The Piano Shop on the Left Bank: Discovering a Forgotten Passion in a Paris Atelier

Wait, I can't stop yet. Not only is this book full of history and excellent information about pianos, there is a story, too. Thad passes a little piano storefront in his Paris neighborhood each day while taking his two children to their school. One day he decides to enter the shop to check it out, meets the grumpy owner & is rebuffed, but eventually gets the right introduction, (you have to be referred by an established customer) and the shop then becomes a daily part of his life. Here he learns from Luc, the atelier's master, the history and art of piano's. Luc becomes a valuable friend. He helps Thad find a piano for himself that he loves, a Stingl baby grand from Vienna. In Thad's almost daily visits to the store's atelier he meets many interesting and charming people. They all share their love of piano's, music, and life over a glass of wine. It made me wish I was part of their group.

The piano has always been my favorite instrument, and it has always fascinated me with it's beautiful sound. Yes, I am one of those people who have become lax, and not devoted enough time to keeping up with my piano playing. This book is certainly an inspiration to anyone who appreciates the piano. A wonderful & fascinating story, and detailed history of the piano. Highly Recommended.


A charming look into a usually hidden world   April 23, 2001
33 out of 37 found this review helpful

The Piano Shop on the Left Bank is a beautifully-written book that will appeal to three different, although probably overlapping, audiences. The first audience is comprised of people who love playing the piano as adults. I recently resumed lessons after an interlude of half a lifetime, and Mr. Carhart's book expressed many of the feelings through which I have progressed in returning to pianos and to piano lessons, albeit far more elegantly than I could ever express them.

The second audience is comprised of people who love pianos. I also fall into this group; I love pianos for themselves. They are unsurpassed musical instruments, and this book gives you a glimpse at their history as objects as well as their existence as music-makers.

The third audience for this book is comprised of those who love to get behind the scenes in Europe, viewing a lifestyle that is hard to find (although it can be found) here in the United States. Luc, the primary craftsperson in the book, is immensely appealing both for his craft (and art) and for his perspectives on the world. He runs his piano shop as he feels it should be run, and because his customers appreciate his worth, he can do so successfully. Mr. Carhart manages to become part of the shop's world, and vividly takes the reader with him.

In short, this is an immensely appealing book that makes the reader eager to rush out and find a Luc for themselves.


A secret world in Paris opens up to a curious piano-lover   December 31, 2002
Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA)
25 out of 29 found this review helpful

Unique and delightful
Reviewer: Joanna Daneman from Middletown, DE USA
This book may be less meaningful to you if you are not a piano player (I happen to play, myself.) But Thad Carhart includes so much atmosphere and quirky French character in his memoir "The Piano Shop" that if you like memoirs, especially about life in France, you will be as charmed as I was whether you know one note from another or not.

Andre Watts, the great American pianist, once remarked that he is unable to walk in a room with a piano without going up to it and touching it. This urge is not unusual with piano lovers--most of us are pulled into any piano shop, compelled by the same love of the instrument, each one of which is as individual as a person. And this individuality is despite the fact that pianos, as Carhart points out, were one of the first mass-produced items in modern industrial society.

Carhart, too, is irresistibly drawn into a mostly-shuttered piano shop in his quartier of Paris. It seems unlikely the shop is merely a piano repair studio--do they, perhaps, sell secondhand instruments? Carhart, who loves to play as an amateur, decides to find an instrument. The crusty owner will hardly divulge information. Slowly, Carhart penetrates the mysterious, very private and French world of the piano shop, and it becomes a part of his life.

The shop owner Luc, his drunken tuner Jos, and all the other characters are well drawn and interesting, even tragic sometimes. The book ends up being about a lot more than pianos. This is a real treat of a book to curl up with in an armchair, perhaps with a glass of wine or a cup of tea and find yourself lost in a twisty Parisian alley, peering into dusty windows and wondering how what goes on behind the shutters of a dark Paris atelier.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED (even if you don't play piano!)


A Gentle "Thriller."   January 6, 2002
Janice Adelson (New York, New York USA)
12 out of 14 found this review helpful

I held my breath throughout this enthralling account of Mr. Carhart's rekindled love of pianos and their potential to hold listener and performer spellbound. This is a marvelously written book to treasure for all the reasons other reviewers have already noted, including a fresh visit to an old section of Paris; Desforges, the special piano shop that invites personal introspection and new friendships amid the clutter of a wide variety of pianos and their disembodied parts; the seemingly impromptu lessons in piano history, construction, and restoration that offer wonder in the process as much as factual information; and a revisitation to a boyhood love-and-struggle relationship with the instrument and his teacher's expectations of its mastery. Beyond these attributes that keep the pages flying by, "The Piano Shop On The Left Bank" teases the reader's sense of reality. Is it a novel? Is it non-fiction? At times, I felt lost among the genres, not through any fault in the writing; quite the opposite, the immersion in this volume was so complete for me that at times I had to put the book aside to convince myself that I was not sipping tea and eating madeleines with a very different author. I appreciated Mr. Carhart's openness in drawing the reader into an intimate world that described a sensitive boy deriving tactile, visual, and, ultimately, aural pleasure in lifting up the piano's revealing fall board. And there are so many other moments to savor. Just a few include: visits to Luc's musty atelier and the once-weekly watering of its well-worn floor boards; Carhart's moment of boyhood pleasure at an upright in a hotel bar; the childhood lessons and recitals that caused such anxiety; his solitary delight at the Bechstein in the music room of his sister's school; the bonds he forged with Luc as they went through the process of deciding upon a piano of his very own; his joyful expectation while awaiting its delivery; and the return to his music studies as an adult, this time on his own terms. I hope that this special book will be read widely; it has much to offer beyond the subject of the piano.


Dangerous book   January 12, 2002
J. Campbell (Toledo, OH USA)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful

This is a wonderful book, but before I even finished it I visited the Steinway showroom and am now seriously considering replacing my digital Yamaha with a baby grand. Alas, it would have been cheaper if the book had only made me long to visit Paris. This book will re-awaken you appreciation of music as you learn about people's passion for making and playing pianos. I completely enjoyed it.