The Steinway & Sons New York Factory

Works of Art

The Steinway ShowroomMusical instruments with soul. If the elemental world of old wood and ancient mineral in some wonderful way lingers, does the piano trace back to a primordial anthropological experience, an ontology of music, a musicology of the instrument as a tool for a very human type of expression that does not arise otherwise.

When a Steinway grand piano owner says, "This Steinway has a soul." Or, "This Steinway has spirit." Or, "This piano is alive." Or, "This piano has a fantastic personality," the technician says in translation, "This piano has a good voice."

What makes a good voice is different from the primordial experience of music making. A piano with a good voice is more in touch with the elemental world of old wood, ancient mineral and profound human attention to the details of making such a musical instrument as a grand piano.

It does seem to be something about the collusion between the best materials the earth has produced so far, more than a century of technical experimentation and excellent skilled craft work.