Experience the travels of the man who brought thousands of Steinway pianos back to the market and the people and places he encountered along the way

Part treasure hunter, part problem solver, and part keen observer of human nature, Robert Friedman has spent decades buying, restoring, and finding new homes for pianos built by one of the finest manufacturers in the world: Steinway & Sons.

An alluring exploration of the people and the legendary craftsmanship behind a single Steinway piano Like no other instrument, a grand piano melds engineering feats with the magical sounds of great music: the thunder of a full-throated bass, the bright, delicate trill of the upper treble. Alone among the big piano companies, Steinway still crafts all of its pianos largely by hand, imbuing each one with the promise and burden of its brand. In this captivating narrative, James Barron of The New York Times tells the story of one Steinway piano, from raw lumber to finished instrument. Barron follows that brand-new piano-known by its number, K0862-on its eleven-month journey through the Steinway factory, where time-honored manufacturing methods vie with modern-day industrial efficiency. He looks over the shoulders of men and women-some second- and third-generation employees, some recently arrived immigrants-who transform wood and steel into a concert grand. Together, they carry on the traditions begun more than 150 years ago by the immigrants who founded Steinway & Sons-a family that soared to prominence in the music world and, for a while, in New York City's political and economic life. Barron also explores the art and science of developing a piano's timbre and character before its first performance, when the essential question will be answered: Does K0862 live up to the Steinway legend? From start to finish, Piano will charm and enlighten music lovers.

(Amadeus). The Official Guide to Steinway Pianos is a compendium from the archives of renowned piano maker Steinway & Sons to encompass for the first time reference material and details from 16 decades of Steinway piano making in New York. Thirty years of research and compilation by authors Roy F. Kehl and David R. Kirkland bring to light with thorough precision the production history of Steinway pianos. A "family tree" of Steinway production history provides in-depth, complete historical listings of every model produced and their characteristic details, with first/last serial numbers and production dates, individual scale studies for major models, highlights of important changes and events in Steinway piano production by serial number and date, a gallery of Steinway decalcomania by years, a table of Steinway patents, and tables of historic Steinway steel wire sizes. The Guide is an indispensable tool for piano technicians and dealers who need to determine the relationship of a particular Steinway piano within the historical framework of the company's overall production, as well as a means to help identify, establish the provenance of, and verify and preserve the originality of any given Steinway piano. Through compilation of pinpoint information, the Guide offers an accurate and fascinating resume of Steinway & Sons' ongoing production history.

Mohr's humor and personal perspective on the lives of Rubinstein, Horowitz, and other artists mix music lore with quiet faith.

(Amadeus). Music lovers will delight in the beautiful color paintings and eloquent prose portraits in The Steinway Collection: Paintings of Great Composers. Chopin, Wagner, Liszt, Beethoven, Berlioz, Mozart, Verdi, Mendelssohn, Handel, and Schubert are among the composers celebrated in this historic book, which was originally printed in 1919 as an in-house publication of Steinway & Sons but has never before been released to the public. The paintings by esteemed American artists and accompanying essays by the brilliant critic James Gibbons Huneker are intended, in Mr. Huneker's words, to "evoke musical visions; for music is visionary, notwithstanding its primal appeal to the ear." An introduction by acclaimed broadcaster and writer David Dubal, Juilliard professor of piano literature, gives the book historical perspective.

Modern art is a mass phenomenon. Conceptual artists like Damien Hirst enjoy celebrity status. Works by 20th century abstract artists like Mark Rothko are selling for record breaking sums, while the millions commanded by works by Andy Warhol and Francis Bacon make headline news. However, while the general public has no trouble embracing avant garde and experimental art, there is, by contrast, mass resistance to avant garde and experimental music, although both were born at the same time under similar circumstances - and despite the fact that from Schoenberg and Kandinsky onwards, musicians and artists have made repeated efforts to establish a "synaesthesia" between their two media. Fear of Music examines the parallel histories of modern art and modern music and examines why one is embraced and understood and the other ignored, derided or regarded with bewilderment, as noisy, random nonsense perpetrated by, and listened to by the inexplicably crazed. It draws on interviews and often highly amusing anecdotal evidence in order to find answers to the question: Why do people get Rothko and not Stockhausen?