IS: After a dozen or so days of solo performances, a full orchestra appears in the competition final. Does this stage require the piano to be prepared in a different way?
SJ: Not really. Sometimes the piano sound can be reinforced so that it’s not lost among other instruments. The instrument is tuned to A-442 Hz from the beginning, because that’s the tuning used by the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra. This means that the string moves 442 times per second.
IS: Do you use an electronic tuner or do you tune by ear?
SJ: I can’t imagine working with an electronic tuner. Such tuning is artificial, plastic. After a few decades of doing the job, I believe I can trust my own hearing. However, I have observed people using electronic tuners during the competition on period instruments. I’m an analogue man and that’s what I recommend to my students. If you can’t hear the tuning, how are you supposed to hear the nuances of the timbre?
IS: Contemporary instruments are louder than those from the past because the volume of the sonosphere has also increased.
SJ: Yes, but another reason is the construction of the instrument. In the past, they produced straight-strung pianos, which were quite long but very narrow. They also used different metal alloys for the strings and a low-tension gut, which resulted in weak sound. When cross-stringing was invented, the piano became wider – the strings are now longer, the sound resonates better and can be truly powerful, even in the biggest concert halls.
IS: In 2018, during the First International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition on Period Instruments, his well-known musical compositions resounded anew or, as some claimed, finally ‘as they should’. The instruments were prepared by you (1838, 1849 and 1858 Erard, 1846 and 1854 Pleyel and 1843 Broadwood). Did tuning them differ a lot from preparing contemporary instruments?
SJ: Period instruments should be approached just like elderly people – you need to be sensitive and patient. I don’t tune them quite as aggressively as the contemporary ones. First of all, it’s crucial to remember that a historical instrument imposes certain limitations – they don’t allow you to play loudly, so all the rehearsals take place in the chamber hall rather than the concert hall. Besides, such spaces are more suited to Chopin’s period. The tuning resembles the tuning of a harpsichord. Moreover, the smaller elements of period instruments require smaller tools. We use a different, lower tuning: A-430 Hz, because that’s the one used by most period orchestras.
IS: Do we know anything about the tuners who looked after Chopin’s instruments?
SJ: I don’t know anything about them, though it’s certainly a topic worth researching. I suspect that it was someone from the factory. The ignominious tradition of ignoring tuners has been going on for a long time…
IS: When does a grand piano ‘die’? Is there such a thing as piano recycling?
SJ: Grand pianos never die. They can only be neglected. Unless someone pours a bucket of water inside, then there’s no way to rescue them. I remember such images from when Wrocław was flooded – pianos were literally floating.
Szymon Jasnowski – a specialist in piano renovation and conservation. He graduated from the Vocational Secondary School of Piano Building in Kalisz, and holds a degree from Steinway Academy as well as the title of concert tuner granted by the Hamburg company Steinway & Sons. He’s a co-founder of the Polish Piano Tuners Association, where he was a vice-chairman between 2007 and 2019. He has worked with the majority of Polish philharmonics and music academies. He’s currently the main tuner at the Warsaw Philharmonic and collaborates constantly with the Grand Theatre-National Opera, the National Fryderyk Chopin Institute, the Polish Radio, the Academy of Music and the Pomeranian Philharmonic in Bydgoszcz, as well as with major Polish record companies. He also prepares pianos for international piano competitions and festivals, such as the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition, the Chopin and His Europe Festival, the Ludwig van Beethoven Festival, La Folle Journée – the Crazy Day of Music in Warsaw, Warsaw Autumn, the International Ignacy Jan Paderewski Piano Competition in Bydgoszcz and many others.
Interview conducted in Polish, Sept 2021, translated by Anna Potoczny, Oct 2021