PIANO: The Making of a Steinway Concert Grand
Written by: James Barron
Amazon.com
The grand piano is one of the more fickle musical instruments — affected by such disparate factors as weather and its player's style, no two sound the same. Some companies have tried to solve this pickiness through technology, but one alone insists on the tried and true mode of construction by hand to create the perfect sound: Steinway, one of the most recognizable names in music, both to buffs and neophytes alike. A Steinway piano is crafted very much like its forebears of the nineteenth century, and the company's insistence on upholding its tradition in a world where true craftsmanship has been supplanted by technology lives on today. James Barron of the New York Times tells the fascinating and enlightening story of the company and its number one product in PIANO: The Making of a Steinway Concert Grand (Times Books; August 1, 2006), where he follows the conception of one concert grand, K0862, from a remote spruce forest in British Columbia to the Steinway factory in Queens, New York.
The story of K0862's eleven-month journey to completion is a captivating narrative with a disparate cast of characters. As he takes us from room to room in the antiquated Steinway factory in Queens, Barron also enlivens Steinway itself. Henrich Englehard Steinweg was a German immigrant to New York City in 1853 and began making pianos in his kitchen. Before long he had his entire family, now with anglicized names, involved in the company — Steinway & Sons. The Sons in particular already understood American buying habits and established a marketing savvy that continues to this day. But what has endured most through generations of Steinways, both the descendants and the pianos, are the old-fashioned but time — honored means of production — despite time — saving changes adopted by several of its competitors.
PIANO introduces us to the present — day individuals, many of them immigrants themselves, who worked faithfully on each piece of K0862 in the tradition of the past masters of piano construction. The immense precision and attention to detail that is necessary to turn wood and metal into such an instrument is staggering; the slightest variation, as small as one-thousandth of an inch in certain pieces, can change the entire feel and sound of the instrument.
PIANO will inspire a newfound respect for those who so lovingly and carefully create the masterpiece known as the grand piano, and the massive main character's journey from birth through its prime will charm and enchant readers of all types.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Barron is a staff reporter for the New York Times. Over the past twenty-five years, his writing has appeared in virtually every section of the paper and has ranged from breaking coverage of the September 11 attacks and the 2003 New York City blackout to "The Gates" public art installation in Central Park. An accomplished amateur pianist, he lives in New York City.