Piano: The Making of a Steinway Concert Grand [Paperback]

James Barron (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 29, 2007

"Satisfying to the point of sensuousness."
 --The New York Times Book Review

 

Like no other instrument, a grand piano melds the magic of engineering with the magic of great music. Alone among the big piano companies, Steinway & Sons still crafts each of its pianos largely by hand, imbuing each one with the promise and burden of its brand.

In this captivating narrative, James Barron of The New York Times tells the story of one Steinway piano, from raw lumber to finished instrument. Barron follows that brand-new piano--known by its number, K0862--on its journey through the factory, where time-honored traditions vie with modern-day efficiency. He also explores the art and science of developing a piano's timbre and character before its debut, when the essential question will be answered: Does K0862 live up to the Steinway legend? From start to finish, Piano will charm and enlighten music and book lovers alike.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Barron, a New York Times staff writer, expands on his series of articles published in the newspaper for a thoroughgoing chronicle of how a New York immigrant family created an American cultural institution. Barron tracks, from inception to stage, one Steinway concert grand piano named K0862, a direct descendant of the first Model D developed in 1884 by the German family of piano makers established in New York. Heinrich Englehard Steinweg from Seesen, Germany, installed his piano business, now anglicized to Steinway & Sons, on the Lower East Side by 1853, before moving to a factory on Fourth Avenue and eventually to Queens. The original Steinway pianoforte was a compact "square" designed for Victorian parlors, and evolved into a grand that contained longer strings under the lid to "deliver the kind of room-filling sound that earlier pianos lacked." Most fascinating are Barron's descriptions of the old-fashioned handcrafting of K0862 in the Queens factory, from the crucial bending of the maple rim ("the chassis of the piano"), to the fitting of Part No. 81 (the spruce soundboard), cast-iron plate, and action parts, before the piano is tuned for its distinctive sound. In this solid book, Barron pursues the family's fortunes from the company's peak in 1905 through the golden years of 1920s to its sale in 1972. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

The gestation period for a $100,000 Steinway concert grand piano is 11 months, give or take a few days, though that's counting neither the journey of the timber from the forest nor the shopping and bargaining trip made by Steinway's shrewd purchasing agent to buy the wood. Adding those into the total and season with the fact that Steinway pianos are still made in basically the same way and in the same place since the 1880s, and you have the makings of a delectable book. In the hands of veteran New York Times staffer Barron, who followed the step-by-step process as concert grand K0862 grew and took shape from its first 17 strips of maple to its final staining, tuning, and polishing, the story becomes greater than a mere chronicle of a manufacturing procedure. For it turns out that these exceedingly complex instruments known as Steinways have an equally complex backstory that encompasses the lives of the people who build and have built them and the politics of a very competitive industry. Donna Chavez
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Times Books (May 29, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805083049
• ISBN-13: 978-0805083040
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 6.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #450,147 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Much More Than How a Piano is Built, August 1, 2006

By 

Barbara A. Clark (East Hampton, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Piano: The Making of a Steinway Concert Grand (Hardcover)

The best thing about this book is that it actually makes riveting reading. I read it from cover to cover like one would a good novel and was disappointed when I got to the end. This is because it is written well and clearly, and the author brings in just enough of his own personal experiences and anecdotes to make it seem real and human. This book may be less meaningful to you if you are not a piano player, but I'm not a piano player and admit to a secret life-long curiosity about how pianos work. James Barron includes so much atmosphere and quirky character in his book "Piano - The Making of a Steinway Concert Grand" you will be as charmed as I was whether you know one note from another or not. This book not only demonstrates why each piano is as individual as a person, but also contains charming descriptions of the scores of people involved in its birth and development into a grand concert stage presence. This is a real treat of a book to curl up with in an armchair, and afterwards you will find yourself never looking at a piano in the same way again.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-Read for All Music Lovers and Others, August 15, 2006

By 

Carolyn Stoessinger "Caroline Stoessinger, Di... (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Piano: The Making of a Steinway Concert Grand (Hardcover)

I was afraid I was going to dread this book. I have absolutely no interest in building things or taking them apart, and I feared it was going to read like a really technical how-to manual. To my delight, it is not like that at all. PIANO
reads like a novel or a good biography. It introduces the people who made that one piano and the people before them who designed it, and it talks about how that one piano turned out. I don't think you could do a book like this about other "machines"---for example, an airplane or a dishwasher. A piano is terribly mechanical, it turns out, but it's really an instrument. It has its own personality--different from every other piano ever made. I thoroughly enjoyed PIANO.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent gift for your piano playing friends...., November 20, 2006

By 

Patrick D. Goonan "see profile for URL" (Livermore, CA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Piano: The Making of a Steinway Concert Grand (Hardcover)

I am a pianist and was recently given a copy of this book. It is well-written with many fascinating stories that are of interest to anyone, but particularly to pianists who want to understand the mystique and history of the Steinway Concert Grand.

This book follows a particular piano through the approximate 11 month period that it take to build the instrument. It describes the worksmanship involved in lucid detail that anyone would appreciate.

This title also presents an interesting history of the ups and downs of the company. Any pianist or music lover would certainly appreciate this engaging book. It certainly raised my awareness and appreciation for why these instruments cost so much and sound so great!