Pianos of the Poona Music Society

Pianos are an integral part of any music organisation. Concert presenters, like the Poona Music Society, must have access to a piano since the instrument is used for most concerts, be it solo piano recitals, voice recitals or chamber music concerts.

The first piano that the Poona Music Society acquired was in 1953, a refurbished Rönisch baby grand piano from the firm of R. P. Mistry and Sons, Bombay. All the famous pianists who performed in Pune until the mid-sixties played on this piano. These included Julius Katchen, Wilhelm Kempff, Louis Kentner, Lili Krauss and Tamas Vasary. On the acquisition of a Steinway concert grand piano, this piano was used much less and later on it was moved to the Tata Management Training Centre where it was housed for concerts in their premises. Today, this piano can be seen in the lobby of a famous Pune hotel.

In 1965, the Poona Music Society struck a deal with the Maharani of Dhrangadhra, a princely state in Gujarat, to buy a Steinway Model D concert grand No. 70794 owned by her. This was a Hamburg Steinway of 1891, which is still owned by the Society. It is used housed at the Gulati Hall of the St. Vincent’s School and is used by local choirs and musicians, but is in need of serious restoration. An absolute war-horse of an instrument, it has been used in recital by some of the greatest pianists in the world including Augustin Anievas, Albert Ferber, Peter Frankl and György Sandor.

In the early 1990s it was decided that the Society buy a new concert grand piano. A fund raising drive was launched and after much deliberation whether to buy another Steinway or something else, it was decided that the Society order a Blüthner concert grand piano from Julius Blüthner Pianofortefabrik GmbH, Leipzig. This piano was one of three built for the tropics by the firm, and a pianist friend of the society, Trefor Smith, who visited the Blüthner factory in Leipzig to make a final selection, selected the instrument. Canadian pianist Paul Stewart, who shared the stage with pianist Pervez Modi and contralto Zarin Ghadialy-Hodiwala at the inaugural concert on 5th March 1995, aptly opened the concert with Rachmaninov’s three Bach transcriptions.