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Amazon.co.uk Review
At first glance, The Piano Shop on the Left Bank is simply an autobiography covering the author's blissful years in Paris. This is actually something much rarer and more original: an extended love letter to the piano. One day, Carhart was walking through the back streets of Paris in the early morning--a place and a time he evokes beautifully, the street sweepers out cleaning the hidden alleys, and
...the smell from la boulangerie du coin. And then he noticed a small truck, unloading a piano ... It turned out to be delivering to the atelier of Monsieur Luc Desforges, a piano repairer of the old school. 'Desforges Pianos: outillage, fournitures.' On the small, red felt-covered shelf in the window are displayed the tools and instruments of piano repair: tightening wrenches, tuning pins, piano wire ... the entire facade has a sleepy, 19th-century charm about it.One could say the same of Carhart's book. It doesn't move fast, and it doesn't depend on powerful emotions or dramatic reversals for its effect. It is a quiet and loving meditation on the piano, as it features in French life, and in Carhart's. He recalls his early days back in Virginia with equal vividness, when at the age of eight he took lessons from Miss Pemberton, playing a Chopin ballade or a Mozart sonata "in the warm Virginia evening, with the soft murmur of crickets in the surrounding woods". The whole book is suffused with just this softness, slowness and dreamy eloquence. For piano lovers, an absolute must. For others, a book of tremendous charm and pleasure. --Christopher Hart --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Product Description
Ever since the piano was invented, people have longed to own one. By the nineteenth century the big, unwieldy instruments were everywhere: they shrank in the heat of the colonies, swayed on steamships and sang in the drawing room of every genteel home. Some of these old pianos have become treasured family heirlooms, some just firewood. But others have led a more itinerant life, occasionally finding their way to a secret, glass-roofed workshop in Paris where they are lovingly restored by a piano repairer with a passion for his job.When T. E. Carhart came upon Luc and his atelier, his life changed. As he explored the Eldorado of pianos in Luc's back room, absorbed Luc's wisdom on life and music and finally found the baby grand of his dreams, he rediscovered his deep love for this most magical of instruments.In this wonderfully atmospheric book, full of Parisian life, the story of a musical friendship and a mutual obsession is intertwined with reflections on how pianos work, their glorious history and the people who care for them, from the most amateur pianist to the tuners and craftsmen who make the mechanism sing.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Non-pianists may dismiss Carhart's paean to the piano as excruciatingly slow, but friends of the instrument, whether listeners or players, will find much to enjoy here. There are patches, such as when the piano is moved into Carhart's apartment, where even professional pianists such as myself are moved to cry, "So what?" But for understanding the beauty of lemonwood or ash instruments and for learning the subtleties which distinguished the French instruments (Gaveau, Pleyel) from the German (Steinway, etc.) and the American (Chickering, Mason & Hamlin), this is an unbeatable source.
Carhart's odyssey of pianism moves at a gentle andante. Ostensibly it charts his growing familiarity with a Paris atelier run by the capable, enigmatic Luc, filled with old pianos. Carhart maintains the pace by toggling between the real characters and "slice of life" anecdotes (all bound by love of pianos), and the many differing aspects of his subject.
Along the way, he takes in the history of the piano, piano workings, tuning, and technology - including everything from spruce woods to metal brackets, strings, frames, etc. We are also treated to descriptions of lessons - and piano teachers - from beginning to masterclass level. Carhart vividly communicates the influence of Madame Gaillard, Miss Pemberton, and Anna on his learning abilities and his technique. The differing approaches in the masterclasses with Peter Feuchtwanger and Gyorgy Sebok are of particular interest.
Pianists will empathise with Carhart's horror of playing in public, but in sharing this book with us he has laid his musicianship, ability and perceptions on the line. It is full of good descriptions and homespun philosophy, atmospheric and didactic. The courtyards and quaint corners of Paris are lovingly rendered. It is above all a work of appreciation. The hero of the book is the piano.
Carhart's odyssey of pianism moves at a gentle andante. Ostensibly it charts his growing familiarity with a Paris atelier run by the capable, enigmatic Luc, filled with old pianos. Carhart maintains the pace by toggling between the real characters and "slice of life" anecdotes (all bound by love of pianos), and the many differing aspects of his subject.
Along the way, he takes in the history of the piano, piano workings, tuning, and technology - including everything from spruce woods to metal brackets, strings, frames, etc. We are also treated to descriptions of lessons - and piano teachers - from beginning to masterclass level. Carhart vividly communicates the influence of Madame Gaillard, Miss Pemberton, and Anna on his learning abilities and his technique. The differing approaches in the masterclasses with Peter Feuchtwanger and Gyorgy Sebok are of particular interest.
Pianists will empathise with Carhart's horror of playing in public, but in sharing this book with us he has laid his musicianship, ability and perceptions on the line. It is full of good descriptions and homespun philosophy, atmospheric and didactic. The courtyards and quaint corners of Paris are lovingly rendered. It is above all a work of appreciation. The hero of the book is the piano.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
T.E. Carhart's first book is an autobiography of his experiences as an expatriated American in Paris. An accomplished pianist, he longs to own an excellent piano -- bought at an affordable price -- for himself, as well as for his young family to practice upon.
He becomes obsessed with the idea when he stumbles upon a strange workshop in a Paris backstreet. Used pianos are rebuilt behind a forbidding door, located behind a studio front.
However, its owners are indifferent to him, when it comes to making a sale. In fact, they appear hostile to the idea. Carhart must obtain references from one of their clients, and spend many hours visiting, before they lend him an ear.
How he gets his wish is the slim story in this book that is as soft, gentle, and tasty as a merinque. This book is a Moonlight Sonata, played by an expert. His writing is simple but beautiful. "The curved side of the cabinet was extravagantly voluptuous, the richness of the wood brightened by the long baroque undulation of the box."
Carhart includes memories of his years as an eight-year-old student in Virginia, where dreamy trees and gentle manners compare favourably with his Parisian experiences.
Perhaps he carries this sense of peace solidly within him, wherever he goes. It would appear so.
In the course of this 242 page memoir, we learn much about the workings, history, and magic of piano. It is a love statement to this wonderful instrument that once graced everyones parlour.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a wonderfully well-crafted, enchanting, and inspiring book. True, it is aimed at pianists of all ages and abilities, although other musicians may find it interesting, and indeed even some non-musicians may enjoy the read. As well as being quite a factual book (including names and characteristics of many instruments), this book provides a truly enchanting picture of the left bank in Paris. This book fills a gap in the market and is essential reading for any pianist.
Cahart's style is flowing, easy-to-read, but never bland nor naive. He balances detailed knowledge with his passion for music, Paris, and the piano; carefully combined with wonderfully ethereal descriptions of his enchanting Parisian surroundings, the people around him, and his personal emotions. This is not an autobiography, as some reviewers have written - it is perhaps a short but very personal memoir.
This book nurtured my love of Paris, the piano, music, reading, and, indeed, life itself. An absolute joy.
Cahart's style is flowing, easy-to-read, but never bland nor naive. He balances detailed knowledge with his passion for music, Paris, and the piano; carefully combined with wonderfully ethereal descriptions of his enchanting Parisian surroundings, the people around him, and his personal emotions. This is not an autobiography, as some reviewers have written - it is perhaps a short but very personal memoir.
This book nurtured my love of Paris, the piano, music, reading, and, indeed, life itself. An absolute joy.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Have ended up sharing with as many people as I can. Spread the word!!
A real gem of a book. Lovely pace and atmospheric. I'm a pianist and music lover in my 20s and I loved this book. Read more
Published 19 months ago by F99
a passion for pianos
For any pianist this is an enormous pleasure. It tells the autobiographical tale of an American living in Paris who yearns to return to piano playing after many years abscence. Read more
Published on 8 Sep 2009 by old joanna
Enjoyable
This book had been mentioned to me several times on a Music forum, so I egarly awaited it. On arrival I did not put it down. Yes I enjoyed this book tremendousl. Read more
Published on 10 Sep 2008 by ladyday
A most pleasurable read!
I'm a pro pianist and play upwards of 20 hours per week in hotels and restaurants. So maybe you would think the last thing I would want to read about is a bumbling amateur who gave... Read more
Published on 29 April 2008 by Peter Brown
Impossible to over-praise
One of the most memorable and inspiring books I've read. Not inspiring in that hippy-dippy 'think positive and we'll save the World' sort of way. Read more
Published on 23 Jan 2008 by H. Popeck
Enchanting!
In France it is very difficult to gain access to small businesses without a personal introduction and it is just such a small business that the author becomes invloved with. Read more
Published on 19 Oct 2007 by LindyLouMac
a wonderful - and unusual - book
It's a while since I read this book and I don't remember all the details -I must read it again - but I do remember that I absolutely loved it. Read more
Published on 12 May 2007 by Mr. Ian A. Macfarlane
Tender and sincere
This book made me realise how much I love my own piano, and awakened a deep and emotional respect for all those intimately involved in them. Read more
Published on 2 April 2004 by CAROLINE
Intriguing, insightful, impressive
I first tried reading this while on holiday, which didn't work as it's no swashbuckling adventure. Rather, it's like a gentle stroll through a tree-lined avenue during autumn. Read more
Published on 18 Feb 2004 by Avid Reader
Elegant, charming and artful
This was an incidental buy for me. One of those books you pick up because you happen across it whilst browsing. I thought it might be one of those journey-reads or a holiday book. Read more
Published on 4 Dec 2003 by Gatsby
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