Spirio - Visiting The Steinway Factory To Experience This Incredible Tech
Steinway & Sons, a name synonymous with the finest pianos on the planet, have been crafting their instruments for over a century and a half. With factories in Hamburg, Germany, and New York, Steinway pianos are the epitome of quality and craftsmanship, loved by musicians and piano aficionados worldwide. My recent visit to their Hamburg factory demonstrated to me just how meticulous their craftsmanship is, their extraordinary pursuit of excellence and the use of innovative technology in an analogue instrument.
Steinway & Sons was founded in 1853 by German immigrant Henry Engelhard Steinway in New York City. The company quickly established itself as a leader in piano manufacturing, setting the gold standard for quality and innovation. The first Steinway showroom opened in London in 1875, marking the beginning of the company's international presence. In 1880, Steinway expanded to Hamburg, Germany, to better serve the European market. This expansion laid the groundwork for what would become one of the most respected piano manufacturing sites in the world.
The Steinway family played a crucial role in the development of the company. Henry's sons, C.F. Theodore Steinway and William Steinway were instrumental in the company's early success. Theodore, a gifted engineer, was responsible for many of the 130 patents that Steinway holds. William, on the other hand, was a savvy businessman who expanded Steinway’s reach into international markets and developed the Steinway Hall in New York City, a landmark cultural venue.
Steinway's Hamburg factory, founded in 1880, was originally located near the city centre. Rather interestingly, Steinway was neighbours with Montblanc, the pen maker. By 1920, both companies moved to larger facilities to accommodate their growing needs.
Today, the Hamburg factory employs 520 highly skilled craftsmen and craftswomen dedicated to producing Steinway’s iconic pianos. As you would expect, each department is full of specialists, many of whom have served a long apprenticeship.
The working day here is unique, with shifts starting at 04:00 in the summer and finishing at lunchtime. This is due to the heat within the factory, and not being able to use air conditioning, as this would dry the wood out too much, which has been aged onsite for 3 years to achieve the desired moisture levels required. Waste wood from the factory is used to heat the facility in winter, demonstrating Steinway's commitment to sustainability.
One of the most fascinating aspects of Steinway pianos is the attention to detail in their construction, which takes 12 months for each piano. The soundboard, often considered the heart of the piano, is crafted from Sitka spruce sourced from Alaska. The selection criteria for the spruce are rigorous, focusing on colour, the absence of imperfections, and the distance between the grain rings. This meticulous selection process ensures that the tone produced by the soundboard ranges from deep to high, depending on the spacing of the rings.
Steinway's soundboards are not flat but slightly curved, a design known as the "crown." This curvature is a critical feature that significantly enhances the piano's sound quality. The crown creates tension within the soundboard. This tension allows the soundboard to vibrate more freely and efficiently, which results in a richer, more resonant sound. The vibrations of the strings are transmitted more effectively to the soundboard, producing a louder and more dynamic sound.
The curvature also ensures a more balanced distribution of stress across the soundboard. This balanced stress distribution helps to produce a uniform tone quality across all registers of the piano, from the deep bass notes to the high treble notes. It also contributes to the sustain and decay of the notes. A curved soundboard maintains the vibration for a longer period, resulting in a longer sustain of each note. This is particularly important for achieving the rich, lingering tones that Steinway pianos are known for.
The slight curvature also adds structural integrity. It helps to prevent the soundboard from warping or cracking over time, which can happen to flat soundboards due to the constant tension and pressure from the strings.
Steinway also uses other high-quality woods such as hard rock maple, which is essential for the piano's structure, and ebony for the keys, ensuring durability and a touch of elegance. The iconic Model D, Steinway's flagship concert grand piano, features 20 layers of mahogany bent into shape - 10 layers for the outer rim and 10 for the inner rim. Each Model D measures an impressive 5.2 meters in length. Once shaped, the wood spends three months in a cellar to acclimate to its new form. I was fortunate to see this layering of the wood first-hand whilst I visited the factory. It took 5 men to complete this task and place the layered wood onto the shaping mound to be clamped into shape for 24 hours.
Each Steinway piano contains over 12,000 individual components, with 7,500 dedicated to the keys and action alone. The regulation process, which ensures the weight and feel of the keys are uniform, takes up to 20 hours and is performed by a single individual. This painstaking process guarantees that each hammer strikes the strings at precisely the same moment, ensuring a consistent touch and response across all 88 keys. Part of this process might involve the shaving of minuscule amounts of felt, to ensure a even contact. The pianos are regulated three times and tuned four times throughout the manufacturing process.
Dampers, which ensure silence when keys are not pressed, play a crucial role in controlling the sound and ensuring precise musical expression. They are responsible for stopping the vibration of the strings when a key is released. This stops the sound from continuing indefinitely, allowing for clear articulation of notes and rests. When a key is not being pressed, the damper rests on the string, preventing it from vibrating. This ensures that only the strings corresponding to the keys that are pressed will vibrate and produce sound.
The right (sustain) pedal, when pressed, lifts all the dampers off the strings simultaneously. This allows the strings to vibrate freely even when the keys are released, creating a sustained, resonant sound. This technique is often used to create a fuller, more continuous sound in pieces of music.
Each damper consists of a felt pad attached to a wooden lever. When a key is pressed, the damper for that specific key lifts off the string, allowing it to vibrate and produce sound. When the key is released, the damper returns to its resting position on the string, stopping the vibration and thus the sound.
Dampers allow pianists to play notes clearly and articulate each note precisely. Without dampers, every played note would continue to sound, leading to a muddled and unclear performance. By controlling the dampers through both the keys and the pedal, pianists can achieve a wide range of dynamics and expressive effects. The ability to sustain certain notes while damping others is essential for creating the desired musical texture and emotional impact.
Steinway pianos are known for their innovative soundboard design. In traditional pianos, the bass strings run parallel to the frame. This is far from optimal and greatly reduces the note’s effectiveness. Steinway invented the idea to cross them over the top, enhancing sound quality. This practice is now used almost universally by all piano manufacturers.
A Steinway piano looks deeply impressive. It is a statement piece. Each piano is finished with a lacquer layer that is only 1mm thick, half of which is polished off to achieve Steinway's signature glossy finish. The Steinway name, in brass, is perfectly positioned on the piano, becoming visible only after the final polish. As you would expect from a company of this quality, bespoke options are available, limited by your imagination. There are only 3 rules set in place:- you may not request anything that will alter the sound, or make any political or religious statements. My impression is that most pianos and kept traditional, but just like the occasional Rolls Royce, some customers have very unique finishing requests.
Steinway offers a range of models to suit various needs, from concert grand pianos to smaller grand and an upright piano. The concert grand models include the renowned Model D, preferred by concert pianists for its rich, powerful sound and exceptional responsiveness. The Model B, slightly smaller, is also highly regarded for its versatility and is often used in recording studios and smaller performance venues.
For more intimate settings, Steinway offers the Model A, Model M, and Model S grand pianos, each designed to deliver the same level of quality and craftsmanship in a more compact size. Steinway’s upright piano is crafted with the same attention to detail, making it ideal for home use and practice studios.
Among the more than 130 patents held by Steinway are many that have become standard in the industry. These include the overstrung scale, which allows for longer bass strings and greater tonal depth, and the duplex scaling, which enhances the harmonics and richness of the sound.
The company is committed to fostering musical education and supporting communities. Through initiatives like the Steinway Society, the company provides scholarships and supports music programs worldwide. The Steinway Hall locations in New York and London also serve as cultural hubs, hosting concerts, recitals, and events that bring together artists and audiences. This has been made easier by their premium technology Spirio.
Spirio
Launched in 2015, Spirio is not just a player piano; it is the pinnacle of high-resolution performance capture and playback technology, offering unprecedented levels of musical expression and precision. It is a high-resolution player piano system that allows for an extraordinary level of expression and control. It enables the owner’s piano to reproduce live performances with stunning accuracy, capturing the nuances of every keystroke and pedal movement. This optional technology is integrated into Steinway’s in a way that is invisible to the eye.
Spirio technology captures the detailed data of a performance at a resolution of up to 1,020 dynamic levels per key. This includes the velocity and duration of each keystroke and the exact nuances of the pedal movements. The high resolution ensures that even the subtlest variations in a pianist's touch are faithfully recorded.
When the performance is played back (or in real-time when broadcast from a concert hall) the Spirio system uses high-precision solenoids to replicate the recorded data. These solenoids control the movement of the keys and pedals with remarkable accuracy, reproducing the performance exactly as it was originally played. The playback system is silent, meaning there is no mechanical noise to interfere with the purity of the piano’s sound.
Spiriocomes with an iPad loaded with Steinway’s proprietary software. This software offers an extensive library of performances by world-renowned artists, available at the touch of a button. Users can browse, select, and play these performances, transforming their living room into a private concert hall.
The high-resolution capture and playback capabilities of Spirio ensure that every nuance of the original performance is preserved. This fidelity makes it possible to experience the touch and feel of a live performance, with all its emotional depth and subtleties. For students and educators, Spirio is an invaluable tool. It allows students to study the techniques of master pianists by watching and listening to their performances. Teachers can also record lessons and demonstrations, providing students with a resource that they can revisit as needed.
Every keystroke and every pedal movement is captured and reproduced, in real-time, allowing listeners to experience performances by world-renowned artists as if they were playing in their room, on their piano. To further bring a performance to life, each performance is filmed from multiple cameras and broadcast to the app, allowing you to watch the performance, in addition to seeing each keystroke on your own piano. You may also adjust playback settings to match the acoustics of the room or your specific preferences. This customisation ensures that the listening experience is always optimised for the environment
Concert Pianists
Steinway pianos are the instrument of choice for many of the world’s greatest pianists, underscoring their reputation as the finest pianos in the world. Legendary artists such as Vladimir Horowitz, Arthur Rubinstein, and Sergei Rachmaninoff have chosen Steinway pianos for their unparalleled sound and responsiveness. Contemporary pianists, including Lang Lang, Mitsuko Uchida, and Yuja Wang, continue this tradition, performing on Steinway pianos in prestigious concert halls around the globe. I was fortunate enough to have dinner inside the Hamburg factory, whilst Islandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson performed an extraordinary recital of Bach at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg.
To watch Ólafsson play live on the various TV screens that had been assembled while seeing his very keystrokes mirrored in real-time by Spirio, was, to be honest, simply incredible. I would now love to experience this in a private house - it would be an unforgettable evening.
