Ventspils: Soaring to new musical heights, a German-born innovator has crafted what is believed to be the world's largest grand piano. It is without question one of a kind: attached high on the wall of a concert hall in Latvia, the steel-framed vertical grand piano hangs as if in mid-air some three storeys above the audience.

To play it, pianists must climb a steep flight of steel stairs to a balcony. Although the Guinness Book of World Records has not yet measured the new instrument, it was made by David Klavins whose Model 370 piano unveiled in 1987 is currently regarded as being among the world's largest. Klavins' standard new model, the 450i Vertical Concert Grand piano, is 4.5 metres high, making it one metre taller than its predecessor. The custom-built 450i piano installed at a new concert hall in the Baltic seaside port and resort town of Ventspils is even larger; its imposing navy blue-painted steel frame is six metres high. With some strings measuring almost five metres, the instrument emits bold, sonorous music.