Pleyel Piano Recital Series featuring Matthew Bengston

About this Program:

Matthew Bengston returns to the Scarab Club with a program that highlights his extraordinary talents as pianist, composer, analyst, and scholar of performance practice. He is the author of the Massive Open Online Course entitled “Exploring Piano Literature: the Piano Sonata.” He is Associate Professor of Piano Literature at the University of Michigan and also teaches piano, fortepiano, and courses in piano repertoire, history, and culture.

About our Pleyel Piano:

Our Pleyel Piano is a vintage instrument built in 1879. It is a particularly special piano that offers a unique and intimate recital experience. The Dixon family kindly donated this piano.

Pleyel et Cie. ("Pleyel and Company") is a French piano manufacturing firm founded by composer Ignace Pleyel in 1807. This company provided pianos to the renowned composer Frédéric Chopin, who considered Pleyel pianos to be the "non plus ultra" (the highest point to be obtained). Pleyel et Cie. also operated a concert hall, the Salle Pleyel, where Chopin performed his first and last Paris concerts.

Pleyel's major contribution to piano development was the first use of a metal frame in a piano. Pleyel pianos were the preferred choice of composers such as Chopin, Debussy, Saint-Saëns, Ravel, de Falla and Stravinsky. Pianists and teachers such as Alfred Cortot, Philip Manuel, and Gavin Williamson also preferred Pleyel pianos.

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