Dissonant demise

Easy does it as the piano is moved onto a hydraulic platform on the lorry.




Moments before disaster strikes, the piano descends to the ground.




Hands on head moment as the piano lurches sideways and crashes upside down onto the bank.




A tractor is used to lift the piano upright before being taken back to London.



Grand piano damaged in lorry fall
10 April 2007


BBC -- A concert grand piano valued at £45,000 [SGD$133,658] is thought to have been wrecked after falling off a removal lorry in Devon.

The piano was being brought to the home of John and Penny Adie, the organisers of the Two Moors Festival, an annual music event on Dartmoor and Exmoor.

But disaster struck when it toppled over and fell 2.5m (8.2ft) before landing on a bank, causing extensive damage to the instrument.

Removals firm G&R declined to comment on the incident.

The moments before and after the fall were captured on camera by Mrs Adie, 54, who was hoping to record a highpoint for the festival.

But joy turned to horror as she recorded how the piano toppled onto a bank.

Her husband John, 61, said: "It is unlikely ever to come back to us.

"The piano weighs half a tonne, has 10,000 moving parts and has fallen 2.5m onto the ground.

"How the hell do you guarantee that it will work again?"

The festival had been raising funds for two years to buy the piano at auction in London earlier this year.

It was to go into a concert hall at the Adies' home at Barkham, near South Molton, as a centrepiece for the upcoming spring festival.

'Simply irreplaceable'

The piano is now back in London where it is waiting for an independent assessment of the damage.

The piano was insured, but only for the £26,000 they paid for it at auction in London rather than its likely replacement value of £45,000.

Mr Adie said: "Bosendorfers are like the Stradivarius of the piano world.

"It's more than money that is the issue here. They are simply irreplaceable."

Bosendorfers are made in Austria and are the piano of choice for many of the world's leading pianists.

Mr and Mrs Adie set up the Two Moors Festival in 2001 to help the area recover from the foot-and-mouth crisis.

The two-year long campaign to raise the cash for the piano was spearheaded by Sophie, Countess of Wessex, who is the event's patron.

A spokesman for removals firm G&R said: "The matter is in the hands of the insurers. We have no further comment to make."

(Source)