A Steinway For All

Family lore has it that way back in the ’40s or ’50s, a late relative of mine – an incredibly wealthy man in life, whose name, once uttered, is a recognisable one among Singapore’s pioneers – bought a Steinway grand piano to grace his mansion for a princely sum of over S$20,000 then, nevermind that neither he nor any in his family could play it! (Snigger…)

 

Fast forward to the present day. Quite a status symbol, this Rolls Royce of pianos has just opened the Steinway Gallery in Singapore – the first in Southeast Asia – at Palais Renaissance, featuring the full range of these sumptuous instruments. Simply electic SimplyFab pottered over there last week to see what it was all about and indeed, one couldn’t resist fingering the beautiful wood and the ivories….noiselessly, of course! In particular, the smoothly matte and patterned ‘Marcassar’ was super gorgeous, and is priced as much as a luxury car – about S$265,000! The choice of concert halls – 95% of the world’s concert halls have them - and great musical institutionsall over the world, these pianos no doubt are for those who play exceedingly well, quite unlike Madam here who stubbornly tinkers for fun despite being rather bad at it.

 

On my recent jaunt, I discovered that Steinways here start from S$128,000 for a baby grand, and range all the way  to premium pieces like the  Model D Concert Grand Piano, ‘artcase’ pianos and limited editions such as the Crown Jewel Collection and the John Lennon ‘Imagine’ series. If one cannot afford the real deal, the Gallery offers Steinway’s secondary lines (like DKNY is to Donna Karan) – Boston and Essex, both of which are still way more expensive than your common garden Yamaha. Not made in the same factory, but featuring many of their patented systems, Boston and Essex pianos are positioned as ‘baby steps’ to the Big Kahuna if your musical prowess or bank account allows you to eventually.

 

What makes Steinway the best piano in the world is the painstaking detail they go through to make it by hand and to develop an instrument that delivers the best sound, amongst other superlatives. In fact  throughout the launch, the one message they delivered over and above all was that Steinway has always set out to make the best pianos – period. Apparently craftsmen even measure the distance between the grains of the wood to ensure that when the two pieces are joined, the grains match! Why? ‘Cos sound travels best down these grains. Blimey!

 

Made in Hamburg, Steinways are crafted by third generation craftsmen. Each piano has 12,000 parts, some of which are seasoned for over a decade. Each grand piano sports 20 solid, hardwood layers which have been dried for over two years; and five different kinds of wood. Only 1,200 are made by the factory each year, so from the time the brand was founded in 1880 until 1980, only 500,000 had been made. That’s pretty exclusive. One more fun fact: Steinway was founded in New York, but the factory is in Germany.

 

So back to the Gallery in Singapore. The people there have laid out these fantastic pianos for all to see, but they are happy when people play on them too. “So you’re saying people can just come into the gallery and jam on your pianos?” asked a music journalist. The answer was a refreshing yes! So no cold, hushed tones – they want you to feel comfy in there. Expect piano recitals and master classes at the Gallery as well.

 

I had questions, too. How many do you plan to sell? Answer: 75 each year would be a happy number. Question: Who are the people who buy Steinways? Answer in paraphrase – “People who love their music, who enjoy playing on a fine instrument. It’s also a status symbol and Singapore has a high density of people who buy a Steinway because they appreciate the quality and experience, even though they do not play the piano at all.”

Sigh….

 

Steinway Gallery
#01-02 Palais Renaissance
Tel: 6838 0525