Pianist's Craft

No pianist can experience the full flowering of her art without eventually grappling with those great musical minds who composed specifically for piano. In The Pianists Craft, Richard Anderson collects from his fellow pianist-scholars 19 articles on the teaching, preparation, and performance of works by the greatest composers in the standard piano repertoire. This collection ranges in subject matter from Inge Rosars meditation on playing Bach on the modern keyboard to Gary Amatos assessment of Haydns sonatas, from Christie Skousens review of tone production in Chopin to GwenolynMoks foray into recreating Ravels works on an Erard piano, the same used by Ravel himself.Readers will find essays as well on Mozarts piano compositions, Beethovens sonatas, the influence of Schuberts lieder on his piano works, and works by Schumann, Liszt, Brahms, Debussy, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Bartok, Gershwin, and Crumb. The contributorsall recognized nationally and internationally for their contributions as performing artists, teachers, recording artists, and clinicianswrite thoughtfully about the composers whose work they have studied and played for years. Each author addresses issues unique to the individual composer they have chosen to explore, examining questions of phrasing, tempo, articulation, dynamics, rhythm, color, gesture, lyricism, instrumentation, and genre. Valuable insight is provided into teaching, performing, and preparing these great works.In The Pianists Craft these great artists and teachers answer questions for readers that are otherwise only addressed in conferences, master classes, and private lessons. In this collection of essays, key points of information and instruction are offered with over 200 musical examples included as illustration. The Pianists Craft is intended for teachers and students of the intermediate and advanced levels of piano, instructors and performers at the university level, and those who love piano and piano music generally.