Daniel Barenboim 'in love' with his 'radical' new piano

Daniel Barenboim has unveiled a "radical" new piano, and has admitted to having fallen in love with his new design.

The 72-year-old pianist and conductor of piano said that the piano, built with straight and parallel strings, mounted diagonally, was "radically different" to the standard concert grand, the BBC has reported.

Barenboim demonstrated the piano at a launch at London's Royal Festival Hall, ahead of his Schubert recital series, and he plans to perform the entire series on the new piano.

The musician revealed that it was after he played on Franz Liszt's restored grand piano during a trip to Italy in September 2011, he felt inspired to play around with the design. He teamed up with Belgian instrument maker Chris Maene and Steinway and Sons to develop the piano.

Maene described the Barenboim-Maene piano, which features a double bridge and horizontal soundboard veins along with the straight strings, as a "dream come true."

Pianist Gwendolyn Mok, who plays an 1875 straight-strung Erard Piano, said that such instruments offer "distinct registral differences - almost like listening to a choir where you have the bass, tenor, alto, and soprano voices.