The Grandest Pianos: European Makers
Europe in general, and Germany in particular, are the current hub of fine piano manufacturing. More superb pianos come out of Germany and Europe than anywere else, with fine brands like Bechstein, Bluthner, Steingraeber, Bosendorfer, Pleyel, Grotrian, Forster, Schimmel and Fazioli, and the previously mentioned Hamburg Steinway. Some of these brands, like Schimmel and Bosendorfer, are now widely franchised in America and readily available here (particularly in the larger cities,) whereas you can only procure the others at smaller boutique dealers in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago, or by purchasing them direct from Europe and having them shipped to the USA (very pricey!)
Steinway of New York, in particular, has gone to great lengths to insure that there will be no franchises or dealers in the USA for the German Steinway, which they see as a source of serious competition. Although many players and technicians feel the Hamburg Steinway is superior to the New York version in quality and touch (myself included,) they really needn’t worry. The tone color and feel of the two are so different that any serious pianist will simply pick the one they like the sound and touch of best, not the one that comes from this or that country.
Pianos from Bechstein, Grotrian, Forster and Bluthner (all German) and Pleyel (French) are all excellent, and readily available all over Europe (the piano you here on The Beatles “Let It Be” is a Bluthner grand at Abbey Road Studios in London), but hard to audition and purchase in the USA, so aside from saying, if you can find them, they are well worthy of your consideration, we won’t expound much on them here. Deeper information on each of these brands is available through Larry Fine’s superb “The Piano Book”, a book any serious piano lover should own.
Bosendorfer, from Austria, makes incredible, and incredibly expensive, grand pianos. Like Steinways and Schimmels, they are made almost entirely by hand, and they are a sight to behold. They play like butter and many sound wonderful, but you’ll need at least $50K for their smaller, starter model, and they go up to over $150,000. Not for those who live by a weekly paycheck. Yamaha recently acquired Bosendorfer Piano in a prestige move (for Yamaha) and a financial solvency move (for Bosendorfer.)
Schimmel makes gorgeous grands with a sound and liquid action comparable to Bosendorfer, but at much more reasonable prices ($25K – $75K.) I love them as much or more than Bosendorfers, and as a technician who works on them regularly, I was proud to discuss this with Nikolaus Schimmel himself a few years back. He was grateful and very humble.
Fazioli Pianos of Italy have only been around since 1978, but their dedication to sheer piano perfection has quickly caught the attention of some of the best players in the world. If you can play one of their six grand models in the USA (big cities only) and have the cash (they are as expensive as Bosendorfer) you may never be able to settle for anything less in a piano again. They even make the world’s largest grand piano, at 10’2”, over a foot longer than other concert grands.
Their is also a rise of recent entries from Eastern Europe like Petrof and Estonia, which started out as poor-quality imitators of their Western European counterparts, but which many techs claim are rising in quality, with a very acceptable European sound and good prices.
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