Music for the Piano

James Friskin | 4.75 | 17 ratings and reviews

Ranked #37 in Ravel, Ranked #50 in Bach

Seven years in the making, this classic survey of music for the piano is the most comprehensive manual of its kind in English. It achieves a well-rounded treatment of the entire spectrum of the pianistic repertoire, from the pavanes and galliards of Byrd and Gibbons to the bewildering diversity of forms composed today. In a format making for quick and easy reference, it comprises direct and carefully researched brief characterizations of every major work, as well as an enormous number of minor works, composed for the piano by more than 500 composers between 1580 and 1952. The annotations to each piece touch on form, type of fingerwork, degree of difficulty, technical requirements and interpretative treatment, and always include the publisher's name. Critical essays on periods and styles appear where necessary.
No other single publication covers such a wide range of material. Not only the solo piano literature is included, but also works for four hands at one and two pianos as well as concertos for piano and orchestra. The selection has many remarkable features, not least of which is a comprehensive view of Latin American music that sends the pianist beyond Villa-Lobos to the works of such lesser-known masters as Bosmans, Paz, Ginastera, Guarnieri, and the Castros. In the case of such outstanding composers of keyboard music as Scarlatti, J. S. Bach, Handel, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Debussy, and Ravel, there is a short section with a separate list of earlier compositions, as a guide to the student. The piano outputs of Mozart, Schumann, Chopin, Brahms, Debussy, Ravel, and Bartók are listed almost entire. And the numerous lesser-known composers of individual worth — Portugal's Carlos Seixas, America's Edward MacDowell, Britain's John Ireland, Poland's Karol Szymanowski, and many others — help make this manual an almost unfathomable cornucopia for the pianist.
This is an indispensable volume for all performers, teachers, and students of the piano, to be referred to constantly throughout a lifetime. "It should be the constant companion of every pianist and teacher." — Virgil Thomson. "This book should be an eye-opener for those who seek piano repertory. The best and fullest listing of piano repertory available in English and well set up for quick reference." — Catherine Keyes Miller, Librarian, New York Public Library." less

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