<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD><TITLE>21 Rare Pianos Sought for Feat of Grand = Intent</TITLE><BASE href=http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/03/nyregion/03SEAR.html?th=&p= agewanted=print&position=> <SCRIPT language=JavaScript> =  = </SCRIPT> <SCRIPT language=JavaScript> = if (document.layers) { = document.write("<link rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' = href='http://www.nytimes.com/css/article.ns.css'>"); = } = else { = document.write("<link rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' = href='http://www.nytimes.com/css/article.css'>"); = } = </SCRIPT> <SCRIPT language=JavaScript> =  = </SCRIPT>  <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; = charset=iso-8859-1"> <META http-equiv=charset content=iso-8859-1> <META content="21 Rare Pianos Sought for Feat of Grand Intent" name=NYT_HEADLINE> <META content="21 Rare Pianos Sought for Feat of Grand Intent" = name=hdl> <META content="By JAMES BARRON" name=BY_LINE> <META content="By JAMES BARRON" name=byl> <META content=" The search is on for grand pianos to star in a concert = during the opening week of the 15th season of the Winter Garden at the = World Financial Center. " name=FIRSTPAR> <META content=" The search is on for grand pianos to star in a concert = during the opening week of the 15th season of the Winter Garden at the = World Financial Center. " name=lp> <META content="New York Region" name=SECTION> <META content="" name=SUBSECTION> <META content="The New York Times" name=SOURCE> <META content="The New York Times" name=cre> <META content="August 3, 2003" name=DISPLAYDATE> <META content=20030803 name=pdate> <META content="" name=ttl> <META content="" name=virtloc> <META content=Music name=des> <META content="" name=per> <META content="World Financial Center" name=org> <META content="" name=geo> <META content="" name=ticker> <META content="August 3, 2003" name=dat> <META content=News name=tom> <META content="" name=cat> <META content="" name=col> <META content=500 name=ARTICLE_TEMPLATE_VERSION> <META content="New York Region" name=dsk> <META content=NOARCHIVE name=ROBOTS> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1170" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY vLink=#444464 link=#000066 bgColor=#ffffff leftMargin=4 = topMargin=4 marginwidth="4" marginheight="4"> <DIV> </DIV> <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD vAlign=top align=left><IMG alt="The New York Times" = hspace=0 src="http://graphics7.nytimes.com/images/misc/logoprinter.gif" = align=left border=0> <BR = clear=all> <HR align=left SIZE=1> <H5>August 3, 2003</H5><NYT_HEADLINE type=" " version="1.0"> <H2>21 Rare Pianos Sought for Feat of Grand Intent</H2></NYT_HEADLINE><NYT_BYLINE type=" " = version="1.0"><FONT size=-1><STRONG>By JAMES = BARRON</STRONG></FONT><BR><BR></NYT_BYLINE> <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 align=right border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><NYT_TEXT> <P><IMG height=35 alt=S src="http://graphics7.nytimes.com/images/dropcap/s.gif" = width=29 align=left border=0>ujatri K. Reisinger, who sells pianos for = a living, has been working the phone, trying to borrow a few. Actually, more = than a few: 21 grands, for a total of 1,848 keys. And all built by a = relatively obscure Italian manufacturer that makes only 100 instruments a = year.</P> <P>Mr. Reisinger, an owner of Klavierhaus, a piano shop on West = 58th Street between Broadway and Seventh Avenue, is looking for the = pianos that will star in a concert during the opening week of the 15th season = of the Winter Garden at the World Financial Center.</P> <P>The pianos he is looking for are not Steinways, not Mason & = Hamlins, not Baldwins, but Faziolis. So far, he said, he is = two-thirds of the the way toward meeting his goal.</P> <P>Faziolis are shiny, expensive instruments made according to the = designs of Paolo Fazioli, a concert pianist who went into engineering = before he discovered his life's work: trying to reinvent the modern piano. = </P> <P>The most talked-about of his company's six models is the F308, = at least one of which will be among the 21 pianos Mr. Reisinger is rounding = up. At 10 feet 2 inches and $140,000, it is 14 1/4 inches longer and = almost $50,000 more expensive than a Steinway concert grand.</P> <P>It has an extra pedal, for very, very soft playing. Whether it = is needed for one piece that will be played on Sept. 25 — the world = premiere of "Threnodia for 21," a piece by Daniele Lombardi, an avant-garde = Italian composer, and dedicated to the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks — = remains to be seen. </P> <P>Also on the program is the first performance in this country of = Mr. Lombardi's Sinfonia Nos. 1 and 2 for 21 Pianos.</P> <P>In some passages of "Threnodia," Mr. Reisinger said, the = pianists are to stand up, reach into the pianos and strum the strings. In other = passages, they are to pound the keyboards. It will be something to = see — and that, Mr. Reisinger said, is just what Mr. Lombardi had in = mind.</P> <P>"He created a work that's important three-dimensionally, with = the movement of the conductor and the movement of the artists," Mr. = Reisinger said. "It is a sculpture in the making, right on the spot."</P> <P>Before there can be sculpture, or music, there must be 21 = pianos. Mr. Reisinger, who sells Faziolis along with Steinways and other = pianos that he and his technicians have rebuilt, decided to round up 21 = Faziolis — something he has wanted to do since meeting Mr. Lombardi in 1997 = — and approached the World Financial Center about the holding the event. = </P> <P>"When I told Paolo, he said it's impossible," Mr. Reisinger = said. "He's never seen 21 Faziolis together in his life." But he will, = assuming Mr. Reisinger succeeds: Mr. Fazioli has promised not only to attend = the concert, but also to autograph each piano that is used.</P> <P>Mr. Reisinger has been calling other Fazioli dealers in this = country and in Europe. As of last week, he said that he had commitments = for three Faziolis from Boston, four from Virginia and four from Utah, maybe = five.</P> <P>Rick Baldassin, a Fazioli dealer in North Salt Lake, said the = number depended on whether his wife, Cindy, would let him send the = 7-foot-6 Fazioli in their living room along with four from their = showroom.</P> <P>"I'm inclined to believe that she's O.K. with it," Mr. = Baldassin said. "You can imagine. It's one thing to send the children from the = store. It's another thing when you're sending the one from your house, but why = not?"</P> <P>Debra Simon, the executive director of the World Financial = Center's arts and events program, said the 21 pianos would be the largest collection of pianos played at the same time in one place since = the 1939 World's Fair. And those pianos were uprights, not grands.</P> <P>Mr. Lombardi knows what it is like to have more than one = Fazioli on hand. Mr. Reisinger said Mr. Lombardi once asked Mr. Fazioli to = send him two. Mr. Fazioli did so, Mr. Reisinger said, but only after asking = this question: "Can't you compose something for 3 or 4 pianos instead = of 21?"</P></NYT_TEXT><BR> <CENTER><NYT_COPYRIGHT><A class=footer href="/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html">Copyright = 2003</A> <A class=footer href="http://www.nytco.com/">The New York Times = Company</A> | <A class=footer href="http://www.nytimes.com/">Home</A> | <A = class=footer = href="http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/privacy.html">Privac= y Policy</A> | <A class=footer href="http://query.nytimes.com/search/advanced/">Search</A> | <A = class=footer href="http://www.nytimes.com/corrections.html">Corrections</A> | = <A class=footer = href="http://www.nytimes.com/membercenter/sitehelp.html">Help</A> | <A = class=footer href="#top">Back to Top</A> </NYT_COPYRIGHT></CENTER></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></BODY></HTML>