Grand Obsession: A Piano Odyssey

Perri Knize's memoir is the story of her somewhat obsessive search for "her" piano. It starts with a quest for an "inexpensive upright" and quickly morphs into a journey through piano store after piano store, playing hundreds of pianos, uprights being discarded in favor of grands, budget escalating month after month. She finally finds the perfect piano, has it shipped from New York to her home in Montana, and find that the sound she loved has gone. What follows are literally years of attempts to get that sound back into the instrument. These attempts draw in an astonishing circle of people who love pianos. We meet the technician who put the original sound on her piano and can recreate it, but only for a 24 hour period, and the man who show more sold her the piano who then gives away his profits on the deal by flying people and parts out to Montana because he cannot bear the thought of her losing that perfect experience she once had. We follow her to Austria, where she meets the men who cut the trees for the soundboard, and to Germany, where she meets the individual craftsmen who built her piano, in her attempt to understand what made the particular sound she is seeking.

Of course, you cannot help but realize that the story of the piano is only the surface. The subtext is a story about the pursuit of a passion in life, the quest to understand and achieve something that completely fulfills you.

This book absolutely resonated with me. I'm an adult beginner on the piano, chockablock with all the "I'm too old to do this" that one might expect. I could feel her utter frustration and despair in this quest, and her utter elation when she moved forward and, somehow, it lifted me up and made me want to push harder.

If you love the piano, read this. If you love odysseys about inspiration and passion, read this. If you simply are interested in well-written memoirs, read this. If you don't fall into one of those categories, it's still a good book and I recommend you at least take a look. In summary, a strong recommendation. show less

This memoir of the search for the perfect piano, or turning one's piano into a perfect piano, was very interesting and informative. The author does a nice job of describing the obsession that musical people have with searching for the perfect sound, and for those who own a piano and want to know more about how it's put together and read some perspectives on what music does for the human soul, it's very good.

I was somewhat annoyed, however, with the obsessive quest involved here. It's clear to anyone who has owned a piano that it is not static; it's organic and it changes. To go to the lengths Ms. Knize did during the first few years of the piano's life seems a little over the top to me, and I had little sympathy for her plight, although show more it made a reasonable framing for the various topics in the book.

I have a brand new piano too -- it's a Ritmuller which the author mentions playing in the book (and liking). I went to two dealers, played about 10 pianos, and had a baby grand in my living room several weeks later for under $15K, and I love it, although it's not perfect (nothing would be). I play it every day, and we've "bonded," at a much lower cost, hassle, and personal wear and tear than the author. When it settles out after its 1st birthday, we'll see about voicing, etc, but there's no need to panic! I know that passion is passion, but I would rate Ms. Knize's quest as over the top. show less

I wrote a longer review of this book on Amazon when it first came out. It was one of the first books that I read on the Kindle, and just like they say the media disappeared beneath the fascinating adventure. Perri Knize, who is a writer as well and a wannabee pianist, drives her book in a conventional way: create a new problem and solve it. That is not a criticism for the adventure is captivating and edifying. While I am passionate about music, I am not a musician. Lacking the background of others who own and play a piano, i learned more than I expected about pianos.
The other facet to the adventure is all the caring and skilled people that you meet. Unlike the assembly line factory which produces our cars and computers, in a craft such show more as building and maintaining a piano there is a very human face.
Based on my experience, perhaps this is a better book for non-pianists who don't have such close familiarity with the instrument. We, the novice, don't have to judge her observations by our expectations. That's just a thought. show less

I never expected to finish this book, but became so fascinated with her quest for a special piano that I read it straight to the end. Her passsion infects the reader, who also gains insight into how pianos are constructed and what gives them their unique "voice". This is a terrific read.

A cool book, very interesting, about one woman’s quest to find the perfect piano. She starts out with a $3k budget and ends up spending ten times that much, only to have her dream come apart when her new piano arrives and it just doesn’t sound the same as it did in the showroom. She continues her quest, now to get it tuned and voiced. Three years later she is finally “satisfied”.

Sounds obsessive, and a little crazy, but it’s actually a very enjoyable read, especially for any piano lover.

Super insight into the "mechanics" of the piano but rather over the top unless you're expecting to play Carnegie Hall!