The French piano tests (aka, The Paris Piano Competition) are renowned ... and feared. Winners in every category are periodically awarded the “CHOC”, taking place with great extravagance and mainly at the Bastille Opera. Steingraeber & Söhne has, more often than any other, been designated the, “Best of the Very Best.”

STEINGRAEBER PROFI STUDIO 130 PS:
“Marvellous quality of tone if you really attack the piano. To play the Mozart Sonata KV 332 means, creating a colourful interpretation through a wide range of possibilities, offered by the action. The warm sound offers a natural wideness. It is a singing piano which allows to play ‘Une barque sur l’Ocean’ by Ravel with the same feeling of happiness as the Beethoven Sonata op 109. . . . The action contains a repetition facility, translating the grand piano feeling into an upright piano.... That’s an ingenious idea. In spite of a price which is passing the 100.000 Francs limit it is still an excellent price-quality-ratio.”
Translation of the award ‘CHOC’ in Paris 1994 and 1995 by Le Monde de la Musique

STEINGRAEBER 162N
The highest possible distinction for the 162* grand from Steingraeber & Söhne, Bayreuth In our opinion, this grand is grand indeed. It has a solid, vigorous sound and is rich in tonal plasticity. The Steingraeber enables the pianist to reproduce all the most intricate shades of his or her dynamic interpretation - and that in spite of the instrument’s modest dimensions. The grand alone unites all the qualities available from the big names in one-accurately translating touch in its reproduction by the hammers and dampers. The pianist can rest assured that this grand will react precisely to any change of mood within the tonal range, even to the slightest change of nuance . There can be no disputing the fact that this instrument is exceptional indeed.
*Remark: in 1997 Steingraeber improved this successful model once again and extended the size to 168 cm
Le Monde de la Musique - October 1995

STEINGRAEBER 138
The famous Bayreuth firm’s model 138 is currently the largest upright piano on the world market. This remarkable instrument has attracted the most unusual set of superlatives that can be accorded a piano. Its melodious tone enables players to create a genuine musical syntax of modulations and fine nuances of sound without any trace of dullness or contortion. Liszt’s Funérailles can be played with absolute clarity; the performer can convey the music in an extraordinary way and at the same time be totally in control of the demands of the score. A rendering of Chopin’s Scherzo No. 1 or Ravel’s Jeux d’eau gives any musical ear an incomparable feast of sound. We can sum things up very simply: this is an extraordinary instrument that fully justifies its prize.
Le Monde de la Musique, September 1997

“Launching a new grand into a market is a formidable task, but Udo (Steingraeber) found it a lot easier than he expected. ‘The reactions have been wonderful,’ he says. ‘At an exhibition in Paris, it was extremely crowded for three days.’ The task now confronting Udo is to persuade pianists to insist upon a Steingraeber concert grand for their concerts and recitals. ‘We don’t approach concert halls,’ he says. ‘We don’t expect them to buy a Steingraeber concert grand. Instead we are now approaching as many pianists as possible.’ Besides Katsaris, who is a tireless champion of Steingraeber instruments, the pianist and conductor Ralf Gothóni and the pianists Hartmut Holl and Siegfried Mauser are all converts. And there are plans to get an E-272 to London by the end of this year for more pianists to experience.”
PIANIST magazine, Dec 2003-Jan 2004

STEINGRAEBER E-272
It was THE event of the Frankfurter Music Fair in 2002, when Bayreuth piano manufacturer, Steingraeber & Söhne, introduced the E-272 in celebration of the company’s 150th anniversary. And the production of concert grand pianos, interrupted since 1939, had finally resumed. This instrument pays homage to founder Eduard Steingraeber, whose 1896 concert grand piano was the first with a remarkably shaped rim design, which was intended to optimize sound distribution. There are very few grand pianos like it, and this one is inherently suited to connect radiating clarity with the profound intimacy of the works of Brahms, Schubert, and Schumann, the great composers of German Romantic repertoire. Likewise, the tone quality offers subtle delicacy and richness of colour, which Ravel’s Alborada del Gracioso necessitates, as do the tenth Prelude in Vol 1 of Das Wohltemperierte Klavier and the Englische Suite in A minor - their optimal partner is found in the Steingraeber E-272. This grand piano is wonderfully suited for chamber music and, especially, for German Lieder. This Steingraeber [model] has been created with a unique sound, the character of which enables the expression of penetrating tone development. There is such beautiful energy in this grand piano that its tone structure is not simply destined for large concert halls, which require sheer power. With the E-272, Steingraeber offers an alternative tone quality in the most outstanding tradition of German piano building. An extraordinary instrument.
Le Monde de la Musique, September 2006