For BSO, a grand way to raise funds
On the selling block: dozens of Steinways to benefit orchestra
As pedestrians crossed the intersection of Huntington and Massachusetts Avenues on Tuesday, Ben Cook — a pianist in the Boston Pops Orchestra, wearing a white jacket and black bow tie — sat at a secondhand Model L baby grand piano stationed on the sidewalk outside Symphony Hall.
With cars streaming by during afternoon rush hour, Cook played a medley of famous film scores composed by Boston Pops laureate conductor John Williams. The dark, menacing sounds of the “Imperial March” evoked Darth
Vader, and eerie chimes of “Hedwig’s Theme” brought Hogwarts to the street.
“I was told that in the last generation, people literally retired from the orchestra because John Williams’s music was getting so demanding,” said Cook, after he’d entertained passersby for about 10 minutes. “But that’s not the case now. Everybody embraces it. They love playing it.”
Cook’s brief performance outside the concert hall’s doors was a promo of sorts for the Boston Pops’ “Star Wars: The Story in Music” program at Symphony Hall later this month and, more immediately, for the M. Steinert & Sons Symphony
Hall Piano Sale, which starts Friday.
M. Steinert & Sons has represented Steinway & Sons in New England since 1867 and provides all the pianos at Symphony Hall. The sale, supporting the BSO and continuing through Sunday, features about 65 Steinway & Sons pianos, displayed for potential buyers along the halls and corridors of Symphony Hall. Many were played at Tanglewood this summer, others were used within Steinway’s Concert and Artist Department, and a number of them are new pianos from Steinway & Sons’ Boston and Essex lines.
‘. . . the person who buys a Steinway & Sons piano … they have to value the arts and music first.’
BRENDAN MURPHY,
President of M. Steinert & Sons
The collection includes one particularly star-studded gem: a Steinway Model B Spirio | r, whose gold interior is signed in black ink by Chinese virtuoso pianist Lang Lang. The piano has a retail price of around $185,000; pianos featured in the sale range from $7,000 to $200,000.
According to Brendan Murphy, president of M. Steinert & Sons, Lang Lang played this particular piano during a private gallery opening on Newbury Street after playing with Andris Nelsons and the BSO at last year’s Opening Night at Symphony fund-raiser.
The sale also features a Model B 150th Anniversary Rosewood, a 7-foot grand piano. “This design was Henry Steinway’s favorite historic design,” said Murphy. The design — incorporating hand-carved rosewood and an ornate music rack — dates back to the 1890s, but the Model B piano for sale this weekend was built in 2003.
“All of the wood used in the finish of this piano is from not just the same species, not just the same tree, but the same flitch,” said Murphy. “So it’s the same piece of wood for the whole piano and the bench.” The limited-edition piano built for the piano maker’s 150th anniversary has a bookmatched lid, with the wood grain creating a mirror-image effect.
“The majority of the pianos that you’ve ever seen that were made by Steinway & Sons were made in the New York factory in Astoria,” said Murphy. Many New York-made pianos are here, but the sale also includes a 9-foot-long Model D concert grand — the same style of piano on stage in Symphony Hall — that comes from the company’s Hamburg factory.
As for the sale’s clientele, “We typically only get serious buyers,” said Murphy. Customers can view and play the pianos by appointment only, and M. Steinert & Sons calls each customer before their appointment to get a sense of what they’re looking for.
“If you’re in the very early stages of your piano journey, and you’re not sure but you think there might be a piano here for you, great,” said Murphy. He explained that “a lot of piano buying has to do with a real estate transaction,” for example, customers who have just moved into a home with room for a piano or those who need to sell a piano when moving out of a space. But most of all, Murphy said, “the person who buys a Steinway & Sons piano … they have to value the arts and music first.”