Model 290 Imperial

Eight full octaves

Originally built following a suggestion by composer Ferruccio Busoni, the Imperial has 97 keys, i.e. eight full octaves. This expanded range allows faithful performances of a number of compositions by Bartók, Debussy, Ravel and, not least, Busoni.

Combining a very powerful sound-board and a high proportion of sound-spruce from the Fiemme Valley in the South Tyrol, this piano’s sound is almost orchestral. The Bösendorfer “resonating box principle” which views the entire instrument as a cohesive whole, generates unsurpassed power and a poignantly full tone. Model 290 is our only standard grand piano model to have acquired an epithet when it was first built in around 1900: Imperial (lat. imperare, to order, command).

Its commanding presence in some of the world’s great concert halls sets the standard by which other grand pianos are judged.

97 keys l: 9'6", w: 5'9", net: 1.255 lb