|
Books > Arts & Architecture > Music > Musical instruments & instrumental ensembles > Keyboard instruments
Paris at the turn of the 20th century was obsessed with the
interrelations of the arts. It was a time when artists and writers
spoke of poetry as music, sounds as colors, and paintings as
symphonies. The music of Claude Debussy, with its unique textures
and dazzling colors, was the perfect counterpart to the bold new
styles of painting in France. Paul Roberts probes the sources of
Debussy's artistic inspiration, relating the "impressionist" titles
to the artistic and literary ferment of the time. He also draws on
his own performing experience to touch on all the principal
technical problems for a performer of Debussy's piano music. His
many suggestions about interpreting the music will be particularly
valuable to performers as well as listeners.
Johana Harris was a musical prodigy who began her education in her
native Canada, then moved to New York at the age of 12. The
youngest student ever admitted to the Juilliard Graduate School of
Music, Harris was destined for greatness on the world stage.
However, exploitation by her mother and then by her husband Roy
Harris, coupled with the prejudice shown women during the mid-20th
century kept her from achieving that pinnacle. Johana Harris: A
Biography brings to light the life of an unheralded musical genius,
as well as providing new information on her husband Roy Harris,
about whom very little is known. This revealing look at the lives
of two important musicians who were referred to in the middle years
of the last century as "Mr. and Mrs. American Music" is the first
book published about these two people.
This volume contains valuable practice material for candidates
preparing for the ABRSM Grade 2 Piano exams. The book is written in
attractive and approachable styles and representative of the
technical level expected in the exam.
The Romantic pianist-the solo pianist who plays nineteenth-century
piano music-has become an attractive figure in the popular
imagination, considering the innumerable artworks, literature, and
films representing this performer's seductive allure. Dreams of
Love pursues a wide-ranging interdisciplinary approach to
understanding the "romantic" pianist as a cultural icon, focusing
on the role of technology in producing and perpetuating this
mythology over the past two centuries. Sound recording and cinema
have shaped the pianist's music and image since the early twentieth
century, but these contemporary media technologies build upon
practices established during the early nineteenth century: the
influence of the piano keyboard on early telegraphs and
typewriters, the invention of the solo recital alongside
developments in photography, and the ways that piano design and the
placement of the instrument on stage structure our
viewing-listening perspectives. The concept of technology can be
broadened to include the performance of gender and sexuality as
further ways of making the pianist into an attractive cultural
figure. The book's three sections deal with the touch, sights, and
sounds of the Romantic pianist's playing as mediated through
various forms of technology. Analyzing these persistent
Liebestraume and exploring how they function can reveal their
meaning for performers, audiences, and music lovers of the past and
present too.
English keyboard music reached an unsurpassed level of
sophistication in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth
centuries as organists such as William Byrd and his students took a
genre associated with domestic, amateur performance and treated it
as seriously as vocal music. This book draws together important
research on the music, its sources and the instruments on which it
was played. There are two chapters on instruments: John Koster on
the use of harpsichord during the period, and Dominic Gwynn on the
construction of Tudor-style organs based on the surviving evidence
we have for them. This leads to a section devoted to organ
performance practice in a liturgical context, in which John Harper
discusses what the use of organs pitched in F may imply about their
use in alternation with vocal polyphony, and Magnus Williamson
explores improvisational practice in the Tudor period. The next
section is on sources and repertoire, beginning with Frauke
Jurgensen and Rachelle Taylor's chapter on Clarifica me Pater
settings, which grows naturally out of the consideration of
improvisation in the previous chapter. The next two contributions
focus on two of the most important individual manuscript sources:
Tihomir Popovic challenges assumptions about My Ladye Nevells Booke
by reflecting on what the manuscript can tell us about aristocratic
culture, and David J. Smith provides a detailed study of the famous
Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. The discussion then broadens out into
Pieter Dirksen's consideration of a wider selection of sources
relating to John Bull, which in turn connects closely to David
Leadbetter's work on Gibbons, lute sources and questions of style.
Original and brilliant study...Anyone interested in keyboard
instruments of any kind will find in it a great fund of information
and insight into matters of general musical interest, especially
the performance of Bach's music. EARLY MUSIC TODAY Friederich
Griepenkerl, in his 1844 introduction to Volume 1 of the first
complete edition of J. S. Bach's organ works, wrote: "Actually the
six Sonatas and the Passacaglia were written for a clavichord with
two manuals and pedal, an instrument that, in those days, every
beginning organist possessed, which they used beforehand, to
practice playing with hands and feet in order to make effective use
of them at the organ. It would be a good thing to let such
instruments be made again, because actually no one who wants to
study to be an organist can really do without one." What was the
role of the pedal clavichord in music history? Was it a cheap
practice instrument for organists or was Griepenkerl right? Was it
a teaching tool that helped contribute to the quality of organ
playing in its golden age? Most twentieth-century commentary on the
pedal clavichord as an historical phenomenon was written in a kind
of vacuum, since there were no playable historical models with
which to experiment and from which to make an informed judgment. At
the heart of Bach and the Pedal Clavichord: An Organist's Guide are
some extraordinary recent experiments from the GAteborg Organ Art
Center (GOArt) at GAteborg University. The Johan David Gerstenberg
pedal clavichord from 1766, now in the Leipzig University museum,
was documented and reconstructed; the new copy was then used for
several years as a living instrument for organ students and
teachers to experience. On thebasis of these experiments and
experiences, the book explores, in new and artful ways, Bach's
keyboard technique, a technique preserved by his first biographer,
J. N. Forkel (1802), and by Forkel's own student, Griepenkerl. It
also sifts and weighs the assumptions and claims made for and aga
Written late in his life, J. S. Bach's The Art of Fugue has long
been admired-in some quarters revered-as one of his masterworks.
Its last movement, Contrapunctus 14, went unfinished, and the
enigma of its incompleteness still preoccupies scholars and musical
conductors alike. In 1881, Gustav Nottebohm discovered that the
three subjects of the movement could be supplemented by a fourth.
In 1993, Zoltan Goencz revealed that Bach had planned the passage
that would join the four subjects in an entirely unique way. This
section has not survived, but, as Goencz notes, it must have been
ready in the earliest phase of composition since Bach had created
the expositions of the first three subjects from its "disjointed"
parts. Goencz then boldly took on the task of reconstructing the
original "template" by putting together the once separate pieces.
In Bach's Testament: On the Philosophical and Theological
Background of The Art of Fugue, Goencz probes the
philosophic-theological background of The Art of Fugue, revealing
the special structures that supported the 1993 reconstruction.
Bach's Testament investigates the reconstruction's metaphysical
dimensions, focusing on the quadruple fugue. As a summary of Zoltan
Goencz's extensive research over many years, which resulted in the
completion of the fugue, this work explores the complex
combinatorial, philosophical and theological considerations that
inform its structure. Bach's Testament is ideally suited not only
to Bach scholars and musicologists but also intellectual historians
with particular interests in 18th-century religious and
philosophical ideas.
In Sonata Fragments, Andrew Davis argues that the Romantic sonata
is firmly rooted, both formally and expressively, in its Classical
forebears, using Classical conventions in order to convey a broad
constellation of Romantic aesthetic values. This claim runs
contrary to conventional theories of the Romantic sonata that place
this nineteenth-century musical form squarely outside inherited
Classical sonata procedures. Building on Sonata Theory, Davis
examines moments of fracture and fragmentation that disrupt the
cohesive and linear temporality in piano sonatas by Chopin, Brahms,
and Schumann. These disruptions in the sonata form are a narrative
technique that signify temporal shifts during which we move from
the outer action to the inner thoughts of a musical agent, or we
move from the story as it unfolds to a flashback or flash-forward.
Through an interpretation of Romantic sonatas as temporally
multi-dimensional works in which portions of the music in any given
piece can lie inside or outside of what Sonata Theory would define
as the sonata-space proper, Davis reads into these ruptures a
narrative of expressive features that mark these sonatas as
uniquely Romantic.
In From Bach's Goldberg to Beethoven's Diabelli: Influence and
Independence, music scholar and noted pianist Alfred Kanwischer
gives readers an extended exploration in which each of Beethoven's
33 pieces that comprise the Diabelli Variations (Op. 120) is
caringly examined and assessed for its ingredients, actions,
personality, and influence on the whole. Counterpoint abounds, not
only in the fugal variations, which are closely parsed, but
throughout the Diabelli, revealing the noticeably Baroque character
of the technical compositional devices Beethoven employs.
Throughout his study, Kanwischer integrates comparisons with Bach's
immortal Goldberg Variations. Both sets stand alone as among the
greatest keyboard variations in the Western canon. During their
creation, both composers were nearly the same age, at the zenith of
their art, and in similarly felicitous frames of mind.Kanwischer
underscores twenty essential similarities, from the use of melody
and melodic outline and the comparability among variations in size,
parallel design, ebullient outlook, increasing contrasts, daring
virtuosic flights, Shakespearean blend of comic and tragic, and
their respective cumulative rises to spiritual transcendence. From
Bach's Goldberg to Beethoven's Diabelli takes readers on a journey
of discovery that is lively and stimulating. It considers not only
questions of influence but those of insight and understanding,
offering a work useful not only as a reference but as a guide to
performers, music instructors and devotees. This work also includes
70 visually annotated interpretive musical examples as aids to
understanding.
The Keyboard Play-Along Series will help you play your favorite
songs as played by your favorite artists quickly and easily. Just
follow the music in the book, listen to the CD to hear how the
keyboard should sound, and then play along using the separate
backing tracks. The melody and lyrics are also included in the book
in case you want to sing, or to simply help you follow along. The
audio CD is playable on any CD player. For PC and Mac users, the CD
is enhanced so you can adjust the recording to any tempo without
changing pitch! This volume contains 8 songs: Break on Through to
the Other Side * Hello, I Love You (Won't You Tell Me Your Name?) *
L.A. Woman * Light My Fire * Love Me Two Times * People Are Strange
* Riders on the Storm * Roadhouse Blues.
Presenting a fresh approach to French organ music, David Ponsford
analyses the repertory from the reign of Louis XIV by genre. The
colourful French organ was so consistent in design that the very
titles of pieces that were constituent parts of organ masses,
Magnificats and suites prescribed the registrations: plein jeu,
fugue, duo, recit, trio, fond d'orgue and grand jeu. Particular
examples from published livres d'orgue and important manuscript
collections are analysed chronologically, so that influences from
Italian as well as French sacred and secular music can be traced.
This analysis reveals the dynamic development of compositional
styles in which each composer developed, modified or reacted
against the exemplars of his predecessors. Composers discussed
include Louis Couperin, Francois Couperin, Raison, Clerambault and
Marchand. The reader will gain an enhanced understanding of
performance practices such as notes inegales, fingering and
ornamentation, and the influence of French composers on J. S. Bach.
These two volumes each contain six captivating duets in a variety
of styles including blues, jazz, ragtime and more! Both the primo
and secondo parts are written at the same level of difficulty.
A piece a week Piano Grade 4 is ideal to be used alongside the
Improve your sight-reading! graded piano books to support and
improve the reading skills so fundamental to successful
sight-reading. These fun, short pieces are specifically written to
be learnt one per week. By continually reading accessible new
repertoire, the crucial processing of information and hand-eye
coordination are established and improved, developing confident
sight-reading. The ability to sight-read fluently is a vital skill,
enabling students to learn new pieces more quickly and play with
other musicians. The best-selling Improve your sight-reading!
series, by renowned educationalist Paul Harris, is designed to
develop sight-reading skills, especially in the context of graded
exams.
Practice, practice, practice to play like Chopin or the Piano Man
The piano will help you add a touch of fun to your life, impress
your friends at parties, and even reduce stress. It even makes you
better at math (really!). Piano Exercises For Dummies is at your
service as you learn to make those 88 black and white keys sing.
You'll get a quick overview of the basics before diving into
practice routines and sample songs that you can use to improve your
skill, whatever your level. This book gives you online access to
audio files of the exercises along with digital access to the sheet
music shared in the book. Learn from an experienced pianist,
composer, and arranger, and start making beautiful music, the
Dummies way! Refresh your knowledge of the piano basics so you're
poised and prepared to play the right way Play enjoyable practice
exercises and songs designed to teach specific skills and
techniques in all genres Go online to access all the audio files,
anytime, anywhere Bring a little more joy into your life by
stepping up your piano know-how Piano Exercises For Dummies is for
new and experienced pianists alike, and useful for improving your
skill in any musical style.
(Piano Collection). This new volume in Schirmer's Library of
Musical Classics presents 26 preludes, 21 nocturnes and 19 waltzes
a large amount of music at a value price. There are new urtext
editions of seven pieces included, not edited by Joseffy in his
original Schirmer editions: Prelude in A-flat Major (1834),
Nocturne in C-sharp minor (1830), Nocturne in C minor (1837), and
Waltzes in A-flat Major (1830), E-flat Major (1830), E-flat Major
(1840), and A minor (1843).
This is the story of one woman's accidental career as a cocktail
lounge piano player. Connecting the people she has met with the
places she has played and the pianos she has known Robin Meloy
Goldsby discovers the human side for better or worse of her
audiences a mobsters and moguls the down-and-out the downright
scary and ordinary people dealing with life in extraordinary ways.
Recent scholarship has vanquished the traditional perception of
nineteenth-century Britain as a musical wasteland. In addition to
attempting more balanced assessments of the achievements of British
composers of this period, scholars have begun to explore the web of
reciprocal relationships between the societal, economic and
cultural dynamics arising from the industrial revolution, the
Napoleonic wars, and the ever-changing contours of British music
publishing, music consumption, concert life, instrument design,
performance practice, pedagogy and composition. Muzio Clementi
(1752-1832) provides an ideal case-study for continued exploration
of this web of relationships. Based in London for much of his life,
whilst still maintaining contact with continental developments,
Clementi achieved notable success in a diversity of activities that
centred mainly on the piano. The present book explores Clementi's
multivalent contribution to piano performance, pedagogy,
composition and manufacture in relation to British musical life and
its international dimensions. An overriding purpose is to
interrogate when, how and to what extent a distinctive British
musical culture emerged in the early nineteenth century. Much
recent work on Clementi has centred on the Italian National Edition
of his complete works (MiBACT); several chapters report on this
project, whilst continuing to pursue the book's broader themes.
|
|