Steinway & Sons piano company was founded in 1853 in New York City. Many consider Steinway pianos the best in the world. RK owned a Steinway and often played music of Liszt and other composers for pleasure when at home. He recorded Mozart piano concertos on the modern piano and occasionally played the piano in concerts as well. I remember a concert in New York where he played the harpsichord, the fortepiano, and the modern piano.

December 2, 1939

Dear Sirs:

Many apologies for such a belated answer to your letter of February 16 which just turned up in my files. Naturally I am delighted to add to the chorus of praise which surrounds the Steinway Piano the historical tinkle of an acclaiming harpsichordist. My affection for the instrument of Bach, Scarlatti, and Couperin has never diminished my respect for the piano as so beautifully represented by a long line of Steinway creations. In fact, this “purist,” for all his championship of eighteenth-century music on eighteenth-century instruments, could never be suspected of any sinister, however hopeless, desire to put the modern piano out of business but must make a sotto voce confession that in the lull between concert seasons he knows no greater pleasure than a surreptitious Schubert sonata on a good Steinway.

Sincerely,

Ralph Kirkpatrick