Aristide Cavaille-Coll (1811-1899) is often referred to as the greatest organ builder of all time. The pipe-organ, being the most complicated musical instrument mechanically and tonally, as well as the most expensive, adds significantly to that world's greatest designation. The talents required to be such a person range far from music-making to advanced physics, architecture, and engineering. That, plus the obvious knack to raise vast sums of money. Cavaille-Coll's Monumental Organ Project for Saint Peter's, Rome: Bigger Than Them All, by Ronald Ebrecht, is the story of the quest to build the largest-ever mechanical-action organ in the biggest church at the time. Cavaille-Coll's model for that organ and the book he wrote outlining his proposal are the core of Ebrecht's discussion. Cavaille-Coll bestrode a century as well as an art-form. His century complicated the project with the most intricate, intractable problems. Saint-Peter's Square, now a part of the Vatican City State, was then part of the newly-united Italy, which had just deposed the pope as ruler of the center of Italy and taken the papal lands. The east end of the basilica facing the square and the Tiber became a much disputed boundary. It was a part of the Italian state so hotly contested that the Italian Republicans would not accept the concept of an organ hanged from the basilica wall, lest it shift. Before, or since, has the music sphere ever provoked such a question that could bring nations to swords?

(Faber Piano Adventures ). The 2nd Edition of this ground-breaking book integrates of technique and artistry, giving students the tools for expressive performance. Four effective "Technique Secrets" open the book, followed by engaging technical exercises. The "Artistry Magic" pieces at the end of each unit promote expressive, pianistic playing for the Level 1 student.

for solo violin, upper-voice choir (women's and/or advanced children's choir), with harp, and strings or organ This four-movement work is inspired by the idea of 'Jerusalem' both as a Holy City and a utopian ideal of heavenly peace and seraphic bliss. The composer has selected four biblical texts, in English and Latin, that express different aspects of this vision. This organ part is for use with the reduced instrumentation.

The composer and pianist Michael Finnissy (b. 1946) is an unmistakeable presence in the British and international new music scene, both for his immeasurable generosity as prolific composer for many different types of musicians, major advocate for the works of others, and performer and conductor who has also been a driving force behind ensembles; he was also President of the International Society for Contemporary Music from 1990 to 1996. His vast and enormously varied output confounds those who seek easy categorisations: once associated strongly with the 'new complexity', Finnissy is equally known as composer regularly engaged with many different folk musics, for working with amateur and community musicians, for a long-term engagement with sacred music, or as an advocate of Anglo-American 'experimental' music. Twenty years ago, a large-scale volume entitled Uncommon Ground: The Music of Michael Finnissy gave the first major overview of the output of any 'complex' composer. This new volume brings a greater plurality of perspectives and critical sensibility to bear upon an output which is almost twice as large as it was when the earlier book was published. A range of leading contributors - musicologists, composers, performers and others - each grapple with particular questions relating to Finnissy's music, often in ways which raise questions relating more widely to new music, and provide theoretical foundations for further of study both of Finnissy and other composers.

Piano Pedagogy: A Research and Information Guide provides a detailed outline of resources available for research and/or training in piano pedagogy. Like its companion volumes in the Routledge Music Bibliographies series, it serves beginning and advanced students and scholars as a basic guide to current research in the field. The book will includes bibliographies, research guides, encyclopedias, works from other disciplines that are related to piano pedagogy, current sources spanning all formats, including books, journals, audio and video recordings, and electronic sources.

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.

A collection of Joni Mitchell's finest songs, arranged for piano, voice and guitar.

The Piano Player: British Classics presents 20 iconic pieces of British classical music, specially arranged for intermediate piano solo. The collection includes the theme from Enigma Variations by Edward Elgar and Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis alongside music by Rachel Portman, Benjamin Britten, Howard Goodall and more, as well as traditional classics from across the British Isles. All the books in The Piano Player series feature a collectible pull-out print of the stunning cover artwork by the 20th century British painter Edward Bawden, alongside some of the greatest classical music ever written, specially arranged for the intermediate pianist.

EPTA's The Mindful Pianist, by Mark Tanner, presents amateurs and professionals with a fresh perspective on playing and performing. Applying the concept of mindfulness to the piano, this invaluable text explores the crucial connection between mind and body: how an alert, focussed mind fosters playing that is more compelling, more refined and ultimately more rewarding. It tackles the issues encountered by pianists when practising, performing, improvising and preparing for an exam: how to choose repertoire and memorise it; how to set about making an initial survey of a new piece; and how to take a more level-headed view of our aspirations. Drawing on the expert advice of 25 leading pianists and educationalists, this unique book offers a wealth of exercises and musical examples to help every player succeed in becoming a Mindful Pianist. The Mindful Pianist was a 'Best Print Resource' nominee for the 2017 Music Teacher Awards for Excellence.

Puerto Rican born Jesus Maria Sanroma (1902-1984) was one of the leading pianists in the United States. After graduating from the New England Conservatory, he embarked on an enviable concert career as official pianist for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, as well as soloist with other leading American orchestras. He was an accompanist, a recording artist, and a teacher, and he also stimulated and commissioned composers to write new music, fueled by his eagerness to present it to the general public. Jesus Maria Sanroma: An American Twentieth-Century Pianist is the first biography of this talented performer and one of the first books written about a native Puerto Rican classical musician. The book depicts many facets of Sanroma's life: his youth in Puerto Rico; his training at the Conservatory and abroad; his amazing concert career and collaboration with first-class musicians, conductors, and composers; his historical performances and recordings; and the zenith of his musical life when he returned home. Alberto Hernandez provides abundant information about Sanroma's life, career, and professional relationships, uniquely documenting the pianist's close association and collaboration with Paul Hindemith, Serge Koussevitzky, Walter Piston, Nicolas Slonimsky, Vladimir Dukelsky, Mrs. Edward MacDowell, Arthur Fiedler, William Primrose, and many others. Two appendixes offer the complete sound archives and a list of Sanroma's impressive orchestra repertory, making this book a valuable reference as well as an informative read for music lovers and students of American and Latin American history.

This book contains nine pieces from ABRSM's Grade 1 Piano syllabus for 2021 & 2022, three pieces chosen from each of Lists A, B and C. The pieces have been carefully selected to offer an attractive and varied range of styles, creating a collection that provides an excellent source of repertoire to suit every performer. The book also contains helpful footnotes and, for those preparing for exams, useful syllabus information. The enclosed CD features inspiring recordings of all 30 pieces on the Grade 1 syllabus, performed by Nikki Iles, Dinara Klinton, Robert Thompson and Anthony Williams.

Duet for 2 pianos This arrangement has been made from a Soprano recitative and Aria from the Birthday Cantata by Bach. The piece has a fresh and pastoral character and the arrangement for two pianos stays true to Bach's balance between the beautiful melody and tone-painting in the harmonies.

Isolde Ahlgrimm (1914-1995) was an important pioneer in the revival of Baroque and Classical keyboard instruments in her native city, Vienna, and later, throughout Europe and the United States. She trained as a pianist at the Musikakademie in Vienna under the instruction of Viktor Ebenstein, Emil von Sauer and Franz Schmidt. In 1934 she met the musical instrument collector, Dr Erich Fiala, whom she married in 1938. His activities opened up the world of early instruments to her. Using a 1790 fortepiano by Michael Rosenberger, Isolde Ahlgrimm began her career as a specialist on early keyboard instruments with the first in her notable series of Concerte fA1/4r Kenner und Liebhaber, given in Vienna's Palais Palffy in February 1937. Ahlgrimm's career as a harpsichordist also began in 1937, when a new instrument was commissioned from the Ammer brothers in Eisenberg, Germany. In 1943 Ahlgrimm performed her first all-harpsichord programme, which consisted of the Goldberg Variations by J.S. Bach. From 1949 to 1956, she devoted herself to performing and recording nearly all of Bach's harpsichord music for the newly-founded Dutch label, Philips, presenting her new approach to the harpsichord to a wider audience. Ahlgrimm's performances of Baroque music represented a radical departure from the distinctly twentieth-century interpretations by the much more famous Wanda Landowska and her followers. Most obviously, Ahlgrimm's harpsichord performances eliminated frequent registration changes (her instrument had hand stops rather than pedals to change registers), and largely eschewed the massive ritardandi and other anachronistic performance practices that were hallmarks of Landowska's essentially Romantic style. Ahlgrimm researched and emphasized rhetorical traditions on which the music was based. This became more pronounced throughout the course of her later performing, writing and teaching career, and it was the beginning of an approach to the performance of eighteenth-century music which was later further developed by Gustav Leonhardt, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and their students. Peter Watchorn provides an engaging study of this pioneer, and argues that Isolde Ahlgrimm's contribution to the harpsichord and fortepiano revival was pivotal, and that her use of period instruments and the inspiration she instilled in younger musicians, including Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Gustav Leonhardt, has been almost entirely overlooked by the wider musical world.

A new addition to the successful Michael Aaron Piano Course lesson books. These new Performance books are centered around Michael Aaron's original Lesson books and are focused on his original teaching concepts.

This book takes as its historical point of departure the radical appearance in 1779 of technically difficult keyboard music in a set of six sonatas (Op. 2) by Muzio Clementi. The difficult passages contained in this opus are unique amongst keyboard music published for a market that was understood at the time to consist almost entirely of female amateur keyboardists. Previously actively discouraged from practicing or improving their skills due to the restrictive ideologies in place, Clementi's music increasingly affords female pianists a new kind of musical expression. Clementi and the woman at the piano: Virtuosity and the market for music in eighteenth-century London maps the social, musical, and gendered implications of technically difficult music and helps to underline important changes in Enlightenment culture and keyboard practice. Clementi's activities initiated the now familiar and modern concepts of repetitive musical practice, the work-concept, virtuosity itself, and the division between amateur and professional. Additionally, Clementi promotes a radical new mode of expression for female pianists that is at first highly controversial but slowly gains acceptance due to a widespread promotion of his music, instruments, and methods. Clementi's career is in many respects a perfect case study for the tensions between Enlightenment thinking and new Romantic ideologies.

Sometimes pianists would love to play popular songs they enjoy but finding quality arrangements that work for piano can be a real challenge. In The Essential Film Collection, pianist Richard Harris takes 28 classic film songs from across the decades and makes well-crafted and satisfying arrangements for intermediate pianists to enjoy. Hits included the theme song from Rocky, James Bond, Chariots of Fire, and many more!

This book contains nine pieces from ABRSM's Grade 6 Piano syllabus for 2021 & 2022, three pieces chosen from each of Lists A, B and C. The pieces have been carefully selected to offer an attractive and varied range of styles, creating a collection that provides an excellent source of repertoire to suit every performer. The book also contains helpful footnotes and, for those preparing for exams, useful syllabus information. The enclosed CD features inspiring recordings of all 30 pieces on the Grade 6 syllabus, performed by Yulia Chaplina, Mei Yi Foo, Nikki Iles, Dinara Klinton, Charles Owen, Robert Thompson and Richard Uttley.

Noted organist and scholar Anthony Hammond tells the full story, for the first time, of one of the great organists of the twentieth century. Described by his teacher Marcel Dupre as "a phenomenon without equal in the history of the contemporary organ," Pierre Cochereau is considered one of the twentieth century's greatest French organists.This book tells, for the firsttime, the full story of of his extraordinary life and glittering, worldwide career. In 1955 Cochereau was appointed Organiste Titulaire at Notre-Dame de Paris, where he restored the cathedral's musical glory and oversawa far-reaching and controversial transformation of its organ. As a recitalist, he toured South America, Australia, Asia, Canada, and Europe in addition to twenty-five tours of the United States. He was the first western organist to perform in the former Soviet Union., played with many major orchestras under the batons of distinguished conductors, participated in numerous music festivals in Europe, made over eighty recordings, and was one of the founders of the Chartres International Organ Competition. He was honored several times for his achievements, including being named an Officer of the Legion of Honor (1978). A tireless campaigner for standards in music education, Cochereau also served as director at many of France's prominent conservatories, including Le Mans, Lyons, and Nice, which under his directorhsip became one of the leading music schools in France. Biographer AnthonyHammond draws from a variety of of prominent primary sources, notably Marcel Dupre's papers in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, but also from Cochereau's surviving family and friends, and uses recordings and previously overlooked archive films in the Institut National de l'Audiovisuel, France to construct this definitive account and critical appraisal of one of France's most distinguished organists. Anthony Hammond is an English concert organist, improviser, and musicologist who specializes in French Romantic and twentieth-century organ music.

Charles Ives' massive Concord Sonata, his second sonata for piano, named after the town of Concord in Massachusetts, is central to his output and clearly reflects his aesthetic perspective. Geoffrey Block's wide-ranging account of the work thus provides an ideal introduction to this fascinating composer. This handbook discusses the Sonata's reception history and its compositional genesis, as well as providing a detailed account of the work's thematic content, its use of borrowed material, and the degree to which the program is influenced by the Concord Transcendentalists.

(Piano Solo Songbook). 100 pop and classical standards that every piano player should master, including: Air on the G String * Bridge over Troubled Water * Canon in D * Clair de Lune * Fields of Gold * Fur Elise * I Dreamed a Dream * I Will Always Love You * Imagine * Lullaby of Birdland * Memory * Misty * Moon River * On My Own * Over the Rainbow * The Shadow of Your Smile * Smile * Stardust * Summertime * Sunrise, Sunset * Time After Time * Unexpected Song * The Way You Look Tonight * We've Only Just Begun * What a Wonderful World * Yesterday * You Raise Me Up * Your Song * and more