Classical Music in Poland and the Europe of Chopin - From the Reviewer's Notebook

I hope you will forgive a digression. The French pianist Yves Henry at the Nohant Chopin Festival each year, devotes his time during Masterclasses to the instructive comparison of the sound palette, touch, action and pedalling of Pleyel i nstruments with modern pianos. I have a few considerations of my own to offer.  The Pleyel   pianinos are wonderful instruments, as Chopin understood and praised them. The ne plus ultra he termed them. In his lessons he demonstrated his musical interpretations to his pupils on one whilst they were seated at a concert grand Pleyel  instrument. They are the perfect domestic instrument for the pianist who wishes to explore the authentic Chopin soundscape. They are inexpensive (restored at around €12,000), small with minimal maintenance and tuning, in compass capable of dealing with everything Chopin wrote, glorious in subtle tone, intimacy and even able to thunder in the restricted space of the average modern apartment. My  Pleyel   pianino of 1844 No: 1