The painter’s piano

On her return to India in the late1930s,Sher-Gil brought the piano along—first to Shimla where she painted intensively and travelled to observe and represent Indian villagers and their way of life—and later to her uncle’s enormous estate in Saraya near Gorakhpur. “Sher-Gil almost abandoned music when she fell in love with collector Karl Khandalavala. She was trained by her concert pianist Hungarian mother,during the early growing up days in Budapest,” says Kaul.

She died in the December of1941 and the piano was forgotten after her death until in 1964 when caretakers of Sher-Gil’s estate decided to put it up for a public auction. Meanwhile,it was during the 60s that the Delhi Symphony Orchestra (DSO) was taking its first steps. General JN Chaudhury,one of the founders of DSO had already acquired musicians from the Ballroom orchestra that played in the Ashoka Hotel. “There was a staff retrenchment going on at the Ashoka and they had disbanded their ballroom orchestra. The 35 members became the core members of the DSO. Then arose the immediate need of a piano,” recalls Kaul,69.

General Chaudhury came upon the advertisement announcing the public auction of the piano in 1964. He asked his friend,Escorts founder HP Nanda,to bid for it. Nanda won the bid and gifted the piano to DSOS. The piano has been with the DSOS since 1964 and has been onstage five times a year.

“But so far,the world’s best pianists have not touched it,” laughs Kaul. Last year,the Neemrana Music Foundation borrowed it for the year-end concert at the Baha’i auditorium. Feisty Hungarian choir conductor Gabriella Boda-Rechner used the piano for the year-end concert. Noted pianist Brian Silas has played old tunes on the grand piano and visiting musicians from Russia,America and Hungary have used it for their performances. “It is one of the best maintained pianos amongst the grand pianos in Delhi. It is tuned by the piano tuners Shamsher Sons thrice a year,” says Kaul,pointing out the piano’s handcrafted wooden legs. “The decorative legs ceased after the 1920s as pianos were machine made later,” says Kaul.

The piano is lent to visiting artists under strict conditions. “The artist has to be a concert licensee,and he must respect the heritage value of the piano. We do not allow it for concerts in the open as the dew can affect. Lastly,he has to accept our piano tuner who is also present on the spot,” says Kaul.

And as he speaks,the piano is being whisked away for a performance at the Taj Palace Hotel on Wednesday.