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| Lennon playing the famous White Steinway |
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I left off from my last post by hinting that I had a major surprise coming about Steinway. Actually, it was two major surprises, but the first has already fizzled. That first one which had been in the works since May 17th is that I came within a stone’s throw this past month of purchasing my dream piano, my very own mahogany Steinway M. But what first appeared to be a once-in-a-lifetime deal instead became very impractical.
Before I get to that story - first, the grand announcement. No sooner did I get the bad news about losing my dream piano than I got the great news about being invited to Steinway Gallery of Detroit to play the most famous piano in the world, the personal Steinway owned by none other than Vladimir Horowitz, widely considered to be the greatest pianist of the 20th century. As events came to pass, two weeks ago Tuesday, I had 1-1/2 hours with the 9 foot Horowitz Steinway concert grand. It’s the best I’ve ever played in my life and the whole thing is on video.
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That’s the Executive Summary. But let’s begin at the beginning. Quick rewind to 2010, the year that would have been John Lennon’s 70th birthday and, to commemorate that event Yoko Ono has given Steinway special permission to put out a limited edition of Lennon’s famous White Steinway, the designer Steinway Model M that John made a gift to Yoko in 1971 for her 38th birthday. In a word, Steinway is tops, tops among U.S. made pianos and, they would even argue, tops in the world. Steinways start at about $60,000 and go to the stars from there. There have been many famous Steinways since its beginnings in the 1850s and Lennon’s White Steinway is among the most famous of these, though the Horowitz Steinway is considered the most famous. (The designer Steinway that is housed in the East Room of the White House is also close to the top of the list.) The difference between the White Steinway and these others: exact copies of Lennon’s Steinway M were now for sale.
I could not even begin to imagine ever affording a Steinway. My dream was to buy a Yamaha, Paul McCartney’s, Elton John’s (and others) choice. Considerably lower priced and widely considered to be almost as good (and by its fans every bit as good), I had fallen in love with a beautiful Yamaha walnut baby grand at Oakland University the year I began my lessons. It was a $14,000 piano that I could get used for 9 grand. So that had been my plan. I was saving $25/week until I had the nine grand, which I figured would take about 7 years. By then I would be sufficiently advanced in my studies to really appreciate a grand piano.
I have already written in detail in my past posts about the path that led me to the purchase of my beautiful Ritmuller baby grand years ahead of schedule. I’ve been very happy with it and, in my thoroughly unprofessional opinion, I actually think my $6,000 Ritmuller sounds every bit as good as the Yamaha I was going to buy. I continued to save for the Yamaha, but no longer was certain I’d actually buy one.
So when Yoko Ono reintroduced the famous White Steinway to the world, I had to go check it out. I had no intention of ever buying a Steinway but I thought it would be ever so cool to play a little ditty on one of the most famous pianos ever made, even if it was just a copy. Of course, I immediately was informed that I could not do so. No one could. This special edition Lennon Steinway was so hot that they were only building them to order. The Steinway M was a $60,000 piano and they were selling this special Lennon M for $90,000. You had to order it, pay upfront, then wait a year for the factory to build it. It would then be delivered to your local Steinway showroom where you could then tickle the keys to see if it wasn’t beyond everything you had dreamed. If it was, you were now the proud owner of an exact certified copy of one of the most rare and famous pianos in the world. If not, you would get a full refund for they already had a hundred other buyers lined up to take it.
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| Steinway's 2010 special edition of John Lennon's white piano |
I was disappointed that I could not even see the Lennon Steinway and I even confessed to them that I had to come to the store on a purely selfish lark, that Steinway was way out of my league. It was at that point that Tim Hoy, the President of Steinway Detroit, took me on a personal tour of the facility and gave me a 45 minute tutorial on why Steinway was the best, very much gearing his presentation to convincing me that I could indeed afford one. When I told him about my Yamaha dream, his reaction was predictable. "Don’t bother with the Yamaha. Study a little longer, save your money for a few more years, and get a Steinway instead." Then he took me to the basement to show me something that blew me away. Tucked away in a corner was this gorgeous mahogany Steinway M that had been at the U of M music school for the past year. A one year old Steinway M, 60 grand new, on sale on clearance this weekend only for 30 grand. Then he made me the offer of a lifetime. It was already 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, the last day of the sale. "If you buy this piano today, you can have it for 20 grand. I’ll give you 9 grand for your Ritmuller so you only need to finance 11 grand."
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| The piano Tim Hoy showed me, my dream mahogany Steinway M. (this one's larger than the M, but otherwise identical) |
Certainly, I was tempted to take it. It was my new dream piano, love at first sight, and playing it provided instant proof that it had a sensitivity and a tone far more lush and far more subtle than any of the many Yamahas I had ever played. It was also the most gorgeous mahogany case I had ever seen. And it was an M, the same model as Lennon’s White Steinway. I knew immediately I wanted this piano like no other but had to be realistic – I could not afford 11 grand in debt right now, especially not for a piano. But I told him I’d be back in a few years. I told him I’d be back and would want him to find this exact piano for me again. He could take a year or two to find one for me, (waiting was not an issue, time was one commodity I had), but I would be back and would be asking him to find me another slightly used mahogany M for 20 grand. In principle anyway, Mr. Hoy agreed.
And that’s how John Lennon, my very favorite Beatle, 30 years after his death, was responsible for bringing me into the Steinway family, abandoning my Yamaha dream for the much better dream of someday owning the same piano he played. If not for the investigation of the White Steinway, I would never have had this eye-opening meeting with Tim Hoy.
Shortly thereafter I joined The Steinway Society of Michigan which not only hosts a variety of wonderful classical and jazz concerts at the Steinway Gallery every year, sometimes several each month, but also sponsors the Orchard Lake Philharmonic Orchestra, an organization I was not even aware of until then. For $30 annual dues, you get a 50% discount on any concert. Most are $20, some are 10. Plus a considerable number of student recitals by area prodigies, all of which are free. So the dues are recouped if you just attend three concerts, one of the best investments I make every year. And every time I go, I find an M somewhere in the store and tickle those keys again. Tim Hoy convinced me: instead of the original plan of putting in 2,000 hours of practice and then buying a Yamaha, go for 4,000 hours and buy a Steinway instead. Instead of buying the Yamaha when I finish Intermediate, keep studying for the high school diploma and then reward myself with the Steinway M.
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And that’s the way it’s been for four years now. I haven’t added my hours for quite some time, but on May 1st last year, I hit my 1,000th hour, almost exactly 6 years to the week that I started lessons. Last month was 7 years and I’m interested to see how many hours at the keys I’ve compiled now. So I keep going to Steinway Gallery, I keep looking for another M like the one he showed me, and I keep attending these marvelous concerts and dreaming to play like that some day, though truth be told these outstanding pianists probably put in 10,000 hours before they could play that well. After all, they practice at least six hours per day for a good ten years before they’re good enough to do concerts. But I’ve known since I started with Pam that this is now a lifelong commitment and hopefully I’ll live long enough to get in my 10,000 hours. But first, let’s do the 4,000 and get that M! I will probably be 70.
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| A mint condition 1927 mahogany Steinway M. This is what I was hoping to find in Ann Arbor May 17th |
So after the play at 11 p.m., Paul and I ventured to this couple’s house not too far up Packard from Woodlawn, and took a gander at this instrument. I did approach the situation with some healthy skepticism since it was not the owner but her deceased father who had played and who had been gone for ten years. I had heard this story many times. It’s either wealthy people buying a world class instrument only to let it sit gathering dust for decades, or a pianist who passes away and the heirs wait years before finding the piano a new home. A neglected piano deteriorates quickly, and the Steinway is no exception. That is why my hopes were tempered.
My suspicions were immediately confirmed. It was a very beat up, worn down nearly 100 year old piano that looked and sounded quite like a piece of junk. But it was not my place to find fault. My masterful tuner, Cal Champine, would be able to tell me whether this piano could be brought back to life with a simple tuning or if it would require a much more extensive overhaul. Paul helped me photograph it and we took the serial number. If Cal thought it was worth it, I would pay him to go to Ann Arbor and do a complete inspection of the instrument. He would be able to tell me pretty much to the dollar exactly what it would take to make this piano sound good again. If his opinion was positive, I would buy it.
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| And this is the actual 1927 mahogany Steinway M in Ann Arbor |
Thus, leaving Steinway I had already made my decision. Of course, I was considering that this guy was working for a dealer and naturally they wanted me to buy a Steinway from them. But I also knew this guy pretty well and trusted him. And he knew and trusted Cal Champine. My decision was that unless Cal very strongly disagreed that this piano was a lost cause, I would pay him to go to Ann Arbor anyway. But if he gave me even a hint that Cliff was right, the deal would be off.
So Cal came on Thursday to tune the Ritmuller. I had already sent him the photographs and serial number and he said right off that he did not have to go to Ann Arbor to see the piano. Just looking at the photos and knowing it was a 1927 model was all he needed. It was very obvious that the piano has been gathering dust for years and is thus almost certainly in a very deteriorated state. It was equally obvious that virtually no work had been done on the piano since it was first built in 1927. Thus, it was an instrument that was on the verge of falling apart. He not only agreed with Cliff, he thought his assessment was entirely too optimistic. Cal’s opinion was that the piano was only worth 2 grand and that it would take a minimum of 15-20 grand to bring the piano back to acceptable condition. The only reason to go to Ann Arbor would be so he could provide me a precise estimate of how much the work would cost. But if I had no intention of spending more than the 12 grand on it, that wasn’t going to happen. If I get this piano, the real cost will be close to 30 grand. If Tim Hoy will get me an M for 20, that’s the deal I need to take.
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So that was my Steinway education for the month. If he had told me that all it needed was indeed just a good tuning, then I would have been making the very major announcement that I was selling the Ritmuller and buying a Steinway M, the same model John Lennon played. I renewed the debate with Cal about why Steinway thinks it’s still the best piano in the world when the Bosendorfer, Bechstein, and Fazioli are so obviously better, at least for top-of-the-line instruments. I can see them claiming it is the best U.S. made piano, even the best piano in its price range since the Bosie is 100 grand more and the Fazioli 200 grand more. But the best in the world? Why do they insist on that claim?
So he gave me quite the education as to why Steinways are legitimately considered the best for concert pianists. It is the only company that will guarantee a Steinway will be provided for any concert and will make a master Steinway technician available to make the piano sound perfect for each individual performance.
Steinway shows up before every performance in every concert hall in every country in the world that has concert halls and goes over the piano meticulously to guarantee it will sound perfect for that performance. That is a commitment neither Bosie nor Fazioli nor any other piano company is equipped to make. That is why, though these other pianos may be superior to the Steinway, and even though many concert artists may have these other pianos in their homes, they will not play on anything other than a Steinway for a concert. For the first time, I understood. But since I will never be a concert pianist, it is still my dream to someday own a Fazioli.
But first let’s graduate Intermediate and become an advanced student, then reward myself with that gorgeous mahogany Steinway M. Then, after I’ve sold a few screenplays and/or become the internationally acclaimed filmmaker that has always been my life’s dream, I will get that Fazioli. If I’m lucky enough to live to be 90 as my parents did, these are still attainable goals.
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Which leads me to Part II of our story. The annual spring piano recital was Friday May 30th and my last post was all about that one. What I did not mention in my last post and the reason I ended that post with the teaser that a major Steinway announcement was soon coming, was that on Thursday May 29th, I had received an email from Steinway announcing a once-in-a-lifetime event. Vladimir Horowitz, the greatest pianist of the 20th century who began playing concerts as a very young man in 1920 and passed away in 1989 at the age of 86 (and was still playing and still recording as recently as two days before his death) was in the first two weeks of June to be memorialized by Steinway in a very special way. For two weeks, Steinway Gallery had procured the maestro’s personal piano and anybody who wanted to sign up could come in and play it. I called them and they very happily agreed to let me come in and play this famous piano. Not only could I play it, but they gave me permission to perform my entire National Piano Guild program on it and even videotape the concert.
That is how I found myself at Steinway Gallery on Tuesday afternoon June 10th and was allowed 45 minutes on the Horowitiz 9 foot Steinway concert grand to play the entire repertoire that earned me an A- at Guild in May. Paul was not available to videotape the recital on May 30th but he was there on the 10th to run camera so it turned out much better than at recital. And, to add to the good news, I played the best I’ve ever played, very pleased with my performance. Though not perfect (will it ever be!), I do feel that the way I played at Steinway on the 10th is a genuine representation of where I am currently in my training. I feel I played even better than for the judge.
I have been editing the video for the past couple of weeks. Except for "The 29 Cent Solution", it is by far the most ambitious video I have ever produced for it is not only about my own presentation but also a mini-documentary on the life and career of Vladimir Horowitz, why his Steinway is such a unique instrument, and also some snippets from Orchard Lake’s very own Steinway Artist, the wonderful Kasimierz Brzozowski, Artistic Director of the Orchard Lake Philharmonic, who gave a wonderful concert on June 13th on the Horowitz Steinway - just to give everyone a taste of how this truly remarkable piano sounds in the hands of a truly remarkable pianist.
The story of how this remarkable event went down will be the subject of my next post, along with the completed video which I hope to finalize in the next few days. I am hoping you will all find it thoroughly entertaining.
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| Preview: Me at the Horowitz Steinway June 10th |
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