Famous Pianists Their Technique

Examines various pianists and discusses their piano playing techniques.

This book is based on detailed notes taken by the author during a decade of study under one of the renowned teachers of piano, whose pupils included such pianists as Gary Graffman, Lilian Kallir, Jacob Lateiner, and Sylvia Saremba and such composer/conductors as Samuel Barber, Leonard Bernstein, Lukas Foss, and Thomas Scherman. Following a brief chapter on Vengerova's personality, the author presents the Vengerova system in respect to posture and hand position, accents, &"singing tone,&" fingering, and pedaling. A final chapter discusses the merits of a relatively rigid system of musical instruction, concluding that Vengerova's approach encouraged &"variety with an underlying unity&"&—a conclusion supported in a survey of her former pupils by Joseph Rezits. The book is illustrated with photographs and excerpts from musical scores. An appendix includes an article by the Soviet musicologist Vitaly Neumann on Isabelle Vengerova's teaching at the St. Petersburg Conservatory from 1906 until the Revolution, following a concert career. It also includes an obituary by Jay S. Harrison outlining her teaching accomplishments at the Curtis Institute and the Mannes College of Music between 1924 and her death in 1956.

(Amadeus). This holistic approach to the keyboard, based on a sound understanding of the relationship between physical function and musical purpose, is an invaluable resource for pianists and teachers. Professor Fink explains his ideas and demonstrates his innovative developmental exercises that set the pianist free to express the most profound musical ideas. HARDCOVER.

Stravinsky's reinvention in the early 1920s, as both neoclassical composer and concert-pianist, is here placed at the centre of a fundamental reconsideration of his whole output - viewed from the unprecedented perspective of his relationship with the piano. Graham Griffiths assesses Stravinsky's musical upbringing in St Petersburg with emphasis on his education at the hands of two extraordinary teachers whom he later either ignored or denounced: Leokadiya Kashperova, for piano and Rimsky-Korsakov, for instrumentation. Their message, Griffiths argues, enabled Stravinsky to formulate from that intensely Russian experience an internationalist brand of neoclassicism founded upon the premises of objectivity and craft. Drawing directly on the composer's manuscripts, Griffiths addresses Stravinsky's lifelong fascination with counterpoint and with pianism's constructive processes. Stravinsky's Piano presents both of these as recurring features of the compositional attitudes that Stravinsky consistently applied to his works, whether Russian, neoclassical or serial, and regardless of idiom and genre.

This practical resource provides foundational tools for scale, chord and arpeggio playing; exercises for developing precision, speed, agility and clarity of tone; and exercises and etudes that focus on a variety of technical challenges.