eBusiness Weekly
Cape Town piano dealer Ian Burgess-Simpson Pianos let slip that it imported a Fazioli concert grand piano for one of its clients and will deliver it to the lucky pianist within days. It just needs to unpack it after the long flight from Italy, because you don’t stuff a Faziolo into a shipping container.
While not disclosing the exact price, a new Fazioli F278 concert grand carries a tag of $326 000, equal to R4,8 million at the current exchange rate. Assuming that the buyer paid for their new piano a few weeks earlier, when the rand was a lot stronger, they probably paid slightly more than R4 million.
“That’s pretty close,” commented one of the staff members at Ian Burgess-Simpson Pianos.
The dealer disclosed that the piano has been purchased by a private buyer, who it says is a serious pianist who is realising his dream of owning and playing on an “astonishingly fine piano”. The new owner indicated that he also plans to make the piano accessible to pianists and piano lovers for small concerts, or just for the opportunity to try one of these unique instruments.
Fazioli is a relative newcomer in the world of upmarket pianos. Paolo Fazioli founded his factory only 40 years ago, compared to other well-known brands that have been around for centuries.
At the top end of the market, Steinway & Sons, Yamaha, Blüthner and Bösendorfer are most likely to be found on stage in front of the likes of Yuja Wang.
Fazioli pianos are more scarce, partly because they are very expensive and partly because Fazioli produces a maximum of 140 pianos per annum. Economics 101 lecturers would immediately point out that they are expensive because they are scarce.
There are more expensive pianos around, but they are usually expensive for reasons other than their musical appeal. It’s a moving target, but Steinway & Sons boasts of a few specially painted pianos valued at more than US$2.5 million – an eye-watering R37 million. Pianist Magazine noted in 2018 that a normal brown (and faded) upright Steinway was sold at an auction for $US2.2 million, purely because it was owned by John Lennon. At the time it was the second most expensive piano in the world.
In contrast, Beethoven’s Broadwood & Sons grand piano, which the great composer literally hit to pieces when his hearing started to fail, was said to be worth only around US$200 000, according to an old article on estimates.
The piano was donated to virtuoso Franz Liszt after Beethoven’s death and, now restored, belongs to the Hungarian National Museum. An old Broadwood grand was recently offered for sale in SA for R38 000.
‘Not an indulgence of wealth’
With regards to the new Fazioli, Ian Burgess-Simpson Pianos noted: “The purchase of this piano is not an indulgence of wealth, but the expression of a great and life-long passion.”We would like to add that spending R4 million on a piano also proves the beauty of capitalism. The free market system allows choice. A lot of people would immediately say that it is insane to spend millions on a piano. One could argue that a Yamaha grand piano (around R1.2 million) is sufficient – and bank the rest of the money.
It sounds fair, but the argument fails when the next person says a digital Rowland grand (R74 000) is good enough and that spending R1.2 million on a piano is insane.
Eventually the argument will end when somebody advocates that R74 000 is too much as well, all the way down to saying that a R500 plastic keyboard is not a necessity. Then the music ends.
Prices are relative. Some people will not be willing to spent R32 on a cup of coffee. A wristwatch only tells the time, but is more expensive than a stove.
Patrons at the Drydock Restaurant at the Knysna Waterfront (prawns at R79, including a glass of wine) were treated to a show a few weeks ago when somebody launched a new catamaran. Talk on quayside was that it cost R27 million.
There was a similar show two days later, but this owner had to make do with a yacht costing less than R80 000, nevertheless more valuable than his car. This is not unusual; most members at any yacht club in SA would admit that their boats are worth more than their cars.
Let’s not forget to mention cars – a lot are more expensive than a three-bedroom house. And cyclists pay way more for a bicycle than for a new mattress.
The benefit of choice is the freedom to spent money on nice stuff, like a Fazioli.
Burgess-Simpson says Fazioli pianos are the most hand-built pianos in the world with fewer than 140 grand pianos released each year. Each instrument takes two years to complete under the direct supervision of Fazioli himself, the inventor, designer and owner of these unique pianos.
“It is often overlooked that the piano was in fact invented by an Italian, Bartolomeo Cristofori, in the early 1700s,” according to the piano dealer. “There are only eight Fazioli pianos on the whole continent and all of them are located in SA.” – Moneyweb.
