Hamburg’s Steinway factory produces 6 pianos a day, and they sell quickly to the world’s best pianists

ESSEN, Germany — The Steinway & Sons factory in Hamburg, Germany, is a pungent place.

Wandering among its many warehouses treats the nose to smells of freshly cut maple, the tangy scent of cast-iron plating and — the worst — the acrid, overpowering smell of the company's signature black lacquer.

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and conductor Manfred Honeck visited Hamburg to perform in the famous Elbphilharmonie, just one stop in a nine-city tour that's taking the orchestra from Lubljana, Slovenia, to Salzburg, Austria. The orchestra embarks on an international jaunt about every other year to bolster its international standing, an important yardstick in the classical music world.

The orchestra doesn't travel alone, however.

Typically, several world-renowned soloists join the ensemble at various stops to play concertos, or solo pieces that heavily feature a single instrument. This trip, a violinist, cellist and pianist are dropping in for appearances with the orchestra.

In Hamburg, French pianist Helene Grimaud stopped in to perform music by Ravel with the symphony in a concert that earned multiple rave reviews from international media. The next day, she visited the Steinway factory to test instruments and select a new piano for upcoming performances.

Pianos can vary wildly in character and temperament. While many pianists rely on the instruments in the halls at which they perform, Grimaud actually travels with her own, shipping it from city to city.

Selecting a new instrument, then, is a highly personal process that will define her sound for years to come.

In jeans and a black T-shirt, the 52-year-old pianist — also the founder of the Wolf Conservation Center in Salem, N.Y. — brims with energy in the taxi to the factory.

"Each orchestra has its own culture and character of sound," she said as coffee shops and Romanesque churches flashed by. "The musicians of the Pittsburgh Symphony have a certain swagger to their playing."

Her current piano is 12 years old. Even when well-maintained, its sound board will begin to wear as years pass, she explained.

In Pittsburgh, Heinz Hall recently acquired a new grand piano from the New York Steinway factory to provide pianists with two options when they visit.

“The old piano in Heinz Hall is still very well-maintained,” she said, complimenting the hall’s technician, Peter Stumpf. That piano is 20 years old.

At the factory, employees welcome Grimaud, beaming, and usher her into a bright, sunny showroom. Six pianos are lined up, awaiting inspection.

Grimaud is efficient. She sits, working the instruments' pedals in a pair of signature red cowboy boots, testing each piano's feel and sound. She quickly closes the lid of one piano after only a few seconds, shaking her head. The sound of her playing begins to attract other Steinway employees — a crowd of perhaps a dozen gathers to listen and watch.

Each piano sounds different, some louder and more articulate, some softer and smoother. She plays passages from the music she'll play with the Pittsburgh Symphony and other orchestras, closing lids until only two pianos remain.

"This one has a sweet color in the middle range, but it's a little weak at the top," she said, declaring the other piano the victor.

The entire process has taken perhaps 25 minutes.

Grimaud stays to chat with Steinway employees and familiarize herself with her new piano. It's only a month old, fresh from the factory.

Henry E. Steinway, a German immigrant, founded his company in 1853 in New York City. In 1880, to ease import costs, he opened another factory in Hamburg to fill European orders. Though the processes are the same, many artists say the Hamburg and New York pianos sound noticeably different.

A piano has more than 8,000 individual parts. The building process begins with curing the wood, leaving large sheets of maple, beech and mahogany to dry for a year and a half. These sheets are then cut and glued together — there's sawdust everywhere in the warehouse — and shaped using large, medieval-looking metal machinery to form the frame of the piano.

Next, workers add the action and soundboard, the soul of the instrument, a board that amplifies the vibration of the strings. Workers cut and add each individual string, actually steel wire and copper-wound steel wire.

At the factory, an employee clipped the strings by hand and affixed them with the help of a machine. His skill was evident.

Next, the cast-iron plate, capable of resisting up to 20 tons of tension exerted by the strings. The plates for the New York and Hamburg factories are specially made in Springfield, Ohio.

Later, in another warehouse, the pianos are lacquered. Most are black, but some are given a clear varnish to preserve the natural grain of the wood.

All told, the factory produces only about six pianos a day.

Pianists travel from around the continent and world to select instruments for their homes and concert halls. In a waiting room near the showroom, the walls are covered with dozens of signed headshots of some of the most famous pianists alive and in history — including Lang Lang, Yuja Wang and Martha Argerich. Each of those pianists has a distinct style that is instantly recognizable to classical music aficionados.

On the way to the factory, Grimaud mused about exceptionalism in music.

"True greatness is not necessarily finding something new that needs to be said, but in saying something well that hasn't been said enough," she said.