The word from various places around the country is that the piano business, at least the high end, is up slightly. This is more than a slightly big deal for a variety of reasons. The biggest reason is that this part of the business has been pretty clobbered for a while and is seen (at least by me) as a leading economic indicator. I’m using the term “leading” in this case as the opposite of lagging. Another reason is that this is summer, traditionally a very slow time in the piano retail business. This uptick is not consistent but has popped up enough to be more than a regional burp. But one take-away is that perhaps there is some pent up demand for pianos, something many of us in the business have been hoping for.

Let’s digress for a moment and speak in gross generalizations about concepts of piano tone. I have come to the conclusion, specifically reinforced by Udo Steingraeber, that there are fundamentally 2 approaches to piano tone; high rim tension and low rim tension. (don’t bust my chops on theoretical details, remember this is gross generalization). Low rim tension is characterized, IN MY OPINION, by Bosendorfer, Förster, and Blüthner, to name 3. These makers want no tension in the outer rim and to varying degrees want the rim to actually play an active role in tone production. These may be solid spruce like Bosendorfer, or layered like Bluthner, but they are not bent under great pressure when mating them with the piano. Again I’m open to correction, but Christian Blüthner himself described the layered/sectioned rim of a Blüthner as having “no tension”.

You rarely see the logo of a European piano manufacturer in photos that occasionally accompany music reviews in the New York Times. But it does occasionally happen as shown here with the relevant text. “The three musicians gave committed performances throughout the evening. Mr. Lepauw played with sparkling clarity on the bright-toned Fazioli piano … “

The music world lost a great man on Sunday. Dr. Mark P. Malkovich III, artistic director of the Newport Music Festival, died in a car accident in Minnesota. I also lost a dear friend and mentor. The words of the title of this post were uttered by Leonard Bernstein when he learned of the death of Glenn Gould. They could not be more appropriate. I will leave it to others, at least for now, to extol on his virtues and how far he brought the Newport Festival. I am going to comment on what it means to know somebody who truly is a “being of music”. I first met Mark in 1980 when I went to Newport to maintain the Bosendorfers that were used as concert pianos. Later I went back every year in my role as Artist Services Director for Yamaha as Yamaha had become the official piano of

The new selection center in Wiener Neustadt Austria opened with a performance by Paul Badura-Skoda

Quality is a term that is passed about with great ease in the piano industry. The term itself has a rather benign meaning; “high grade, superiority, excellence”. But what does that mean in the piano world and is there any reason the term high quality should be limited to certain makers? If you’ve been exposed to marketing in the piano industry you realize that just about any construction trait can be justified and explained, even if it seems in direct opposition to other makers. For example, the proponents of the new Phoenix bridge system say that it eliminates the need for down bearing in a piano. However in traditional design down bearing is, next to tuning pin torque, a fundamental requirement. More important, frankly, than 88 keys! Quality is not necessarily the most important trait of a piano. Calling a piano high quality may mean next to nothing especially if

The Frankfurt Messe this year had a separate salon for piano makers, as well as the usual displays of accordion makers, brass and winds and combo gear. Overall the piano makers said business was up.

Steinway Raises $27 Million On March 30, Steinway Musical Instruments, Inc. announced that, pursuant to the previously announced subscription agreement, Samick Musical Instruments Co., Ltd. has exercised its option to purchase an additional 1.7 million shares of ordinary common stock at an exercise price of $16 per share. Steinway intends to use the proceeds to retire outstanding debt and for general corporate purposes.

Today is March 31, the last day of my current direct involvement with Bosendorfer. It’s been great, thanks to everybody involved, but I’m itching to move on. Stay tuned.

Click here for a great Slate article, make sure you read to the end.