Beethoven heard a different piano than the ones we use today. Now some Australians have turned back the clock. “The separation of sound quality between note textures is so significant on these old instruments, and it’s something Steinway has tried to minimise. With the Stuart we are going back to the sound concept of the 17th and 18th centuries, when instruments were far more clearly transparent. We are dealing with the age of enlightenment. Nothing is hidden, everything is open. This instrument is sublimely suited for this repertoire. This is the sort of thing Beethoven would have wished to have had in his time.”