Nantes (AFP)
Attached to the back of a minivan or in a truck that keeps the temperature constantly at 19 degrees: the transport of classical musical instruments is an art where you have to excel to organize a festival like "Folle Journée" which brings together thousands of musicians.
"The piano is the king of instruments", immediately denies Denijs de Winter, tuner of grand pianos who has worked behind the scenes of the Nantes festival since its creation.
Massive - "450 kilos without feet" - precious - "140,000 euros for large concert pianos" - and omnipresent in the classical repertoire, pianos therefore require a dedicated team of ten people during the "Crazy Day" .
The "conductor" of this very specific logistics is Alice Combre, who has anticipated with the help of colorful tables the location of each of the 34 pianos that will be required for the 26th edition of the festival.
"Depending on the rooms, works and performers, I know which partner will be able to put which piano in which room," says Ms. Combre, counting no less than 180 concerts with piano in the program, or more than half of the shows announced. in Nantes from Wednesday to Sunday.
"With Beethoven, it was a fairly easy year for me," she reassures, with reference to the theme of the festival, which unlike previous editions is devoted to only one composer.
Same story for Blanka Golaszewska, manager of the Sinfonia Varsovia orchestra, which transported its largest instruments by truck - cellos, timpani and other horns - from Poland.
"The type of instruments you take depends on the repertoire and with Beethoven, it's quite simple," explains this polyglot, accustomed to detailing the precise dimensions of a double bass for airlines to make it travel when the orchestra moves out of Europe.
- Elton John's piano -
After fifty years of transporting and tuning instruments for the greatest pianists on the planet, Denijs de Winter is also up to the challenge of preserving the instruments when traveling by plane.
"I had a little problem with a piano and then I said to myself, maybe if I put on the body + Attention, this is Elton John's piano +, as everyone knows, they will be careful ", he remembers. Since then, he has never had any worries, he says with a smile.
If for the "Crazy Day", it was not necessary to bring pianos from abroad, transport by truck nevertheless requires very special attention.
Once relieved of their feet and lying on their side, the giants, which generally measure 274 centimeters - the precise length of the emblematic Steinway D-274 model - must be kept permanently at a temperature of 19 degrees Celsius.
The trucks of the three service providers who supply the "Crazy Day" in pianos, as well as that of the Sinfonia Varsovia, are therefore equipped with a special heating system which allows the instruments to spend the night in a parking lot if necessary.
The issue of temperature actually concerns all owners of classical musical instruments.
Thus the harpist Sylvain Blassel never separates from his instruments for fear of theft and to protect them from the cold.
"The harps, I bring them back to my hotel every time," explains this Parisian musician who brought two of his instruments to Nantes in the trunk of his minivan.
After lowering the rear seats, "I fasten them with the seat belts and underneath, I put large foam to avoid shocks", says the forties.
He believes that musicians, when they can manage the transport themselves, always prefer this option. Rather than borrow it on the spot, "I like to take my instruments because I already know them", underlines Sylvain Blassel.
But at 3,000 euros round trip Paris-New York for a Steinway D-274 by plane, this choice is rarely accessible to pianists. Between rental companies and pianists, "mutual trust is established (...) we all work for the success of the event", concludes Alice Combre.
© 2020 AFP