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A carregar... The Great Pianists: From Mozart to the Present (1963)por Harold C. Schonberg
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Adira ao LibraryThing para descobrir se irá gostar deste livro. Ainda não há conversas na Discussão sobre este livro. Another indispensable work by Schonberg. Really gives you some idea of how the great pianists of the past (and a few of the present) approached their work and what the pre-recording era ones probably sounded like. This was especially interesting to me since my daughter is studying the piano, and though not a musician myself, I was fascinated by Schonberg's narrative, which includes lots of memorable anecdotes. Doesn't require a music degree to appreciate, and anyone with a hankering for some fine writing needs to discover Schonberg. I found this book fascinating. It doesn't concentrate on biographical details of the great pianists, but rather on their personalities, idiosyncracies and their piano playing style as described by those who heard (and saw) them. There's some delightful titbits in there, such as the fact that Liszt was a handsome man with long hair, who would throw his hands around, and toss his hair over his face, make dramatic gestures and fierce grimaces while playing. Ladies would swoon and scream and throw their jewellery on the stage while he played. The first rock star? As well as anecdotes like that, the book is also a history of piano playing, from the piano's invention in Bach's day, until the time of writing, which was the 1980s. It gives a clear picture of the changes from baroque to classical to romantic to modernist. As a piano player, I found some fascinating insights there too, such as that it's a relatively new idea that the performer should slavishly adhere to what's written on the score - it was the norm for over a century to embellish and enforce one's own personality onto the music. My only complaint is that the book finishes too soon - reading it now, I feel like I'm missing out on the rest of the story - it was written squarely in the modernist period, which I'm sure is over now. What are we at now? Post-modernist? Neo-romantic? Eclectic? I'd love someone to tell me. sem críticas | adicionar uma crítica
From Mozart's fabulous legato that "flowed like oil" to Beethoven's oceanlike surge, from Clara Schumann's touch "sharp as a pencil sketch" to Rubinstein's volcanic and sensual playing, The Great Pianists brings to life the brilliant, stylish, and sometimes eccentric personalities, methods, and technical peculiarities of history's greatest pianists. Pulitzer Prize-winning critic and author Harold C. Schonberg presents vivid accounts of the artists' performances, styles, and even their personal lives and quirky characteristics-- such as Mozart's intense competition with Clementi, Lizst's magnetic effect on women (when he played, ladies flung their jewels on stage), and Gottschalk's persistent nailbiting, which left the keys covered with blood. Including profiles of Horowitz and Van Cliburn, among others, and chapters detailing the playing and careers of such modern pianists as de Larrocha, Ashkenazy, Gilels, Gould, Brendel, Bolet, Gutierrez, and Watts, The Great Pianists is a comprehensive and fascinating look at legendary performers past and present. Não foram encontradas descrições de bibliotecas. |
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Google Books — A carregar... GénerosSistema Decimal de Melvil (DDC)786.10922The arts Music Keyboard, mechanical, electronic, percussion instruments Great PianistsClassificação da Biblioteca do Congresso dos EUA (LCC)AvaliaçãoMédia:
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All pianists should read this! It's so much fun to read, and that really makes everything you read about stick.
When you read about Evgeny Kissin having 'potential' and the 'recent' winners of the Chopin competition not seeming to have much 'promise' you realise how long ago this was written, though! ( )