“I have never understood pianists who sell themselves to a special piano factory, saying: “This is the only one for me.” The different factories offers different treasures. C. Bechstein creates instruments that are very personal, often surprisingly dynamic, and with a perfect touch. I am impressed by the wooden and warm sounds you can create, and the richness in the overtones are highly inspiring. C. Bechstein makes instruments for a life-long friendship. I am happy that one of my childhoods favourites is fully back on the market again.”
Ketil Bjørnstad
Ketil Bjørnstad studied classic piano in Oslo, London and Paris and played Bela Bartók's Third Piano Concerto together with Oslo's Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of sixteen, before performing with various jazz and rock formations. He debuted as a writer in 1972 with a collection of poems titled "Alene ut". He has since published another thirty-one books, mainly novels, but also essays and poetry. His biographies of Edvard Munch (1995) and Edvard Grieg (1998) sold very well in Germany, as did "Vindings Spiel", a novel that Der Spiegel listed among the bestsellers of foreign literature in 2006. This book opened a trilogy that Bjørnstad completed in with "Der Fluss" (2009) and "Die Frau" (2010).
In April 2012, to mark Bjørnstad's sixtieth birthday, ECM issued the "sound track" of the trilogy, recorded on a C. Bechstein grand piano.
Photo © Nina Djerff