Piano The Books

I purchased this for one of my piano students. He plays one or 2 a week for his lessons because he loves them so much.

this product is a great convenience. It compiles all of Joplins rags in an easy-to-read format with authentic tips for playing each individual piece. It is definitely worth every penny; it's a great addition to any collection. Another interesting thing that this edition includes is the date that the piece was composed. If you want to find some awesome, fun music to play, you can never go wrong with Joplin.

These are the real McCoy, right down to Joplin's own tempo recommendations (the famous "Not too fast" adornes the Peacherine Rag, as in the original). If you want to tackle the master's own works, this is the place to go. Schirmer does a fine job in cataloging these masterpieces, and these are re-engravings of the original scores--crisp, clear and easy to read. This book also contains Joplin's syncopation exercises, helpful in understanding his work.

This is the greatest book I've ever seen on Joplin pieces. These are not for beginners!

The book I remember when I was young. Many great pieces, the book is in excellent condition and was mailed to me very, very quickly. I had the best experience on Amazon yet. Thank you.

A friend of ours from Germany visited for 3 weeks this summer and brought this book. He only has an electric piano so he was excited to play it on a regular piano. The music was so good that I had to get a copy! It is one purchase I don't regret!

I believe this to be the best piano book ever published for easy to intermediate piano. Denes Agay (now dead) is a trusted name for authentic and easy-to-read transcription. The song selection includes the best pieces, including Bach's Minuet in G, Beethoven's Fur Elise, and so many other great songs. The songs range from somewhat easy to intermediate, and the techniques needed vary, so you can use this book for many lessons. I cannot emphasize enough how great of a collection this is.

For years my two daughters have played songs from this book for lesson, tests, and enjoyment. Our copy is so worn out, and yet they keep going back to it again and again. We have saved much money with this one large collection. This book is worth the money several times over. Highest recommendation. Must have.

This book is well edited and fun. It provides enjoyment and has great songs. These include Claire De Lune by Claude Debussy; Rustle of Spring by Christian Sinding; Fur Elise by Ludwig von Beethoven; Prelude in C major by Johann Sebastian Bach and many other great classics. It is apperently well thought out and concise. But what did you expect, it is after all by the great Dr. Denes Agay!

Includes: The Entertainer, Easy Winners, Swipsey, Maple Leaf Rag, Elite Syncopations, Weeping Willow, and more of Joplin. Also contains several cake walks, ... delightful pieces not often heard. This book removed the mystery of ragtime for me, an amature pianist, and I discovered to my great amazement, that, with some effort ... I can play it, even the Maple Leaf!

I am a 14 year old pianist, and I love Ragtime & stride. This is a good collection. It comprises of many Joplin rags, 2 Eubie Blake rags, some James Scott, etc, and some Early Blues. It is one of the biggest ragtime collections available. I am disappointed, however, that some of the later (ie, 1915-25), more advanced ragtime is absent. It really could have used some 'Kitten on the Keys', or 'Cataract Rag' to "break the ice" on what is otherwise a bit of a dull, repetitive folio. What is there is good, but most is basically just the same.

I would instead turn to Dover for some more interesting ragtime folios

What a wonderful collection! I'm an intermediate-level pianist and relative newcomer to ragtime/blues piano. I was looking for a big sample of all these styles, and this is definitely it. Over 300 pages of stuff, in a sturdy book with a spiral binder (a must-have for big piano books!) I've played this book 'til my hands were sore, and there's still lots I haven't gotten to yet!

Contains some of Joplin's good stuff, but that's widely available. What's really neat about this book is the great selection of other ragtimers' best -- James Scott's Grace and Beauty, Great Scott Rag, Eubie Blake's Chevy Chase Rag, some other great pieces I'd never heard of.

Also, classic old-time blues included, such as W.C. Handy's Memphis Blues and St. Louis Blues, Ballin' The Jack, Tiger Rag, etc.

Also, some wonderful pieces called Cake Walks; kinda like ragtime but slower. Really lovely stuff!

The Library of Ragtime and Early Blues by Amy Appleby and Peter Pickow is Outstanding.

As a New York school music educator, this is the best and most complete musical tribute of this era that I have seen. It deserves 10 stars and will definitely be a fantastic addition to add to your home music library. I highly recommend it for the more advanced piano student since ragtime and blues can often be a bit challenging to play.

The book has a beautiful introduction, table of contents (grouped by composer) and index. I like the fact that the name is printed on the edge of the white plastic binding, making it easy to find on a book shelf. All of the Amsco books in the library series that I own are attractively the same height. Each and every "rag" in this book is not only fun and exciting to play but appears to be easy on the eyes due to the fact that it is printed clearly on heavy, white bond paper.

My favorite ragtime composer is Scott Joplin. To my delight, there are 22 of his original compositions in this book. I began playing my favorite of all ragtime pieces, "The Maple Leaf Rag" the minute I received this book as a gift. It was the best gift ever! I didn't even know that Scott Joplin wrote a "Wall Street Rag." I liked the annotations over the different sections of this piece, such as "brokers feeling melancholy" or "good times have come."

I would be remiss if I didn't mention some of the other 40 composers in this book such as James Scott, W.C. Handy, Joseph Lamb, Scott Hayden, Irving Berlin, Tom Turpin and Eubie Blake, etc. There is also a whole section on Ragtime songs, such as Irving Berlin's "Alexander's Ragtime Band" along with cakewalks, classic rags, blues rags and folk rags. I have hours of enjoyment ahead of me.

This is a great book for the serious player. I would reccomend it for the player who has been playing the saxophone for minimum 2-3 years. It includes some great songs such as Minas Tirith and Into the West! Overall, its an excellent book!

This is a wonderful score book for violin with piano accompaniment. Inside there is a removable section with just the violin sheet music and it comes with a cd with a demo and back-up music to play along with. I truly recommend this for anyone who plays violin. I enjoy the Lord of the Rings, but I also feel that the music is beautiful on its own.

The best I ever played !! Very easy to play and original the film !!!!

Personally, I have really enjoyed this piano book. The pieces are meant to be accompaniments for instruments such as trumpet or clarinet, but they contain enough of the melody that they can be enjoyed on their own. "Concerning Hobbits" has to be the highlight of this collection. I have been playing piano for four years and am concidered intermediate to late intermediate, and this is exactly my level. If you are not that advanced, you can pick through the melody line written above the music. There are some very neat pictures in this book too. I would reccomend this selection very highly. (I would have given it 4.5 stars, but you can't give half stars.)

Fantastic!

This sheet music book is almost perfect - it features guitar chords for all songs, and the piano music is not too easy and not too hard.

However, the lyrics of some songs are different to those on the CD of the original London production.

The book itself is just like a program of the show, and the first few pages have many colour pictures of the London stage production.

Awesome show, great price, wonderful music!

The play Miss Saigon alone is definitley one of the most heart felt and amazing produtions ever to be created for the stage. Having most of the songs to own in this piano/vocal book is fantastic, except I dont really like the lyrics for "Now That I've Seen Her," for I much prefer the ones Claire Moore sings on the original london cast soundtrack. Each song is unique, and there is something for pretty much every voice range in here. I am proud to own these choral selections and am so happy they were available to buy. Truly the some of the best music ever to hit broadway.

I saw Miss Saigon on Broadway, and it was a wonderful experience, the best musical i've ever seen. The music is very great, and being able to play it on the piano and sing it is simply wonderful.

Miss Saigon contains some of the most beautiful music ever to be performed on a Broadway stage. This book contains most of the music from the show, but considering the whole thing is sung, it would be impossible to contain it all at a resonable price.
The music is wonderful, and is an essential for many singers of musical theatre. Especially for mezzos.

The recent winner of an international piano competition is featured on several Youtube videos. The user comments are overwhelmingly spectacular... "better than Horowitz", "perfect", "a dream", "extraordinary", etc, etc. In a way, we can understand these favorable comments, as the laureate has a magnificent technique, and does, for the most part, observe the composer's indications. Given that, it is not easy to ruin a great composition. But is that enough? One measure of the greatness of a musical composition is the opportunities it affords players, its breadth of interpretive possibilities, the invitation to explore.

The pianist in question lacks one quality that used to be, and should still be demanded of a great artist. In a word... "penetration". There is no sense that this pianist's performances reflect the fruits of a searching musical intellect. They are musical, but homogenously so. Yes, he is still young, but as they say, "show me the child and I'll show you the man". Josef Hofmann's early recordings are often criticized for their "coldness", but even in those early recordings we can hear the same qualities that led admirers of his mature recordings to call his style "patrician".

Many pianists of the past, who may be heard in early recordings, show this penetration in the unique personality of their conceptions. These conceptions are made possible by the close connection the artists have enjoyed with the leading exponents of 19th century tradition, and the musical sensibilities and subtle technical resources, involving dynamic range and variety of touch, that have been passed along to them. This is not a question of overused rubato, or a generally outmoded style that has seen its day. It is a question of approach. No pianist typifies this approach more than Moriz Rosenthal, one of the great Liszt pupils, previously having studied with Rafael Joseffy and the Chopin pupil Karol Mikuli (Joseffy and Mikuli are familiar to all pianists as editors of Chopin's works).

Most young pianists are simply not exposed to artists like Rosenthal. We cannot be expected to know the juicy goodness of a great tomato when we have never been to a farmer's market, but have only been shown the supermarket! Mark Mitchell and Allan Evans' "Moriz Rosenthal in Word and Music" will go a long way towards correcting this. It should be required reading for all who love music (pianist, instrumentalist, vocalist or serious listener) and want an intimate and multi-faceted view, foibles and all, of one great artist who could plumb the musical depths.

My enthusiasm for this book is based on one crucial aspect... its reliance on primary sources, and the breadth of the man these sources reveal. The editors include Rosenthal's unpublished autobiographical fragment, various other short writings by Rosenthal, many published for the first time here, and a generous helping of perceptive concert reviews. One negative review resulted in an amusing (and revealing) back and forth between the protesting Rosenthal and a critic for the London Times, who had the last word, in spades. These reviews show that Rosenthal was not for everybody (who is??), but all praised his omega level of virtuosity and pianistic range... and not least, his abundance of interpretive input.

The book offers unparalleled personal reminiscences of such musical greats as Joseffy, Mikuli, Liszt, Busoni, Tausig, Korngold (pere et fils), Mahler, and exceptional memories of meetings with a prickly, if not mean-spirited, Johannes Brahms. Rosenthal even writes of his audience, at age 13, with the highly regarded Chopin pupil Princess Marcelina Czartoryska (then 58 years old. Chopin would have been only 65!), and his disappointment when she left off playing Chopin's e minor Concerto for him just when the knotty passagework was about to begin, with the comment (in Polish), "et cetera"... Rosenthal at his catty best!

But the riches of this book go far beyond Rosenthal's personal memories of his contemporaries. Rosenthal's own deep views of piano music and its interpretation are fascinating and rewarding. We also meet up with numerous examples of the most biting, sarcastic tongue of any musician ever, mainly directed against his colleagues! My personal favorite: While attending an obviously less than riveting concert, Rosenthal could not help but notice the loud snoring of a nearby audience member. He turned to him and said, "For pity's sake, don't snore so loudly or you'll wake up the whole audience!"

The subject matter in the book is far too wide-ranging to summarize here, but it all makes for absorbing reading... and not just for specialists. This book is a page turner, moving through a series of colorful articles by Rosenthal, as well as by writers who, like Rosenthal, wrote with style, to be read with enjoyment. Rosenthal pupil Charles Rosen provided a valuable and informative preface, while the editors wrote the engaging introduction. To top it all off, Mr. Evans has supplied a CD of Rosenthal performances, processed with the same care and attention to clarity he lavishes on his wonderful historical offerings on the Arbiter label. These recordings by Rosenthal underpin and potentiate everything written in the book, and indeed speak a thousand words... what playing! We may not all agree with everything we hear in Rosenthal's performances, but we will definitely all pay attention. Many will have their ears opened, and learn what it means to be truly great.

Apart from the delightful shorter Chopin, Schubert, and Liszt works, and his famously suave and fleet-fingered rendition of his own "Blue Danube" transcription, a standout performance on the CD is one which has been much maligned. This is Rosenthal's recording of Chopin's b minor Sonata, made when the pianist was 77 years old. Critics have made much of the aging pianist's ebbing technical mastery. Such criticism misses the point, and is symptomatic of the superficial perception of art, generally, in our time. In fact, the advanced age of the pianist contributes to the heroic dimensions of the performance... an epic display of the Spirit at once disregarding and conquering the Flesh. Furthermore, this is Moriz Rosenthal performing one of the finest pieces of music in the piano repertoire. It is therefore, prima facie, a precious document of inestimable musical value. And Rosenthal certainly has more control at 77 than Francis Plante at 89 (and Plante's recordings are a delight!).

The Largo is searching and lyrical, reflecting a lifetime of growing intimacy with this music. Rosenthal was never content to play simply "musically". He gives us his vision of the musical landscape set before him, diverse and ever-changing. Rosenthal exhibits a characteristic common to the best "Golden Age" pianists - he never releases his intellectual grip on the musical flow, never hands off his command to a sort of generally musical "cruise control", as engaged by many lesser pianists such as the aforementioned competition winner. Rosenthal penetrates, and comes up with more.

In the Finale - one of Chopin's most torrential and physically demanding movements - we can only listen in astonishment as the old warrior carries us along from start to finish in one grand, unrelenting sweep, putting today's young competition-gypsies to shame. We are aware that Rosenthal is past his physical prime, but, wonderfully, no accommodations are made, no tempi slackened, no clarity sacrificed to advanced age. If ever a performance demonstrated that the irreplaceable essence of a musical performance is Spirit, this is it!

A Rosenthal discography is included in the book, along with photos and concert programs, as well as a list of his performance repertoire.

Mark Mitchell and Allan Evans have, in short, put together a compendium of original sources that give a rare portrait of one of the greatest performers in history. A must have for all music lovers who want to dig deeper.... and wider.

As co-editor of the book, I am surprised to read a review by Otten in which he wonders who the author might have been. As it is a collection of autobiographical writing, the author is Moriz Rosenthal. Oppen cites an early biography of the pianist: none exists. Alas, this is the down side of the internet: angry amateurs trumpet mis-information and clumsily err in doing so. Mitchell and myself annotated Rosenthal's splendid texts and selected supplementary material.

Previously well-reviewed by Rick, the following excerpts should whet one's appetite for a work I could not put down, history alive, sprinkled with anecdotes of the famous and legendary, Rosenthal's thoughts on life,art,pianism,humanity, insights into an age gone but retrievable if its lessons are learned, hearts are so inclined:

Mikuli,Chopin's student,teaches Rosenthal the master's legatissimo playing in which the sound glows and grows even after the key is released,to which Rosenthal soon adds the heroic utterances of Rubinstein, the spiritualism/vision of Liszt.


Joseffy presents Rosenthal's first Vienna recital:

Chopin F-Minor Concerto (Joseffy 2nd piano)
Beethoven 32 Variations in C Minor
Mendelssohn Prelude and Fugue in F Minor
Chopin Op.10,#5
Chopin Waltz E MInor,Op.Post.
Liszt Au bord d'une source
Liszt La Campanella

Rosenthal remembers:

"Tausig died in July of 1871 of typhoid.His female friends sat by his deathbed in Leipzig.Liszt or Wagner might have transfigured his earthly farewell,but neither of the great masters appeared.Tausig's death shattered a pillar of the pianistic world at that time.The greatest technician of his age had departed,but not wihtout inspiring Brahms in his Paganini Variations.These remained: Liszt,the most universal,spiritual,and still the innovative piano poet;Rubinstein,the most tempermentally glowing,melodically richest,the piano hero mightiest with tone; finally Bulow,the quick-witted,but often technically deficient,and more amusing than spiritual piano analyst;and, from the younger generation,Joseffy,of fairy-like elegance,and Grunfeld,who set himself apart as a virtuoso through his rhythm and his magnificant right-hand octaves." All of whom Rosenthal knew well and heard often.And you can hear Rosenthal.

Hanslick on reviewing a Rosenthal Vienna recital in 1884:"Through many years of acquaintance with modern piano virtuosity I have almost forgotten what it is to be astonished,but I found young Rosenthal's achievements indeed astonishing.His technique scorns the most incredible difficulties,his strength and endurance the most inordinate demands."

A 1900 review of his Don Juan Fanatsie in England: " He hurled forth a Dionysian declaration of war...with that technical power in which he is surpassed by no living performer.After many recalls he was constrained to play once more;and by way of the sharpest possible contrast,he gave Chopin's Berceuse,bringing out all the delicate moonshibe filigree of the right-hand part with infinite subtlety."

Rosenthal: "Whoever breathes in the heady,fiery air of Mozart's or Liszt's enthusiasm will see Don Juan as being as inseperable from his unbridled affirmation of life and audacious glorification of death as,say,Napolean is from his battle roar." No wonder these Golden Agers were,sound,different.

James Huneker,1911: "He is both musical and intellectual.He is a doctor of philosophy,a bachelor of arts.He has read everything,is a linguist,has traveled the globe over,and in conversation his unerring memory and brilliant wit set him as a man apart.To top all these gifts,he plays his instrument magnificantly,overwhelmingly.He is the Napoloean,the conqueror among virtuosi." The Golden Age lesson: to be a pianist apart,first be a man apart.

Rosenthal: "No,the grand manner did not "come in" at one special date, and "go out"at another.The grand manner is, very simply--a grand manner.A manner of playing which forms itself upon grand concepts,makes such concepts personal by grand enthusiasms...a matter of personal convictions,personal inspirations,personal thought... (Any age could produce musicians in the grand manner if only) the representatives of that age will take the trouble to cultivate those habits of thought...The more typical representatives of this modern day seem less concerned with a free outpouring of generous enthusiaisms,than with the practical means of achieving some goal.It is not considered "smart" to give unfettered expressions to one's deepest emotions.The modern school of interpretation has left stark,cragged heroism behind..It strikes, at best,into a sweet,well-regulated field-vale-and -woodland order of feelings..."

Rosenthal: "...There is little heroism in this post-war life;people have grown cynical and dulled.They call heroism a gesture and wonder what is the good of it....the tank mechnism that has crept into today's playing.It has come unconsciously,of course,but,nonetheless, there it is."

Time (Jan.4.1943):"Concert artists, like dogs,always grow to resemble their patrons.Most of today's examples (Gieseking,Casadesus,Serkin,Heifetz) resemble bank presidents or New Deal intellectuals.Most of yesterday's ( Paderewski, dePachmann) resembled haughty princes of noble blood. One lordly,athletic survivor of the time when artists wore royal purple is the orange-whiskered Rosenthal."

Rosenthal: "There is no such thing as a new school of piano playing.The mere fact that one has not studied with Liszt, that one has not heard the Chopin school,and that one has never been priviledged to hear Rubinstein is a colossal drawback and can never constitute in its helpless negativity any claim to distinction or greatness.Having missed the great triumvirate,the pianists of the younger generation are bound to learn from those of us who had the great privilege to study directly or indirectly with these musical and pianistic giants.If they choose to turn away from us they will not harm us, but themselves."

Edward Stevenson,1927: " ...the one man alive who seems to find nothing so hard to play that he cannot make us think it trivial of his effort...But there is no trckery in Rosenthal.Within the hour or so of his pianism,we believe the impossible because of what we ourselves have seen and heard..Rosenthal is today,as ever he was, a superior intellect in his art;often a delightful poet,even a simple pianist.He is a great music-interpreter as well as great executant...in technique, he can occaisionally (at 65) be even closely approached;but he is still unequalled,supreme ,unique,as a sort of changeless phenomenon of virtuosity..."

Rosenthal on Schumann's Carnaval: "It seems amazing that this most popular piece, played by thousands of amatuers and performed publically by hundreds of pianists,should remain for almost all of them a riddle,a literary enigma.The names of Eusebius,Florestan,Chiarina,Estrella,are for them empty sounds.But Schumann is never to conquer by fleet fingers or loose wrist alone.For him your worship and love and the flights of your soul! (If you have them.) In his highest moments Schumann is as deep,as solitary,as ecstatic,as exalted and exalting as Beethoven in his last works..."

Stories of going with Leschetizky, Liszt,Bosendorfer,Bulow to hear Rubinstein play. Long walks with Busoni. Playing Op.111 for,coffees with, Mahler. Meals,drink,some bawdiness with Brahms. Per Joseph Hoffman, Rubinstein said he never knew what technique was until he heard Rosenthal. Brahms permission to play not all, but a selection of, the Paganini Variations in recital (Books I and II have enormous finales so should not play both, per Rosenthal).

The Times,London,1936, after seven recitals in 3 weeks surveying piano music: " To this wide field of the last century's music Mr.Rosenthal's life as been devoted and he has made it his own.The 20th century has developed other types owning different ideals.He can afford to leave them to other interpreters."

You cannot afford to be without this book, and its accompanying cd with his incomparable Schubert, and Blue Danube parphrase, or without the Pearl cd, Rosenthal-Vol.II,also produced by Mr.Evans.

Rosenthal: " Liszt was not a man like others.One always felt that his suggestions came from mystical thought. He saw further than we did, and when he spoke,his thoughts were so well-considered that he gave the impression of seeing with the eye of a creator..."

Rosenthal: " It is not enough to be a true servant of the arts;its masters are what we long for and need."

Amen. But in an age of forced, numbing,egalitarianism, where electronic communication is preferred over conversation and contemplation, where one's success is measured in competiton against others rather than in heroic,lonely pursuit of personal vision, is master an endangered species, rare as the man apart,rare as a creator?

Allow me to start by saying that this is not a "biography" per se. Although the basis of book consists of the previously unpublished memoirs of Moriz Rosenthal (1862-1946), they are quite brief (only 22 pages here) and rather sketchy, ranging from his childhood to the early years of his career.

The book concerns itself with these memoirs, and with filling in the areas not discussed with contemporary magazine or newspaper articles, letters, and other writings by musicians close to Rosenthal.

I would encourage the reader to "begin from the beginning" - to start not with Chapter 1, but before - with the excellently written Preface by pianist and musicologist Charles Rosen. Rosen knew both Rosenthal and his wife very well, having studied with both in childhood.

Rosenthal's importance as a pianist needs no defense among members of the various Internet groups that may be reading this review. To the uninitiated, let me say that his childhood study with Karol Mikuli (one of the more important pupils of Chopin) and his adult study with Franz Liszt gave him many insights into nineteenth-century performance practice. He is considered one of the closest links we have to Chopin to have recorded. His recording career began in his sixties, and although it may not show him "at his best", there is enough evidence there to support his reputation as one of the greats. Some of his technical feats are impressive - at any age.

I do not feel qualified to discuss the "literary merits" of the book itself - the translations appear to be very well done and enjoyable. As the book is a collection of essays, it does not follow a long pattern of narrative. It is an enjoyable read, with many short, self-contained sections. The editors have taken great care to avoid redundancy - Rosenthal evidently used material from previously written articles in other, later articles, without considering that his writings would one day be collected.

The reader looking for Rosenthal's renowned one-liners need not fear. Many are mentioned and the circumstances explained. Some of the more "famous" one-liners that received repeated coverage are tactfully edited out of various articles, to spare us from reading yet again "He plays well, but he's no Paderewski."

Among the writers represented are Eduard Hanslick, James Gibbons Huneker, Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, and a handful of critics who covered Rosenthal's concerts - as well as Rosenthal's "letters to the editor" in response to a few reviews.

There are some interesting revelations here. For example, Rosenthal made the claim that it was Chopin, not Paganini, that drove Liszt back into a period of intense study, and that he did not want the public to know that another pianist had caused this period of soul-searching. True or not, Rosenthal evidently enjoyed sharing this story.

For the curious, I list the tracks on the accompanying CD:

Nocturne in D flat, op. 27/2 (Chopin)
Sonata no. 3 in B minor, op. 58 (Chopin)
Mazurka in C sharp minor, op. 63/3 (Chopin)
Etude in G flat, op. 10 no. 5 (Chopin)
Etude in C, op. 10 no. 1 (Chopin)
Mazurka in G, op. 67 no. 1 (Chopin)
Triana (Albeniz)
Blue Danube Waltz (Strauss-Rosenthal)
Moment musical, op. 94 no. 3 (Schubert)
Soiree de Vienne no. 6 (Schubert-Liszt)
Waltz in C sharp minor, op. 63 no. 1 (Chopin)

The previously unpublished tracks are:
Sonata in B minor, op. 58: Finale (Chopin)
Sonata in B minor, op. 58: Largo (Chopin) from a 1935 BBC broadcast - incomplete
My Joys (Chopin-Liszt)

My major caveat with the CD is that the Chopin B minor, a test pressing from 1939 and previously issued on an RCA Camden LP, does little to enrich Rosenthal's reputation, as has been repeatedly discussed. But the buyer of this book will likely know the story of this recording.

If I give away too many details, one may be tempted not to buy the book. So I won't. I did find interesting one little "psychological" angle - the editors theorize that Rosenthal was obsessed with "the idea of a lesser talent usurping or diminishing the aura of a greater one". He often discussed the Kalkbrenner-Chopin story and the Salieri-Mozart rivalry, and the editors believe that this is shown in his responses to newspaper critics, as well as in his treatment of how Julian Fontana edited Chopin's posthumous works for publication.

Mitchell and Evans have done an excellent job of editing and organizing the articles, eliminating redundancies, and providing generous editorial notes to the text.

An annotated "concertography" (listing of works performed in concert) by Mark Mitchell is included, as well as a discography by Allan Evans - listed alphabetically by composer, and including 78 rpm matrix information where applicable. In the case of the Odeon-Parlophone issues, which appeared stateside on Decca and Columbia, he includes these numbers where possible also.

As a record collector and self-ordained "piano historian" I found the book overall to be a very informative - as well as entertaining - read, and a book to which I will refer often. Very highly recommended.

THis book is a collection of songs that Oscar Peterson approved himself. These transcriptions of classic songs such as "Hymn to Freedom" and "Oscar's boogie" are in it however these transcriptions are for real. They are seriously hard to play because they literally are note for note. Only if you are a seriously good pianist should you get this book. The master of jazz has it hardcore here, no simple stuff. Its the real stuff. On the up side, its magnificent.

I bought this book since Peterson is my favorite jazz pianist, and I'm playing the piano as a small hobby. And - I'm pleased with the book!

The transcriptions, as you might expect, are from a particular recording - 2 performances of the same jazz piece by the same artist will usually sound different... And indeed I have a few CDs in which some of the pieces from the book are performed with different improvisations and in different rhythm. But I did get some of the recordings the book refers to, and indeed the transcriptions are accurate. Note-for-note, as declared in the book. At least for the right hand...
In any case, most of the pieces as they are in the book sound great and cool (if you manage to play them!). Great moves, passages and improvisation techniques that give you a good taste of the musical world of one of the best jazz pianist ever.

I found myself using the passages and the ideas from the book in other jazz pieces, such as those from the Real Books. So performing the pieces as they are isn't the only reward you'll get - it will also improve your improvisation capability and technique in general.

I recommend studying at least a basic jazz theory before trying play from this book, so that you can understand the scales used for improvisations, the progressions and the left hand work done in the book. Besides, some of the pieces don't contain a left hand transcription. But since the technique for the left hand used by Peterson and in the book (tensions and voice spreading, for example) is covered by most theory books, you can easily figure it out by yourself.
There are no transcriptions for the bass line. But chords are written all the way (not all are 100% accurate actually), which makes it easy to play with a bass/guitar player.

As to the required level of playing - all the pieces in the book are hard to very hard to perform. Oscar Peterson was a great virtuous. You'd better work on your technique if you'd like to master them! Those who come from a classical music background will probably find it easier to read and play such scores.
There are no fingering specified, so it might be better for you to write down the fingering for the hard passages and such.

The accompanying CD is pretty helpful. It contains the piano parts performed exactly as they are written in the book, in the left channel (not performed by Peterson, of course. And played in MIDI I believe. Still, pretty nice), and bass and drum lines for some of the pieces in the right channel - useful if you'd like to play along with the bass/drums.

To conclude, I highly recommend this book for any jazz pianist (with a good enough technique!) or a classical pianist who wishes to try a good jazz

A little background info: I am a clasically trained pianist, and have played the piano for about 9 years. This book is an excellent tool for learning jazz... the transcriptions are extremely good, even though on the blues section there is no left hand transcription; all the songs are very challenging--even though I am in the advanced level of piano, I cannot play these solos very well by sight reading them. It would take a lot of practice to get these down well. Primarily I think this book is good for anyone who would like to learn Oscar Peterson's style of soloing and would like to get better at jazz soloing. The accomanying CD is great, even though it wasn't played on a real piano (it was played on a digital piano, synthesized, and recorded with the drums and bass on a computer). I really enjoy this book, and recommend it to anyone interested in jazz piano that has advanced enough skills to play it.

This is a great book, and I recommend it to all students of jazz piano. The book has lots of piano transcriptions from records, and its actually authored by Oscar Peterson himself. There's an accompanying audio CD so that you can hear the music as well.

Although I've been playing keyboards for over thirty years, I've only been playing jazz piano for six months, and let me say right away: I can't play a darn thing out of this book...yet. But, shortly after I got "Night Train", I went on a Duke Ellington kick, and it didn't take me long to figure I wanted to have a look at how one master of jazz treated another. So, although I've only delved briefly into this book, I expect it will be providing me tons of ideas and licks to insert in my own weighted-toward-the-standards jazz repertoire. And when I can finally play a little of what Oscar actually played, I'll know I've arrived. Anyway, this book is well organized, contains a great selection of songs, and is true to Peterson's and Ellington's work, making it a very valuable piece of written music for any jazz pianist.

This is a great volume of sheet music to get, it includes many classic Ellington tunes as perfomed by Oscar Peterson. I didn't realise when I purchased it that, the version of C-Jam Blues here is an exact transcription of the recording on the Night Train album. This alone makes the purchase worthwhile.

Naturally these transcriptions are very difficult and will require a lot of time and effort to get anywhere near the original recordings. Its worth pointing out, that most, if not all the recordings these transcriptions are based on, are available to buy. So at least you will be able to hear how they are supposed to be played, even if you never quite reach that standard!

Heralded as one of the greatest pianists to ever live by critics. This book is a good resource for those to see the genius of Peterson and how he composed and improvised. The licks and chord voicings are wonderful.

This book is great for anyone who listens to an Oscar Peterson recording and wants to try it out. The transcriptions are fantastic-- great way to begin to understand how OP would perform a piece. Also gives you insight into how talented this man truly was. Perfect for the aspiring jazz pianist.

I have purchased this pianist's dictionary for myself and friends, and think it's wonderful. However, there are some notable omissions. For example, the text mentions such notable American pianists like Kenneth Amada, as a student of Isidor Phillip and Edward Steuermann, but does not give him his own separate entry, as it does pianist George Katz. Amada was a superior pianist to Katz, besting him in many international competitions: including the Queen Elizabeth of Belgium (where Amada made the finals and Katz was eliminated in the semifinals) and Leventritt (where Amada bested among others Katz, Sherman, Doppmann in the semifinals, before tying Malcolm Frager in the final round (there was no first prize that year, since the judges could not choose between Amada and Frager, the only other finalist). In 1960 Leventritt did not issue a prize. The two finalists were Malcolm Frager and Kenneth Amada, who had eliminated the aforementioned pianists. Kenneth Amada not only studied with the two teachers Hinson mentioned, but was like Charles Rosen, a student of Moriz Rosenthal, Franz Liszt's last piano disciple, who also studied with Johannes Brahms and Karol Mikuli (Chopin's piano disciple). He played over 160 concerts in Europe, and quit the professional circuit to teach graduate students at The University of Iowa, where he held the chair of the piano department and retired professor emeritus. Of course, Mr. Hinson's book is fabulous and is bound to include some important omissions. Please let me offer this feedback for the next reprint of the book, or next edition. No one text includes all the terms. To supplement Hinson's book, I also recommend both the Oxford and Harvard Dictionaries of Music. But please let me recommend Mr. Maurice Hinson's book without reservation. It is an essential book that everyone who plays piano must have. It contains translations of piano terms used in French, Spanish, German, and Italian scores. It's arranged alphabetically, and also includes brief biographies that are useful. My one request is for Mr. Maurice Hinson to expand his wonderful book to include such American prodigies and virtuosos as Kenneth Amada, even though they turned away from professional playing to teaching and reclusive lives. I would be happy to offer more information if contacted. Thank you Mr. Hinson for a fabulous text. I also recommend to readers Hinson's wonderful Guide to Pianist's Repertoire, which is the most useful source of its kind.

I love this dictionary! I'm a piano teacher and my students and I use it often to get the true meaning of a word, such as "allegro" as it was understood by the composers and the time period in which they lived. It really helps you to interpret the music correctly. I know Mr. Hinson and he has done a wonderful job in helping to educate pianists. A must for all serious pianists.

It isn't often that a reader turns to a dictionary for pleasure. But Maurice Hinson's new work, "A Pianist's Dictionary" (2004) is a rare exception to the rule. Hinson is Senior Professor Emeritus of Piano at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and has written a number of highly-regarded reference works for piano, particularly his "Guide to the Pianist's Repertoire". The "Pianist's Dictionary" is not only a reference work, but it is also a joy to read. It was a pleasure to work through this volume, to learn new things about music and the piano and to be reminded of things I already knew. I have been an amateur pianist since adolescence and throughout my adult life, and this book struck many chords.

There will be something for every pianist, teacher, and music-lover in this book. The entries cover composers, works of music, performers and teachers, literature about the piano, performance and interpretive markings, and much else. It is a fine reference but it is more. It will stir memory and thought.

Here are some examples of what I found in the book. In 1974, Reginald Gerig published an outstanding study, "Famous Pianists and Their Technique" discussing the history of theories of playing the instrument. I was familiar with the book when it came out but haven't thought much about it since. There are entries in Hinson's dictionary for the book itself (p.52) and for Gerig (p.64) Reading the entries brought back memories and made me want to pursue Gerig's book again.

To take another example, I grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and have a soft spot in my heart for the pianist Ralph Votapek, who when I was a teenager inspired the city by winning the Naumberg Award and the first Van Cliburn competition. I met Votapek briefly last year when he played a recital of Debussy at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. There is an excellent entry in Hinson's book on Ralph Votapek (p. 206) which brought back my pleasure at remembering him win his competitions, meeting him years later, and hearing him play.

I recently read a book which described a passage in Brahms's second string quintet as a "roulade". I was embarassed not to know the term. But it appears in Hinson's book ("A brilliant run; ornamental florid passage") and I was able to hear the piece, pick out the roulade, and increase my knowledge and enjoyment of the music.

A composer that fascinates me in Leo Ornstein (1892-2002), an immigrant to the United States who abandoned a virtuoso peforming career to devote himself to avant-garde composition and teaching. (A selection of his piano music appears on the Naxos American Music series.) I was happy to find a detailed entry on Ornstein in Hinson's book (p. 126).

Every lover of music or the piano will be able to read this book and find his or her own similar examples. This book is a great reference and a great way to remember or find music that moves the heart and memory. Many readers will enjoy thinking about the entries in the book and, perhaps, also about the entries that might have been in it. I found one small error worthy of note. In the course of a discussion of Charles Ives, (p.85) Hinson states that pianist Ralph Kirkpatrick was a "tireless advocate" to bring Ives's piano music to public attention. Ralph Kirkpatrick was a harpsichordist best known for his work on Scarlatti. John Kirkpatrick was Ives's champion. Both Ralph and John Kirkpatrick have their own entries in Hinson's book (p. 92) where the matter is set aright.

Any lover of the piano will enjoy Hinson's dictionary.

This is a very handy publication. It answers many of the questions which can arise during piano lessons and gives piano teachers an extra "leg" to stand on. Maurice Hinson's name is a guarantee of quality and one can assume that the factual content of the book is in order. The book's 220 pages contain a wealth of information and every pianist should acquire a copy

Great music!!! The hot spots of this book are the pieces: "Big my Secret" and "The Heart Asks Pleasure First", which is NOT as difficult as it seams when you hear it on the CD or movie, but is impressive when you play it. The other 4 pieces are not on the soundtrack CD, at least their names aren't. Some information about the author and his work on the movie soundtrack.

This buy was MOST definitly worth the purcahse. I'm obviously a huge fan of Nyman's but i was blown away by the notes he writes on page. THE PIANO sheet music only contains 6 songs, and two of them i have already commited to memory, and its only been 2 weeks. In fact, all of the songs except DEEP SLEEP PLAYING are on the soundtrack. The sheet music seems to have about 10 measures not contained on the soundtrack somewhere, but all of the main themes in the sheet music are on the soundtrack. Learn THE HEART ASKS PLEASURE FIRST, i have never had so many compliments playing song before until i learned this one. It's worth it.

I was really impressed with the entire purchase and selection of the sheet music from Amazon. I was able to print a sample of music to determine if it was proper for my level of play, and Amazon then delivered it flat as a pancake (in mint condition) to my door within three days.

This is a good book with notes and fingering suggestions that are clear. I play by sight and it is important to me to have clear, visible notation. The music is fantastic and it is rather easy to learn.

I purchased the book solely for Big My Secret, and on this song, Nyman writes his music very well. His style can be anticipated while you play. When you are going up an Arpeggio, there are not unique variations for the sake of being cute. Other composers will often throw in double sharps or double flats to make their music look different. Not with Nyman. An Arpeggio is an Arpeggio. The beauty is in the simplicity. The various scales and Arpeggios are written into Big My Secret as if Nyman laid them there with a delicate touch.

His use of accents and changing tempo allow the pianist to provide expression. Big My Secret is a small, but fantastic piece to add to any repertoire.

This book is amazing, although it doesn't have all of the songs from the film it has a wide variety of styles. Silver fingered fling is very energetic compared to The pedalling ankle. The most beautiful is Big my secret , the way it combines the slow but flowing melodies with the scale like interludes is very impressive. The heart asks pleasure first is the main them of the film but it is never played the way which is written in this book, which combines the different variations into one incredibly atmospheric theme.