Power Plant Shut - to Tune Piano

REUTERS NEWS SERVICE via Planet Ark via Fark.com reports:

OSLO - One of the Nordic region's biggest power stations shut Friday to let an expert tune a grand piano for a concert undisturbed by the hum of huge hydroelectric generators.

"When you put a big piano in there, you also need to tune it, and that is very difficult if the machines are running," said Tron Engebrethsen, senior vice president at Norwegian power company Statkraft.

The generators will be switched back on after Friday evening's concert which is being staged in an enormous underground hall at the 1,120-megawatt Sima power plant.

The hall, built in a rock cavern inside a mountain in the scenic Hardanger fjord in western Norway, is renowned for its acoustics.

Engebrethsen said a concert was held at the plant about once a year, but it was the first time they had shut down production to tune a piano.

The program includes music from Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" and Stravinsky's "Agon."

The generators, which will be down for nine hours, will be switched back on at 2200 local time.

NORWAY: May 31, 2004