Blüthner

Blüthner Piano Company

Julius Blüthner founded the Blüthner Piano Company in 1853 in Leipzig, Germany, the largest city in the federal state of Saxony, known throughout the world for its rich cultural heritage.

Legendary musicians the likes of Johann Sebastian Bach, Robert Schumann, and Felix Mendelssohn were all active in Leipzig. You can still see their influence in town, for example in St. Thomas Church where Bach – director ‘musices lipsiensis’ – worked as choirmaster of the church‘s Boys Choir between 1723 and 1750; and where, today, the famous Thomaner Choir still performs his works twice a week.

Blüthner Hall of Fame

From early beginnings, the Blüthner Artist Roster of Musicians and Personalities has included the world's most respected composers, pianists, conductors, and recording artists:

COMPOSERS Johannes Brahms, Richard Wagner, Carl Orff, Peter Tchaikovsky, Dimitri Schostakovitsch, Sir Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Dimitri Tiomkin, Claude Debussy, Max Reger, Ruggiero Leoncavallo, Franz Lehar, Hans Eissler, and Franz Liszt; PIANISTS Arthur Rubinstein, Mikhail Pletney, Artur Pizzaro, Carl Reinicke, Ignaz Moscheles, Moritz Rosenthal, Claudio Arrau, Alexander Borowsky, Josef Pembaur, Feruccio Busoni, Robert Teichmüller, Issay Barmas, Maria Ivogün, Jean Gilberg, Alexander Levy, Poldi Mildner, Michael Kieran Harvy, Marc Hambourg, Conrad Ansorge, Wilhelm Kempff, Julian v. Karolyi, Alexander Paley, Dieter Zechlin, Takahiro Sonoda, Peter Katin, Yaeko Yamane, Hans Leygraff, Klaus Schilde, Alexander Sung, Oleg Maisenberg, Peter Serkin, Jean-Paul Desomnair, Bella Davidovitch, Pascal Amoyel, Giovanni Belucci, Ulrich Urban, Christof Taubert, Maria Ivanova, Pierre Reach, Halina Cerny-Stefanska, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Nikolai Lugansky, Elfrun Gabriel, and Oliver Kern; CONDUCTORS Johann Strauss, Yehudi Menuhin, and Wilhelm Furtwängler; RECORDING ARTISTS Marlene Dietrich, Neil Diamond, and The Beatles.

Blüthner Company Heritage

A Family Story
The Blüthner Piano Company went on to be appointed official supplier to the royal courts of many European countries, including the courts of Queen Victoria, the German Kaiser, Russian Tsar, and the King of Saxony. With continuing family loyalty and dedication to German engineering and high musical standards, the Blüthner legacy continues to this day into its fifth generation.

To play a Blüthner piano is a transforming experience. Standard benchmarks of quality . . . recognized at once by discerning musicians . . . include exceptionally responsive Renner key action, made in Germany to Blüthner's specifications; superior German scale design for warm and clear textures - especially noticeable when playing full chords with minor seconds; and sweet, clear, percussive-triangle-like, four-stringed treble register (compared to three-stringed trebles found on other pianos.)

To understand the history of the founder's successful piano company is to know the Blüthner family -- today in its fifth generation of building one of the world's Top-tier, Superior-rated pianos.

Blüthner Pianos have been manufactured exclusively in Leipzig, Germany since 1853. Members of the Blüthner family have always been in control of production and have remained faithful to the tradition of hand made quality.

ENTER THE WORLD OF CLASSIC PIANOS

Maurice Unis, owner of CLASSIC PIANOS, grew up around pianos and was trained in the music business by his maternal grandfather, Maurice T. Schuster. Of German family heritage, with a passion for music and pianos, “M. T.” Schuster moved to the Pacific Northwest from North Dakota in 1926 to audition for a job as violinist with the Portland Symphony Society. Later he became a piano tuner and owner of Acme Piano Company in Portland's Sellwood District. After graduating from law school, Maurice Unis's father had also run a piano shop on SE Belmont for a brief time before succumbing to his destiny as lawyer and judge – ultimately retiring from the Oregon Supreme Court as The Honorable Richard L. Unis.

Today, the legacy of “M.T.” Schuster continues through Maurice Unis and his fourth generation sons – all sharing a passion for pianos and remaining faithful to the selection and restoration of worthy instruments. Just as Maurice was mentored in the piano world from an early age by his grandfather, in turn, his sons Brian, Aaron, and Taylor have learned the piano business from the ground up – as piano movers, then working in the piano restoration shop. From early childhood, they'd watched their father disassemble, clean, repair, and refinish pianos. Now as active partners in the operation and management of Classic Pianos, they are hooked on pianos as a lifelong vocation and are honored to represent BLÜTHNER.