Piano [Hardcover]

Louis Kentner (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Schirmer Books (June 1976)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0028714202
• ISBN-13: 978-0028714202
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,778,801 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Off the cuff, January 4, 2005

By 

Michael K. "smichaelk" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Piano (Yehudi Menuhin music guides) (Hardcover)

Kentner warns the reader that this book is more a set of observations and opinions gleaned from experience than a reference, and it can be thought of, aside from the early chapters on piano construction and development thereof, as a series of essays on pianistic subjects.

The writing style is undisciplined, however. The frequent use of foreign phrases (not musically related) without translation is ostentatious, and certain prejudices are strongly or repetitively expressed without much justification (the first sonata of Chopin is called "childish" three times in two pages). A few clumsy turns of phrase ("in actual fact...") should have been edited out. An admitted digression attempts in a single page to demonstrate a "Schubert-Liszt affinity" solely on the basis of enharmonic modulations. The Paganini caprices would not have entranced so many later composers if they were "mostly poor creations."

The early chapter on the process of piano tuning was enlightening in its succinctness. The author's knowledge of pedagogy is evident in several references, which are nonetheless imprecise in origin.

I am not sure if the later edition amends this, but it is interesting that in 1976 (after the deaths of all three) the oeuvres of Bartok, Stravinsky, and Prokofiev are encompassingly called "controversial."