Customer Reviews

Reflections from the Keyboard: The World of the Concert Pianist

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a must-read for anyone who has ever been interested in the piano, the virtuosi or even the cult of the personality. Here are all the pianistic legends of the late 20th century revealed. Abbey Simon tells how his 8 year old son was his worst critic, Byron Janis explains how he become Horowitz's student, and Rosalyn Turek (a pianist whom I revere) reveals how discovering her interpretive method for playing Bach (which she does better than anybody) came to her in a fever. Each interview gives a clear and telling picture of the artist. Some are stern, some distant and aloof, some quite full of joie-de-vivre, and Dubal etches these personalities clearly in print. Belongs on every music lover's bookshelf.

As a professional pianist, I found this book to be both inspiring and myth-breaking. Enjoyed every page, and particularly every contradiction that was presented amongst the different pianists. Abundant and detailed information on a number of composers and pieces. A must for anyone who has ever loved the piano.

An absorbing series of dialogues with major pianists, these conversations elucidate the often elusive art of the concert pianist from varying perspectives. Of interest to both musician and music-lover. Why has this book not been kept in print?

As a professional pianist, I found this book to be both inspiring and myth-breaking. Enjoyed every page, and particularly every contradiction that was presented amongst the different pianists. Abundant and detailed information on a number of composers and pieces. A must for anyone who has ever loved the piano.

There is a lot of substance in Mr Wo's comments. Sometimes, the author's poor line of questioning is symbolised by his sickening drawings of the interviewed pianists.

Having said that, this book is much better than his "Conversations with Menuhin" which is really making a ridicule of both Menuhin and himself by too much showing-off. In this book, there is sufficient balance between the interviewer and the interviewees, the pianists. There are dozens of them. All of them except one or two are great pianists of our age. They still have ample room to refute or correct the author and to bring their points home.

There is little harm in turning a deaf ear to whatever the author says unless it is inevitable for the understanding of the answers. And despite the auther's strong bias, the book contains boundless advice on piano teaching and playing, overbrimming with first hand views of top pianists of our day from the German, French and Russian schools which alone are interesting enough.

Could you otherwise imagine that Kissin likes Schnabel's or even Rachmaninov's playing, or his teacher regrets that she advised against him learning composition? Do you know how Larrocha's see piano competitions or indeed the career of a pianist? How did Arrau receive Busoni on the piano and why he recorded so little Bach? Do you know (some of the reasons)why Brendel seldom plays any Chopin or Debussy? Or what happened to Berman behind the iron curtain despite Gilels named him the best pianist among himself and Richter...? This is just to name a few. They are simply not to be missed by any serious or even amateur painists.

One star for the author but five for any of the interviewees.

Julliard school faculty, Mr. Dubal again wrote very interesting book for piano enthusiasts. Since this is a bunch of dialogues with modern famous concert pianists, this actually contains a lot of gossips (if you do not like this word, simply replace it by "real life"). Fun to read. What I do not really appreciate is portraits of pianists by Mr. Dubal's own pen. He should study anatomy of human face if he wants to show off his drawing ability. Anyway this is really worth to buy.

A very important historical document, preserving the thoughts and attitudes of the world's greatest musicians. If you are a performing musician and you haven't read this book, you will find amazing insight and comfort in its pagest. Alternately, if you love classical music, this is a must read.

I was quite surprised by the high rating of this book by other readers. This book is composed by a series of interviews (at least it seems that way) with pianists. Dubal, the interviewer, often asks close ended questions like "is it true that...?", "did you ever...?", which leave the interviewees very little room to express. Dubal also uses a huge portion of this book to show off his knowledge of piano music and history, which ruins the purpose of this book. One worst example, in the interview with Horowirtz, Dubal asked Horowitz if he had premiered Prokofiev's sonatas in America. Horowitz answered "Yes, the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth". Dubal then said, "Those are called the War Sonatas". It's difficult to believe that Dubal would say such silly thing in an interview with Horowitz, and it really ruined my appetite to continue reading.

I find the interviews dull and not personal. Dubal is very well prepared but he left the pianists very little room to show the real self and their deeper thoughts of music.

This might have been a better book if Dubal collects all materials from these "interviews" and objectively rewrites them into essays.

I have been checking the first edition of this book out of the library for years and finally decided to get my own copy.
I really enjoy reading about all of the pianists and like the interview method used. However, I was disappointed in the drawings of the pianists and would have preferred the old photographs used in the first edition. The drawing of Glenn Gould was such a let down when compared to the lovely photograph of Glen enjoying his music that was used in the first edition.

Mr.Dubal here reveals fascinating dialogs with concertists, full of information and entertainment.