In March 1980, The New Yorker published a story by writer Jane Boutwell following concert pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy as he searched for the right instrument for an upcoming series of New York performances. The article, titled “Choosing a Piano,” offers a rare, detailed look at how a world-class pianist actually selects an instrument — and it led him straight to Pro Piano.
Ashkenazy was in town for three major engagements: two concerts at Carnegie Hall, one at Avery Fisher Hall, and a recording session. According to Boutwell’s account, he arrived in a gloomy mood, telling her he couldn’t remember ever truly liking a piano in New York — most, he said, paired a heavy bass with a thin top register. His wife, pianist Dody Ashkenazy, who had an expert ear for tone, described him as desperate for something better balanced.
The search began at Steinway Hall, where chief concert technician Franz Mohr had lined up seven concert grands in the basement showroom. Ashkenazy worked through them one by one. One sounded dry. Another felt shallow. One was too loose in the keyboard. One, he declared, was simply “sandpaper.” He eventually narrowed his choices to two finalists, testing them against each other with passages from Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, and Rachmaninoff, and tentatively settled on one for his first Carnegie Hall appearance. But according to the article, neither instrument had truly won him over.
From Steinway Hall, the group walked a few blocks north to Pro Piano, where two Hamburg-built Steinways waited under silver thermal covers. Pro Piano’s President and Co-Founder, Ricard de La Rosa, uncovered one of them for Ashkenazy to try. As he played through Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, and Chopin, his mood changed entirely — Boutwell describes him growing visibly excited, telling his wife the sound had real substance to it, clearer and better balanced than anything he’d played that day. Dody Ashkenazy called it nothing short of stunning. On the spot, Ashkenazy decided he’d use this Hamburg Steinway for his remaining performances and the recording session.
He still wanted one more test, though. A week later, he had the Hamburg piano brought to Carnegie Hall so he could compare it directly, onstage, against the American Steinway he’d tentatively chosen earlier. The difference was clear even from the audience: the Hamburg piano had a bigger, more brilliant top; the American instrument had a deeper bass. Even Franz Mohr, the Steinway technician himself, acknowledged it came down to personal taste. De La Rosa was there too, working through technical adjustments to the piano’s action with Ashkenazy directly, discussing how small shifts in position could bring out different overtones in the bass.
Ashkenazy confirmed he’d play the Hamburg piano that evening. He sat back down and played Chopin’s B-flat Minor Prelude start to finish, explaining why the instrument suited the piece so well — the warm, singing top he needed to counter the prelude’s heavy bass rhythm. De La Rosa reflected that every piano has its own personality, and Ashkenazy agreed: this one had felt right from the moment he sat down to play it.
More than four decades later, Pro Piano still specializes in the same Hamburg-built instrument that won Ashkenazy over that afternoon — an instrument that, as Boutwell noted at the time, wasn’t even sold in the United States. Learn more about what makes a Hamburg Steinway different.