3 recommended piano commentaries
In these surreal times, one of the greatest comforts is a good book. We wish to share with you three books containing the writings of celebrated pianists to kindle your curiosity and love for the piano. The perspective from the keyboard is forever mysterious and magical, and in these three books the reader sees the inner workings of the brilliant minds of pianists. We hope that you enjoy these, which we certainly treasure.
PIANO NOTES: THE WORLD OF THE PIANIST
Charles Rosen
How is a note produced and why can a chord move us? Celebrated pianist Charles Rosen addresses this and more in Piano Notes, which was a finalist for a 2003 National Book Critics Circle Award. There’s an emphasis on the classic works of Mozart, Beethoven, and Ravel that bring the reader insight into what they had in common and their differences. These insights invigorate these standard pieces and bring a greater understanding of how the piano works. Two key themes of the work are who does a pianist play for and what is the present state of piano playing? In this moment when pianists are playing for virtual audiences, we are all revisiting and contemplating the joys of live performance and the relationship between a pianist and the audience.
GREAT PIANISTS ON PIANO PLAYING: GODOWSKY, HOFMANN, LHEVINNE, PADEREWSKI AND 24 OTHER LEGENDARY PERFORMERS
James Francis Cooke
This collection of writings from great pianists on piano playing is invaluable to every piano lover and connects us to what we love so deeply about the piano. Highlights include Busoni's "Important Details in Piano Study", Rachmaninoff's "Essentials of Artistic Playing", Paderewski's "Breadth in Musical Art", Grainger's "Modernism in Pianoforte Study”. It is remarkable to read thorough works from individual pianists, like Charles Rosen’s Piano Notes, but it is also moving and informative to read accounts from such a variety of legendary performers. Like Rosen, Katherine Goodson analyzes masterpieces in her writing excerpt. How do different performers analyze the same masterworks?
GREAT CONTEMPORARY PIANISTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES
Elyse Mach
This book is the ideal companion to Great Pianists on Piano Playing. The work is a collection of 25 interviews and 50 photographs by Elyse Mach with legendary pianists. Pianists interviewed in this volume include Claudio Arrau, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Alfred Brendel, John Browning, Alicia de Larrocha, Misha Dichter, Rudolf Firkušný, Glenn Gould, and more.
The world of piano is invigoratingly vast, there is always more to learn. Connecting with these musical giants brings us closer to the music and is deeply comforting. We’d love to hear from you, please let us know if you curl up with any of these classics.