Piano: A once-beautiful Bluthner upright, short keyboard, built in 1917. So it’s been through the wars, literally and metaphorically, and given several removal people a hard time, weighing in at about 40 stone. The action is a little sensitive, and it tends to boom in the middle register if you’re not careful, but still has a nice tone. In dire need of maintenance, which hopefully Covid precautions will soon allow.
Hands: Fairly small, and – I’m still angry that no one spotted this when I was younger – with unusually immobile and short thumbs. Only the top joint, nearest the nail, has any significant movement. So the elbow-waving that irritated my teachers so much was not me failing to try hard enough. A skiing accident that dislocated the top joint on my right hand, that further restricted movement, didn’t help either. One of the interesting challenges of the project will be dealing with these restrictions. I know that many great pianists have overcome much worse; Alicia De Larrocha for example had both small hands and short arms, and was one of the finest pianists of the twentieth century.
Brain: Once very good, still adequate to the task, but I’m already aware that some of the études have the technical equivalent of tongue-twisters that will require more very slow practice, and therefore more patience, than they might have done twenty years ago. That’s fine, I knew that patience would be key.