Giacometti: "This recording raised the same questrion as all previuos ones: should I use an authentic or a modern piano? At home I have a Steinway, on which I learnt to play, and it is a wondeful instrument. When I was about twenty I was fortunate enough to get to know authentic instruments: romantic grand pianos by Érard and Pleyel and older ones by Graf, Streicher etc.
This was a new world of timbres and expressive potential. Naturally, I took the inspiration and revelations provided by these instruments to the modern grans piano. A stimulating cross-fertilisation of expressive and interpretative possibilities was the result. In this way it became increasingly natural for me to play the same repertoire on both old en new instruments.
In my desire to share this fascinating cross-fertilisation with others, I found the answer to the above question: a double CD with the same works on authentic and new instruments. This is particularly interesting in the case of Ravel, since the two types of instrument not only existed, but were actually used by him."