a boyhood love-and-struggle relationship with the instrument and his teacher's expectations of its mastery. Beyond these attributes that keep the pages flying by, "The Piano Shop On The Left Bank" teases the reader's sense of reality. Is it a novel? Is it non-fiction? At times, I felt lost among the genres, not through any fault in the writing; quite the opposite, the immersion in this volume was so complete for me that at times I had to put the book aside to convince myself that I was not sipping tea and eating madeleines with a very different author. I appreciated Mr. Carhart's openness in drawing the reader into an intimate world that described a sensitive boy deriving tactile, visual, and, ultimately, aural pleasure in lifting up the piano's revealing fall board. And there are so many other moments to savor. Just a few include: visits to Luc's musty atelier and the once-weekly watering of its well-worn floor boards; Carhart's moment of boyhood pleasure at an upright in a hotel bar; the childhood lessons and recitals that caused such anxiety; his solitary delight at the Bechstein in the music room of his sister's school; the bonds he forged with Luc as they went through the process of deciding upon a piano of his very own; his joyful expectation while awaiting its delivery; and the return to his music studies as an adult, this time on his own terms. I hope that this special book will be read widely; it has much to offer beyond the subject of the piano.

Classified as autobiography, this book is more about pianos than people! Although the reader is introduced to a number of characters in the book, few are developed or described to such an extent that one feels you know them. Carhart himself never really becomes more than a conduit for an introduction to a piano or another character. Luc, the owner of the piano shop, is arguably the person the reader learns most about throughout the book, and that is not overly much.

This, however, distracts nothing from the book. As a matter of fact, it tends to enhance the mystique surrounding the piano shop and its owner. The book remains true to its title and the author ventures on all sorts of musical pathways that either lead from or to the piano shop or its owner. It provides insight into the piano as a musical instrument without becoming technical. This makes for easy reading but a good learning experience at the same time. This reviewer experienced an urge to listen to the compositions described in the text and to actually do that, would further enhance the reading experience, but is definitely not a pre-requisite to enjoy the book.

The book also provides a little insight into the lifestyle of the Parisians, which is interesting and suits the theme, but it could just as easily have played-off in any of the other full-of-character cities of Europe. It is an enjoyable read and the short almost independent chapters allows one to read it over a period of time, although it should pose no problem to read it in one session if time allows. People interested in music in general and pianos in particular, will find this a worthwhile read, while readers of biographies and/or non-fiction could also try it.

There is a class of books- of which this is one- that are neither great works of literature nor of great historical, philisophical or scientific import, yet are so delightful that you gladly make a place for them in your library. Books like Lawrence Wechsler's "The Museum of Jurassic Technology", Rinker Buck's "Flight of Passage" or John McPhee's "Oranges", that take a little corner of the world and tell a story in vivid detail.

This is, nominally, a book about a little piano shop in Paris, and the author's rediscovery of his love for pianos and piano music. Pianists and musicians in general will understand, but you needn't be either to appreciate it- any more than you'd need to be a pilot to enjoy "Flight of Passage" or an orange to enjoy the McPhee book. Carhart paints such a vivid picture of the places and people he encounters that you may well find yourself imagining that you, too, are sitting in that atelier one Friday afternoon.

Thad Carhart has written a charming story about his love-affair with the piano which should appeal to both amateur and professional musicians. An ex-patriot American writer raising a family in a more remote corner of Paris' Left Bank, he daily passes a quaint piano shop while taking his children to school.Curiosity leads him inside, only to be abruply dismissed by the grumpy owner. A later attempt fares better, when he is be-friended by Luc, the younger man in position to take over the business. He politely informs Carhart that to do do business with them he needs an introduction from one of their customers! As startling as this seems to Americans reading this slim volume, it sets the stage for more than just buying a used piano from a venerable old Paris shop: it proves an introduction into a totally different Parisian way of doing business. Carhart is gradually drawn into Luc's workshop where pianos of all ages and condition repose, waiting to be drawn back to life. Carhart is seduced by the stories the instruments have to tell, and by Luc's uncanny ability to revive them to play again for a new generation. How Carhart finds his own instrument will warm the hearts of all pianists. A long list of characters float in and out of the shop, including a burly delivery man who casually plays a piece by Couperin (standing up!) while waiting to finish his business, to the strange young Dutchman who tunes for Luc, and spends his nights sleeping in railway coaches at various Paris train stations. The story contains alot of technical information about pianos that most professional pianists should know (but probably don't!), and it should prove interesting for others who know little about the actual workings of the instrument. There is a charming restraint about the work, especially about getting to know people slowly and letting the personal information about themselves mature along with the friendship. It proves a valuable insight into the daily life of Parisians, and explains many of the stereotypes about the French being cold to outsiders. All you need in an introduction!

My piano teacher recommended that I get this book. I had seen it on Amazon's website, but I didn't feel that I wanted to order it. I am so glad that I did. As others have said-it is an easy read. However, Thad Carhart captures the joy that I , and I'm sure others, have felt regarding pianos,music,composers,music history, and taking piano lessons.

If you love playing the piano as much as I do you will enjoy this book. I even put a quote from the book on the back of the recital program for my students. -"I was again struck with how deeply satisfying it was to play any kind of music at all on my piano. Emotionally, physically, intellectually, spiritually; its satisfactions were limitless, its impact on my life profound."
I can't say it any better than that. Lovely book!!