Customer Reviews

Great Contemporary Pianists Speak for Themselves (Dover Books on Music)

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It gives us a cross section of the views of the great ( some not so great ) artists as to how they see the piano, pianist(s) and piano music.

So Gilels never quite recognised Neuhaus as his teacher; Bolet had high esteem for Moiseiwitsch other than Rachmaninoff; Arrau was an admirer of Edwin Fischer; Kocsis upholding Richter while despising ( and he is not alone) Horowitz for he made use of music and composers instead of serving them, he also refers us to the music of Bartok; Pogorelich telling us the fixing of the piano competitions result; Ashkenazy touching on the Russian artists' soft spot and a lot more... Amusing as well as instructive. Almost a must for all serious pianist.

This is a very good and interesting book for all pianists and lovers of piano music. Although all the interviews are by the author are polite and hardly provocative, each of the (very different!) personalities provide both entertaining comments and valuable insight.