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37 albums · 1952–2024

The piano, from Cristofori's workshop to the world

· 1 min read · by 1001 Albums

Cristofori's pianoforte of 1720, a long dark case on turned legs with its keyboard open
A painted portrait of Bartolomeo Cristofori standing beside a keyboard instrumentA concert grand piano on the stage of the Konzerthaus Berlin, the empty hall beyond
Cristofori's pianoforte of 1720, the oldest surviving piano, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photo: Shriram Rajagopalan, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. · Bartolomeo Cristofori, in a portrait of 1726. Photo: Unidentified painter, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. · A concert grand on the stage of the Konzerthaus, Berlin. Photo: Jorge Royan, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The piano was invented around 1700 by Bartolomeo Cristofori in Florence: a harpsichord that could play soft and loud, because hammers struck its strings instead of plucking them. Three of his pianos survive, the oldest from 1720.

The list has two strands. One is Italy's pianists: Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Maurizio Pollini, Maria Tipo and Beatrice Rana, and in jazz Enrico Pieranunzi and Stefano Bollani. The other is the records the instrument is known by: Glenn Gould's Goldberg Variations, Horowitz, Richter, Argerich, Uchida, Art Tatum, Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett's Köln Concert, with Scott Joplin's rags and Nils Frahm.

The list has 37 records from 1952 to 2024. About 41 hours of music, 4 days of a few records each.

What it sounds like

Chopin's Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 9 No. 2Frank Lévy, piano

Recording: Frank Lévy, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

By genre

World 50%Classical 34%Jazz 16%
  • World 50%
  • Classical 34%
  • Jazz 16%

The genres named most: piano, classical, jazz, modern classical, ragtime.

The colours of the covers

A stripe for each cover, in the colour Tidal picks from it, sorted by hue; the greys at the end.

Where the music comes from

Music from 11 countries: Italy 15, United States 11, Germany 2, Poland 2, Argentina 1 and 6 more. The deeper the colour, the more albums: one, two to four, five to nine, ten and more.

The 1950s

The 1960s

The 1970s

The 1980s

The 1990s

The 2000s

The 2010s

The 2020s

More lists

Lists of Instruments first, then others; all of them on the blog. The blog.

29 albums · 1976–2024

The kora of Mali, the harp-lute of the jeli

· 1 min read

The kora is the harp-lute of the jeli, the griots of Mali, Guinea, Senegal and the Gambia: 21 strings over a large calabash covered in cowhide, played with the thumbs and forefingers of both hands.

World 89%Blues 3%Classical 3%Other 5%
  • World 89%
  • Blues 3%
  • Classical 3%
  • Other 5%

Read and see the list