“The Steinway pianos are bearers of happiness; they heighten the culture of humanity because whoever uses or hears them must experience an increase of his abilities.”
Artur Schnabel
Artur Schnabel (17 April 1882 – 15 August 1951) was an Austrian classical pianist, who also composed and taught. Schnabel was known for his intellectual seriousness as a musician, avoiding pure technical bravura.
Among the 20th century's most respected and most important pianists, his playing displayed marked vitality, profundity and spirituality in the Austro-German classics, particularly the works of Beethoven and Schubert. His performances have been hailed as models of interpretative penetration. His best-known recording is of the complete Beethoven piano sonatas; it is the first recording ever made of the complete cycle of 32 sonatas, leading Harold C. Schonberg to refer to Schnabel as "the man who invented Beethoven."