Hungary’s government has decided to purchase ten Bogányi pianos. The economy minister and the human resources minister have been asked to put aside 764.054 million forints (EUR 2.54m) for the purchase of the Hungarian-developed pianos within the HR ministry’s budget. The deadline for making the allocation was set at July 15. The new piano, developed under the inspiration of Kossuth Prize-winning pianist Gergely Bogányi, was first featured at a gala concert at the Academy of Music in January. Attending the concert, Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán said he hoped the Bogányi piano would become “an envoy of Hungarian culture” in concert halls of the world.
Creating his own “wonder piano” Gergely Bogányi’s aim was to invent a unique-sounding instrument in contrast to the uniformisation of piano acoustics during the past hundred years. The Hungarian pianist was also motivated by creating a new sound ideal. “Steinway and the other companies make outstanding pianos, I do not think it is possible to do something better along that path. For this reason, we took a different direction”, the artist said. Forms embrace the sound and is subordinated to it, both in an acoustic and a spiritual sense. “Its legs serve to deflect the sound towards the audience”, he added.
The piano was rebuilt from scratch by Mr. Bogányi and his team. “The sole of our piano, the soundboard, is made not of wood but of the so-called carbon composite, a complex material also used in space technology. Wood has both its advantages and disadvantages. It’s fragile, it changes and reacts to all external effects. Composite is not prone to such changes”, Bogányi says. Zengafon Kft., the revolutionary piano’s developer, won HUF 126 million at a EU tender and a further HUF 60 million in support from the National Bank of Hungary to finance the down-payment for developing the instrument. The Bogányi piano is expected to be priced at around EUR 250,000 and is already patented in several countries, such as the United States and China.
via hungarymatters.hu and origo.hu photo: Tamás Sóki – MTI