Nine more keys on the Bösendorfer Imperial

A piano string need not be struck to vibrate. It can respond sympathetically to other strings, provided it is free to move. The right pedal lifts the dampers and lets that resonance continue. Releasing it damps strings whose keys are not held down; the highest strings have no dampers.

That makes the Bösendorfer 290 Imperial’s extra bass strings more than an extension of the keyboard. The maker credits them with contributing to the instrument’s resonance. There are 97 keys rather than the customary 88, with the additional nine at the bass end.

Bösendorfer traces the design to Ferruccio Busoni’s need for lower notes when transcribing Bach’s organ music for piano. The story begins with a musical requirement, not a contest over size. A wider compass supplies pitches; it does not tell a pianist how to balance them.

Pedalling turns the mechanics into an audible choice. Let successive sounds mingle, or release the pedal so the previous chord does not obscure the next. This belongs to piano playing generally, not to the Imperial alone. Listen past the initial strike: the decay is part of the phrase too.

The linked recording is Hélène Grimaud playing Busoni’s transcription of Bach’s Chaconne, originally written for solo violin, not organ. It offers a related example of transcription, not a demonstration of this piano: the recording’s instrument model is unconfirmed. Follow the relationship between melody and bass. Nine extra keys cannot decide that balance for the player.