Fazioli: The Best Grand Piano in the World Today?

When those who play piano professionally are asked which piano is the best one in the world today--the easy answer, of course, is typically Steinway. A Steinway piano is still considered the greatest ever and ranks #1 with the majority of artists around the world endorsing it with their signature on the company's website. But in recent years, an Italian-made grand piano has started to capture the imagination of a lot of legendary pianists; so much so that a few internationally-renowned pianists have recently declared they'll only play on this one piano for all concerts and recordings in the studio. It's called a Fazioli, named after Italian concert pianist and engineer Paolo Fazioli. Even though it was created already in 1978--careful additions have been made to it through its evolution that make it one of the most carefully-crafted pianos in the world today.

The original aim of the company in the late 70's was to create a piano that had its own unique sound (in a time when many were made to sound virtually the same), produce smaller numbers of them due to the higher-quality materials put forth into making them and to make it an ever-evolving piano creation in progress to live up to modern standards as each decade wore on. When they were finally showcased for the first time at various preview shows in Italy during the late 70's and early 80's--it was treated almost as if it was an Italian fashion show instead of a preview of pianos. Well, the Fazioli was almost as beautiful as a female Italian model...and probably just as tall if set on its side.