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Steinway’s ascendancy dates from the same period, and every time the company changes hands - most recently in 2013, when it was purchased by the hedge fund Paulson & Co. The classical music field, with its devotion to maintaining traditions, has been fertile ground for the development of what Ohlsson has referred to as Steinway’s “monoculture.” Like most of the instruments of the modern orchestra, the piano hasn’t fundamentally changed since the late 19th century. People are not listening as freely and honestly as they could.” “If you walk on stage,” Garee says, “and see a Brand Something and a Steinway, no matter what, will forgive the Steinway.
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She covers up the manufacturer’s names when musicians are testing out the instruments when she uncovers the names after they’ve played, some change their minds. Yet when Anne Garee, the director of the piano technology program, is trying out new pianos for possible purchase, she often sees evidence of Steinway’s power. The school believes that its students are best served by being exposed to a variety of instruments. Institutions that want to remain independent, such as Florida State University’s College of Music, have to work hard to resist. “I think from a branding perspective, a lot of folks on our board and folks here always would have loved to see us aligned with Steinway.” “I’ve played Yamahas I love and hate, and Steinways I love and hate, and everyone else has, too,” says Kim Witman, the head of the Wolf Trap Opera. This year, Wolf Trap became a Steinway institution after decades of association with Yamaha. (The pianist Garrick Ohlsson was banned from using Steinway instruments for a period in the 1970s after he praised Bösendorfer in public.) Being a Steinway school, the company argues, attracts donors and students. Appearing on the Steinway Web site as a Steinway artist is a valued imprimatur straying from the fold can earn censure. The company aggressively woos artists and institutions with the strategy and tenacity, some say, of a car salesman. It’s the result of focused hard work: on the pianos and on the brand. The supremacy of Steinway is no accident. And you have other piano brands that are actually kind of changing the game.”Ī detail shot of a Steinway piano. “I have no idea what I’m getting.” He adds, “If you find a Steinway that’s a good one, it’s as good as any other piano out there. “The problem is that each Steinway is so different,” says Joey Calderazzo, an acclaimed jazz pianist who recently became a Blüthner artist. Especially since the brand may not actually be better than its competitors. In a field so reliant on nuance and subtlety as classical music, it’s striking that a single manufacturer should hold such sway. More than 98 percent of concert pianists choose to perform on Steinways, according to figures collected by, not surprisingly, Steinway itself. Like Kleenex or Xerox, the name stands for a whole class of object. Yet the majority of people who talk about piano sound today are talking about the sound of a single manufacturer: Steinway.įor several generations of musicians and music lovers, Steinway has come to represent the acme of piano sound. A piano, it’s said, can emulate an entire orchestra: Its range extends from thunderous fortes to streams of liquid notes.