Steinway & Sons Spirio | r Piano luxury feature
The Steinway & Sons Spirio | r Piano is a highly innovative concept conceived by the prestigious brand synonymous with excellence. Angus Davies recently travelled to the firm’s Hamburg factory and witnessed first hand the talents of the company’s craftspeople before listening to the ‘world’s finest high resolution player piano’.
Image – ©Joerg Modrow
Benchmarking excellence
I’ve sat in a room and listened to debates as to who was the greatest tenor of all time, Enrico Caruso (1873-1921) or Luciano Pavarotti (1935-2007). Clearly, both men never sang on the same stage together, hence it is impossible to make an objective comparison.
Likewise, I’ve witnessed similar conversations, debating the perceived supremacy of Maria Callas (1923-1977) over Montserrat Caballé (1935-2007). While both divas sang together, few living souls were present. Moreover, the limitations of sound recording technology available at the time meant it was impossible to fully capture the subtle nuances of their respective voices.
In a similar vein, the virtuosic talents of the pianists, Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) and Vladimir Horowitz (1903-1989) cannot be contrasted due to the limitations of the recording technology of the day.
However, on a recent trip to Hamburg, I witnessed a new era in music that promises to faithfully capture the performance of a virtuoso pianist for posterity. Allow me to elaborate.
My sojourn in Hamburg
Having received an invite from the legendary piano manufacturer, Steinway & Sons, I travelled to Hamburg. The luxury marque was founded in 1853 and is headquartered in both Hamburg and New York with additional offices scattered around the globe.
Image – ©Joerg Modrow
Elbphilharmonie
Image – ©Sophie Wolter
Joining my fellow guests, I first travelled to the ‘Elbphilharmonie’, a concert venue overlooking the Port of Hamburg. The imposing architecture juxtaposes warehouse-like brick walls at ground level with vast acres of glass above. Convex panes of glass appear to bow outwards as if pushed by the stentorian voices emanating from the building’s Grand Hall. Designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, the Elbphilharmonie invites visitors to ascend to dizzying heights using an ‘endless’ escalator. Eventually, having reached the summit, the spectacular views can be momentarily enjoyed before entering the Grand Hall.
Despite the enormity of the building’s exterior, nothing quite prepares you for the sheer vastness of the Grand Hall. Comprising 6500 ㎡, the capacious space, arranged on numerous levels, can accommodate 2100 concert-goers. The walls are made of 10,000 gypsum fibre panels composed of ‘natural plaster and recycled paper’, shaped to form numerous hollows that unite together for one purpose: to deliver the perfect acoustic performance.
Image – ©Oliver Heissner
At the time of my visit, located at the base of the Grand Hall, positioned centre stage, a Steinway piano sat alone, resting silently yet ready to perform.
Image – ©Michael Zapf
Steinway & Sons – Hamburg factory
Having toured the vast Elbphilharmonie, we took a short journey and arrived at the Steinway & Sons factory. Located in the Altona district of Hamburg, the company’s premises comprises several buildings. Upon arrival at the firm’s facility, we were guided towards a single-storey building featuring an expansive glass roof.
We walked past part assembled piano frames, lifting gear and work benches and congregated around a series of chairs and tables. An area had been cleared in readiness for our arrival and there in our midst was a Model B Spirio | r grand piano. Adjacent to the piano, various cameras were poised ready to record and numerous television screens stood to attention, displaying the brand’s lyre-inspired logo.
Image – ©Joerg Modrow
Suddenly, the television screens burst into life to reveal Víkingur Ólafsson, the Icelandic pianist, walking onto the stage of the aforementioned Grand Hall. As Ólafsson began playing Bach at the Elbphilharmonie, the Model B Spirio | r played simultaneously as if the son of Finland was in the room.
As I listened to Ólafsson, I pondered what forces were at play and what coaxed the keys into life. After all, the piano looked like any ‘regular’ Steinway. A quick spot of Googling on my iPhone and I found the brand’s explanation to the magical key pressing,
The technology used in the Steinway Spirio takes advantage of a proprietary high-resolution software system as well as solenoids (a current-carrying coil of wire) that actuate each note on the piano, and two pedal solenoids. This patented system was developed with the help of Wayne Stahnke, a pioneer of the modern player piano system.’
This technical ingenuity measures the ‘velocity of the hammers and the positioning of the damper lift tray and key shift’. The piano in front of me was effectively being played by Ólafsson some 7 kilometres away. All the data from his piano was transmitted in real time, via the worldwide web, to the Model B Spirio | r. It later transpired that we were not the only people enjoying this remote performance, similar Model B pianos located in the company’s showrooms in London, Milan and Zurich were also playing Bach at the same time, responding to each of Ólafsson’s key and pedal inputs.
Image – ©Joerg Modrow
Unlike a high-quality recording, the Steinway & Sons Spirio | r cleverly replicates the mechanical action of the recorded piano to create the sound, bestowing a precise virtuosic performance that conveys every subtle nuance. Moreover, the technology can both ‘capture’ and ‘playback’ a performance. The luxury marque has an archive of past performances from various Steinway artists that can be retrieved using an iPad and played on demand on a suitably equipped Spirio piano.
Image – ©Joerg Modrow
The electronic and mechanical know-how is integrated within the piano at the time of its manufacture. The accompanying app provides professional artists with the opportunity to ‘record, edit, play back, search and save their performances – leaving them free to focus on the music’.
Steinway & Sons Spirio | r Piano – closing remarks
The morning after my Steinway experience, I was granted a look around the factory. As I shuffled past golden plates and intricately formed soundboards, I identified a theme. The factory contains modern CNC machines sat adjacent time-served craftspeople deftly using hand tools. State-of-the-art technology sits alongside traditional know-how. And in that moment, I realised why Spirio | r is consistent with Steinway, an innovative company that since its inception has continuously pursued advancement in its quest ‘to build the best piano possible’ (Henry E. Steinway).
It is difficult to benchmark the brilliance of historical legends of the past. However, in terms of the piano, the Steinway Spirio | r provides today’s virtuosic pianist with the opportunity to capture a brilliant performance in perpetuity. Let the benchmarking begin!