We at Durham University are very fortunate to be a Steinway School, and as the title would imply, there is a widely placed abundance of Steinway or Steinway-denominated pianos. This makes us one of a very privileged group of academic institutions throughout the world to have such a partnership. It has also no doubt been a factor in our exceptional reputation in academic music that has particularly blossomed since we became a Steinway School in 2022. So, as an avid pianist and composer myself, I would like to share my thoughts about the pianos at the University and about music in a wider sense too.
Pianos in social spaces
I believe it is a priceless asset to have pianos in practice room(s) and social spaces at schools and universities. Aside from meeting the needs of music students, there is a vast benefit to having pianos in college social spaces as well.
We live in a period where the Internet has become the dominating force in our lives. This has proven to be a double-edged sword in many ways. Unfortunately, the beautiful music of the 20th Century and earlier periods has been buried beneath a heap of soulless commercialism and digitalisation. It’s out there like never before on YouTube and many other platforms, but still, far too many go through vast swathes of their lives not being graced by the elegance of Chopin, thrilled by the virtuosity of Liszt or moved by the intensity of Beethoven. There are many reasons that classical music and jazz have been so neglected today, but that is an area of discussion for another time.
What matters is that we strive to not just keep this art on life support, but push for its renaissance in popular culture. That starts with returning to an abundant culture of live music in bars or restaurants and other social places/events. Giving individuals the opportunity to share real art, on a real instrument, in a real setting, helps us move away from spending so much of our time with our noses buried in screens and opens up an expressive outlet that many of us, including myself, find hard to share otherwise. Having a piano in a room makes it look nicer, so that’s a big plus as well.
The difference in quality
But why be so particular when it comes to pianos? Why do I take it as a fuss that we have Steinway and not Yamaha? It’s because Steinways are in fact, built differently. With low-quality pianos, the key action is muddier and the sonority is less diverse, making playing, particularly at higher skill, just an unpleasant and unpassionate experience.
On only a very few builds (like Steinway) would the pianist be able to create such an impactfully different sound to perform with a warm and soft timbre for a Schubert impromptu but create an icy tone you would find in Rachmaninoff on the same piano. Even more important is the key action, where I have noticed a huge difference between pianos in my own playing.
There is a polyphonic section in the introduction of the first movement of Liszt’s piano transcription of Symphonie Fantastique by Berlioz where a very delicate balance is held between the decorative right-hand passage and bass, which sandwich the main melodic material between them. Bringing out that middle voice with clarity in such a thick texture is much easier on such fine pianos as Steinway, where dynamics and tone on individual keys are so controllable.
Articulation is another area that is heavily influenced by the quality of key action. For example, there is a night and day difference between playing the mordents in the first movement of Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata where each note should be crisp and clear and not muzzled like it would sound on many cheaper, lower quality pianos. A similar difference can be felt when playing the repeated notes in the Friska of Hungarian Rhapsody No 2 by Liszt where the fact that Steinway’s keys repeat over a tenth faster than any other piano makes a big difference to the quality of a recital.
Final thoughts
The point is that Steinway is the king of piano makers, and I’m hugely grateful that I have such easy access to a fantastic Steinway mini grand at Josephine Butler College (Saltwell Building), where I often spend many hours of my free time playing. So, students, please use your pianos at your college!
Discover more
About studying music at Durham here
The Steinway project and Durham here
Read Ben’s blog about choosing a Steinway for the Saltwell Building here
Follow our students on Instagram YouTube and TikTok
