Customer Reviews

Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The title may be a little misleading, read as an 80-minute informercial, but it's not (disclaimer -- I prefer Kawai to Steinway). Instead, the movie is a touching and educational flick about the making of pianos in the heart of NYC. It celebrates the soul inherent in the handmade object. Personal stories are interspersed throughout, keeping us emotionally attached to the tradesmen who are part of the piano making process and the accomplished pianists, both young and old, who act as consumers. My favorite part is when one of the pianists explains how he first became enamored by the piano through watching Tom and Jerry cartoons and he plays a flamboyant rendition of a Liszt piece that will give you a good chuckle.

It is all going to depend on your expectations of the video whether you like it or not when you have finished viewing it. Is the video "made well"? Yes - in fact, it is a beautiful story. However, if your expectation of this video is thatyou will know: 1) how a piano is made from start-to-finish, and; 2) what differentiates a Steinway PIANO from other piano-shaped instruments, I think you may not be 100% satisfied. Owning a Steinway and having been to both the factory and Steinway Hall, there is a lot that this film is NOT. If you want to know about the heritage of the Steinway, if you want to see the generations of ethnic workers carrying on a tradition, you will probably like "the story". It is also a bit of an "infomercial" for Steinway, but I'd hope they wouldn't use it as a primary sales tool! So - if you are passionate about the piano or music and you want to add something to your library --- go ahead and it's probably worth what you'll spend for a USED copy (getting one in the library or renting it would be a better aproach). If you want to know something about how pianos are built and what makes a Steinway special ---- READ Jim Barron's book, PIANO and visit the Steinway website and there are a lot of video clips there. The online factory tour -> [...]

This is a truly marvelous documentary that should appeal to anyone with musical interests. Even more than the celebration of a miraculous musical instrument, it is the honoring of the diverse, inner-city craftsmen and women who lovingly and skillfully craft these musical wonders called Steinway pianos.

The building of this particular piano - unglamorously titled L1037 - is interspersed with episodes of some famous and diverse pianists dropping into the Steinway showroom to select just the right piano for their next performance. Featured are classical artists Helene Grimaud, Pierre-Laurant Aimard and Chinese dynamo Lang Lang (who is hilariously impromptu and impressive here) - as well as some jazz artists as Harry Connick Jr.

I'm not a pianist, but I can easily imagine how special it is to play a Steinway Grand, especially one that ideally suits your tastes. (I suspect playing an Italian Fazioloi Concert Grand would also inspire the same). Seeing the intricacies of these pianos in this DVD will only highten your appreciation and understanding of how thousands of individual efforts by dozens of craftspeople over the course of the year in production leads to that magical, full, bell-like tone a trained ear can readily identify as "Steinway." A unique and delightful story of an American legend wonderfully suited for family appreciation. 5 stars

Skillfully done documentary on how Steinway pianos are made, following a single piano ( serial number S1037) through it's build process over the course of a year. Interviews with the craftsmen, detailed close ups of various parts under construction, and lots of piano music. Concert pianists try various pianos, and explain as best they can why they choose one over another. You come away from this movie with a sense of how much work it is to make a piano and why they differ from each other. Also, you get a sense of the pride of craftsmanship that each person who touches the piano has.

You will never listen or see a piano quite the same way again.

NOTE BY NOTE is a documentary that is not a documentary: it is a love story the begins with the initial choice of wood form Sitka, Alaska, through the multiple aspects of creating the case, the soundboard, stringing and creating the hammers and pads, and finally the tuning of the piano before placing it before the public wither for sale or for storage in the Steinway Headquarters in New York for pianists to select for performances in the New York area. Each step of the process introduces the craftsman responsible for particular aspects of the building of this near sacred musical instrument: it takes a year to handcraft a Steinway piano.

Each step of the process of creating the piano, here the selected piano is numbered L1037, is explained and demonstrated but that is where this film is so very unlike other films that attempt to achieve the same 'this is how it is done' process: this is a story of a 'lover' passed from person to person until the wooden and metal and pad-filled 'box' is presented to the hands of a variety of musicians for the acid test. Throughout the film we are in conversation with such pianists as Hélène Grimaud, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Lang Lang, Harry Connick, Jr. and Hank Jones. But the real radiance of this film directed by Ben Niles is the series of tender tributes each of the workers adds when attempting to describe how working to build a Steinway is as rewarding an occupation as possible. This little film is a quiet love story and very awe inspiring. Grady Harp, July 11

We enjoyed seeing this video. It was helpful to my son who is studying the piano to see how complicated it is to produce this grand and beautiful instrument. The whole family has enjoyed this video several times over. My son loaned the video to his music teacher and several young pianists enjoyed the movie at their Christmas party.

To add to what the other positive reviewers have said about this, I can also commend the "extras" section of the DVD which has great interviews with many of the musicians and participants in the main film. These are not the usual "left out for a good reason" pieces which are usually passed off as "extras", but rather add a whole new dimension to the presentation. Likewise, there are a very short musical performances by a few of the artists which really bring home the versatility of the piano and the unique approach of the players. Fascinating and timely....a bit on the nostalgistic side, but it's not corny. Bravo! I'm going to see Lang Lang next time he comes to town....

Anyone with an interset in piano music needs to have this. Wonderful. This DVD gives an insight into the people, their philosophy and their dedication to building a work of art--the Steinway Grand. Takes one from the tree to the concert stage.

The Steinway company is the only piano manufacturer to be responsible for virtually every important innovation in the history of the instrument, to continue to build their instruments by hand, and to command a lion's share of concert houses in the world. Their instruments are capable of being passed down through generations of family, and then rebuilt, to continue their incredible lifespan. With all due respect to the few other well-known pianos, some venerable, there is no other instrument maker in history to challenge the above statement.

Considering economics, and the natural tendency to find cheaper and faster ways to produce pianos, it is not surprising that today's Steinway finds itself a relatively high-priced and outnumbered item on the floor of even Steinway stores, who have scrambled to display their own lesser-priced brands, as well as the competition's instruments. "Note by Note" is a relatively non-technical, layman's appraisal of the building of a model D Concert Grand, and it is narrated by classical and jazz Steinway artists. However, the greatest appeal, in my opinion, is revealed in how this piano continues to be sought after by families, students, and elder statesmen of varying nationalities. This video is a clear and enjoyable indication of what goes into the making of a superb instrument, and a strong reminder of how much our culture needs icons of surpassing excellence and timeless value, unthreatened by modern demands of greater volume and lower price. Its statement to this effect is enjoyable to non-musicians as well as those who play the piano.

This documentary chronicles the manufacture of a single Steinway grand piano. Of course it isn't, and does not pretend to be, a comprehensive technical manual on the materials and techniques required to produce a complex musical instrument costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Rather, it is an overview of several of the processes involved in the extremely time-consuming manufacture, adjustment, tuning and testing of the instrument. The people who work at the Steinway plant are racially and nationally diverse, and what they do there, year after year, decade after decade, is so obviously a labor of love. They are patient, perfectionistic craftsmen and women. Steinway makes 2,000 pianos a year to the 100 per day made by other companies. The techniques at Steinway haven't changed much in the last century. And the old-world philosophy produces instruments that musicians of the highest caliber love to play. Steinway still tunes their pianos aurally as opposed to electronically. It's a multistep process requiring multiple tuners, and it requires hours to accomplish. That kind of devotion to quality applies to every aspect of piano creation at this company. And finally, when the piano is rolled into the concert hall, that quality is audible, and the perfectionism can be heard.

Steinway went through a period some years ago where an old-fashioned woolen-felt bearing (one required for every key) was replaced by a Teflon bearing. That caused squeaking when the note was struck. Fortunately they saw the error of the ways and returned to the traditional material.

This documentary should appeal to almost everyone, children included. It's about art, and craft, and care--and, really about the creation of art through its physical tools, i.e., its instruments; and through the soul of the artist. Turn the phone off before you start it; you won't want to be interrupted.