Steinway & Sons

Rating:
Summary: Great and even-handed research
Review: After reading this book, I guarantee you will understand the All-American notion: "That's no way to treat a Steinway!"

I bought this book since I am an intermediate pianist and a co-owner of a baby grand Steinway & Sons piano. It's a special edition released in the 1940's, and is largely hand-crafted, and a tiny-bit manufactured. Whenever I abuse it, (such as banging it with a wiffle bat when I was 7), I always felt an intense guilt. There's some incredible spirit to it that's so grand but innocent.

Steinway & Sons is written like any other historical novel. That is to say-it is linear, cited, objective, and comprehensive. But it has an edge, since the subject - the Piano - and a -family- are the central themes. These two unique subjects make the book alive and organic.

Thus, just like a standard history book, this book also narrates political events. This is when a strong emotional impetus kicks in. What about the workers, one may ask. Yes, the Steinways are notorious and money-grubbing capitalists. They have paid their workers below living-wages. They imposed the 'Steinway=Good piano,' image all over the world, and stomped other piano companies in monopolistic fashion. True. That's given. However, on the lighter side, one feels an intense respect for this great 'dynasty.' The family itself survived and thrived under the deppression, recessions,and intense family feuds. Each new generation made the Steinway Piano better and better. That's why I considered Liebermen's book as 'even-handed.' - he objectively narrates both the workers and the aristocratic family, all the while fleshing the story with primary documents.

Finally, I looked at this book in a modern perspective. The classical piano is a dying American image. The electrical guitars, keyboards, and synthesizers have replaced the American musical mindset. This is the principal reason why Steinway and Sons is no longer the dominant instrument sold. A house could be complete without a piano. For people like me who respect the classical world, and especially for people with Steinways, you will shed tears knowing that you own a very special instrument.

So if you own a Steinway you must get this book.

Rating:
Summary: The best book on Steinway's history and its pianos
Review: Lieberman is the director of the archives that house the Steinway collection, and writes as a knowledgeable insider. The history of the family and its pianos is told, from its beginnings in Germany, up through the sale to CBS and the Birminghams (the sale to the Selmer Company in 1995 happened after the publication of the book.) As a bonus, there's a great history of Yamaha pianos and its fierce competition with Steinway. It's well-written and there are numerous photos.

This is great reading, and a wonderful resouce for anyone interested in music or pianos.

Rating:
Summary: The best book on Steinway's history and its pianos
Review: Lieberman is the director of the archives that house the Steinway collection, and writes as a knowledgeable insider. The history of the family and its pianos is told, from its beginnings in Germany, up through the sale to CBS and the Birminghams (the sale to the Selmer Company in 1995 happened after the publication of the book.) As a bonus, there's a great history of Yamaha pianos and its fierce competition with Steinway. It's well-written and there are numerous photos.

This is great reading, and a wonderful resouce for anyone interested in music or pianos.

Rating:
Summary: This is a fabulous book.
Review: Richard K. Lieberman's "Steinway & Sons" will fascinate dedicated specialists, because its 374 pages are chock full of photos, facts and figures he extracted from the Steinway archives. The book's extensive notes will also appeal to serious scholars (or truly devoted Steinway fans). But this book will not suit general readers, who should instead consider "88 Keys - The Making of a Steinway Piano" by Miles Chapin & Rodica Prato.

Although Lieberman deserves praise for assembling a massive collection of facts, his book falls short because he apparently didn't know what to make of them. This lack of understanding is further aggravated by Lieberman's poor editorial judgment. He gives trivial facts undeserved attention, he exaggerates, and he leans toward simplistic, black-&-white judgments that cannot capture the nuance of real life. In one particularly annoying case, Lieberman abuses the reader's time with a pointlessly salacious account of a sexual scandal that surrounded one of the Steinway wives more than 100 years ago. This would be fine if it contributed to the story, but it doesn't. Instead, it is mere interruption. Worse yet, no thoughtful reader will ever trust Lieberman again after reading that this woman "slept with almost every man she met". Such obvious exaggeration is an extremely unbecoming trait in a reputed scholar, and it undermines the impression of seriousness created by the book's 50 pages of endnotes.

Lieberman's poor grasp of the science of pianos is another serious problem, since it causes him to maul technical issues that should be handled with care and precision. Regarding the development of the one-piece iron plate, for example, Lieberman says, "It could hold the strings under greater tension, thus increasing the length of time a piano could stay in tune." But since a taut string is more likely to stretch (and thus go out of tune) than a slack one, merely tightening the strings cannot guarantee a well tuned piano. The reader is left wondering what Lieberman means. Several possibly sensible interpretations can be imagined, but the reader should not be forced to translate an author's gobbledygook into something meaningful. Sadly, many of Lieberman's other technical claims are similarly imprecise, incomplete, or carelessly framed, leaving one with the unpleasant feeling that he simply doesn't know what he's talking about.

Lieberman's very superficial understanding of business also limits this book's value. He tells the Steinway story with the voice of a maven at a cocktail party, not with the voice of a business authority. This isn't surprising, since Lieberman is a history professor. Nevertheless, his inability to understand and explain the Steinway experience as a business phenomenon is a serious flaw. One almost feels that he considers it a matter of blind luck that Steinway has survived for nearly 150 years and that it continues to produce many of the world's finest pianos. Readers who are interested in business will find few insights here, although raw data is plentiful.

In summary, Lieberman's book is rich in facts, figures, and fascinating photos, but it is weak on analysis and exposition. Perhaps Lieberman will bring us a revised edition prepared with the help of a co-author who is knowledgeable about business. If so, he should submit all of his technical claims to authorities who can review and clarify them. Barring such changes, this book will mainly appeal to Steinway scholars. General readers should look elsewhere for a warmer, clearer, more accurate, and more entertaining discussion of the Steinway story.

Rating:
Summary: See below
Review: Richard K. Lieberman's "Steinway & Sons" delighted me. As a writer doing research into late nineteenth-century New York, I found Lieberman's saga of this German family bringing its craftsmen's tradition to New York and making out very well indeed fascinating. The members of the family come alive in all their shrewdness and occasional peccadilloes. Lieberman does a fine job of tracing how the public's regard for the piano changed overtime. He also brings to life the internal contradiction within the company. On the one hand they wanted recognition as the makers of the finest concert grands, on the other hand the money was in selling to the mass market which wanted cheap pianos for home entertainment. This is a great read, even if the only instrument you play is a tape deck.

Rating:
Summary: Steinwway & Sons is a superb family and social history.
Review: Steinway & Sons is a rich, absorbing history of a business dynasty that stayed vital over six generations. Lieberman astutely analyzes the twin forces of creativity and hard-nosed business sense that made and sustained Steinway's preeminence as the concert piano of choice. This richly anecdotal book does not shy away from the dark side of the family's history-- its contempt for the piano workers, its unthinking patriarchy, even its active cultivation of the Nazis in Germany during World War II. (In America Steinway emphasized its patriotism by draping its conert hall with American flags and publicizing the Steinway sons who were serving in the American armed forces.) In this balanced account, Lieberman takes pains to catalogue the family's numerous contributions to the conert piano's evolution, as well as its unceasing promotion of the finest artists. The Steinways' mixture of creative technical innovation, fine musical taste and ruthless business practices makes them a family of particular fascination. Lieberman brings the various figures, strong and weak and flawed, to vibrant life.