Music makes key decisions on new grand pianos

Four members of the Department of Music recently went piano-shopping — in New York City and Vienna, Austria — to select two new pianos for the Slee Visiting Artists Series and other concerts at UB.

“The state of our ageing piano inventory has long been an issue of intense concern for the department,” says chair Eric Huebner. “Pianos are like cars: They can be repaired and rebuilt, but basically, after 20 to 30 years, particularly for a concert instrument, they should be replaced.”

Huebner found support when he suggested purchasing a new instrument for the visiting artist series.

“We feature prominent artists on a regular basis and need a high-quality instrument, and all but one of our pianos are over 40 years old,” Huebner says.

The department’s Slee endowment and trading in of some of the department’s older Steinway pianos helped cover the costs for the new acquisitions for Slee Hall, so it was time to go piano-shopping.

In early December, Huebner and Devin Zimmer, the department’s piano technician, traveled to New York City to visit three different piano manufacturers: Bösendorfer, Fazioli and Steinway.

“The Bösendorfer was the best piano I played that day,” says Huebner, a highly regarded pianist. “The Bösendorfer was positioned next to a new, New York Steinway, which allowed for a close comparison. I spent over an hour at Juilliard early that morning discussing the differences with their head technician, the wonderful Mario Igrec. As it turns out, both Mario and Devin have long shared an appreciation and respect for Bösendorfer — their consistency, transparency of tone and quality are indeed hard to beat.”

Initially, the discussion centered on purchasing the Bösendorfer in New York, until the company’s east coast institutional sales rep shared some insight.

“The rep said that if we were serious about considering a model 280VC, we should travel to Vienna, where we could pick from a bigger selection of them,” Huebner says.

Bösendorfer 280VCs are handmade, so there are only 35 of them manufactured every year. Travelling to Vienna would allow the department to consider more models than just the one that was available in New York.

In mid-January, Huebner; Zimmer; George Caldwell, professor of practice (jazz piano); and Roland Martin, instructor (organ, harpsichord), traveled to the Bösendorfer factory, which is located in Wiener Neustadt, outside of Vienna.

“There’s a very large showroom positioned directly behind the factory, so we spent some time playing the instruments on hand and then we ventured with their representative into the factory and saw every step of the manufacturing process — all of it done largely by hand,” Huebner says.

After confirming their choice of piano, Huebner, Zimmer, Caldwell and Martin visited Bösendorfer’s small piano salon, which is attached to Musikverein, the Vienna equivalent of Carnegie Hall in the U.S. and home to the Vienna Philharmonic.

“We spent some time there learning about the history of Bösendorfer, a company that was founded in 1828, a year after Beethoven's death. We also toured the Musikverein, which was in the midst of preparations for a lavish Viennese ball the next night,” Huebner said.

According to its website, Bösendorfer constructs instruments concentrating on the use of spruce and, “more than 80% of this wood, ideal for instruments, can be found in Bösendorfer pianos.”

Huebner explains that piano manufacturers all have distinct integral designs that they utilize to produce instruments of unique character.

“We feel it’s a benefit for our students and visiting performers to play different instruments,” Huebner says.

In 2014, before joining UB, Zimmer received an inspection certification from Bösendorfer after spending two weeks at the factory training with the team.

“I’m looking forward to using these skills to keep our new pianos in the best possible shape,” Zimmer says.

The Bösendorfer purchased in New York has arrived at Slee Hall; the second one, from the factory near Vienna, will arrive later this spring.

“We think our Slee audience is going to be delighted and intrigued by what they hear after listening to Steinways for the last 40-plus years in Slee,” Huebner says.