When I received a
copy of Stuart Isacoff’s new book A Natural History of the Piano I wondered
if it would be another publication of a similar nature but the sub-title of the
book, The Instrument, the Music, the Musicians – from Mozart to Modern Jazz
and Everything in Between, shows that it is much, much more. Whilst my
cherished Closson book remains an essential guide to the piano itself, this new
volume gathers together a colossal array of information about every aspect of
pianos, pianists and pianistic styles. www.souvenirpress.co.uk www.amazon.co.uk
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| Stuart Isacoff ISBN 9780285641129 Souvernir Press 382 pp |
The opening chapter A Gathering of Traditions sets
the scene for the breadth of this book pulling together such great names as
Oscar Peterson, Art Tatum, Rachmaninov and Horowitz all in the first two pages.
This isn’t merely an attempt to be inclusive but a real example of how genres
are indeed closer together than many people are sometimes prepared to accept. We
are told that Rachmaninov and Horowitz went to hear Art Tatum perform and,
remarkably, that Peterson had a link to Liszt through his Hungarian teacher,
Paul de Marky who had studied in Budapest with Stefan Thomán who had studied with the great Liszt.
This cross fertilisation remains the subject of the first chapter and, indeed,
much of the book.
A separate chapter, The
Piano is Born, covers the development of the piano. Many people can probably
name some early piano makers but the story of the ‘father’ of the piano and his
patron makes for a fascinating read. Not
surprisingly, Mozart has a chapter to himself as does the rise and popularity
of the piano where some odd examples of the domestic piano can be seen, such as
the sewing table piano, which has to be seen to be believed, and the bizarre
looking giraffe piano.
The chapter Performers on the Road fascinatingly
tells of the 18th century Charles Burney’s travels through Europe
and his encounters with musicians, John Field’s first job as a ‘piano plugger’
for Clementi, and the 19th century Austrian pianist Leopold de Meyer
who self styled himself ‘The Paganini of the Piano’. Interspersed are many little gems such as
when the Julliard School professor, Joseph Bloch, ended up performing in a
leper colony in Borneo.
The chapter also catalogues how the piano changed and how
manufacturers began supplying pianos to the great performers as a kind of
endorsement. There is a wonderful anecdote about the 19th century
pianist, Henri Hertz, who arranged a concert for sixteen players and eight
pianos which were out of tune with each other and another concert where the March Nationale was advertised as to be
played on four pianos but disappointed many who expected the pianist to do it
alone.
Piano duos, threesomes and even the six piano ensemble, Piano
Circus, are included. Finally there is an entertaining section on pianists
drunk or dying at the keyboard.
The Four Sounds is a short but instructive chapter on
the shaping of the piano’s sounds, pedal technique, tuning and temperament and
pianists’ playing styles. There are four chapters that categorise various pianistic
styles under The Combustables, The
Alchemists, The Rhythmitisers and The Melodists.
The Combustables takes us on a tour of such figures
as CPE Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Czerny, Haydn, Liszt, Bartok, Kodaly,
Stravinsky, Elliot Carter, Eubie Blake, Earl Hines and Cecil Taylor, as well as
asking the question ‘What’s a Sonata?’ And just to add to the suitability of
the chapter title there is the story of Jerry Lee Lewis setting fire to his
piano on stage.
The Alchemists rightly gives Debussy much space, then
such diverse figures as Messiaen, Schoenberg, Scriabin, Bill Evans, Herbie
Hancock, Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, McCoy Tyner, Thelonius Monk, through
to John Cage, Henry Cowell, Terry Riley and Steve Reich are covered. There is even
a section about the player piano.
The chapter
covering artists under the title The Rhythmitisers takes us on a
journey from European, Caribbean and African roots through Jelly Roll Morton,
and James P Johnson to Fats Waller, Gershwin, Willie Smith, Art Tatum and Count
Basie. Sixties singers/songwriters such as Neil Sedaka, Carole King, Stevie
Wonder and Elton John get a mention before a couple of pages devoted to Dave
Brubeck.
The Melodists takes us from Schubert, through
Schumann, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Erik Satie, Ravel, Gershwin, Teddy
Wilson and George Shearing.
A chapter entitled
The Cultivated and Vernacular takes us from Scott Joplin, Edward
MacDowell and Charles Ives to Aaron Copland via the Latin rhythms of Piazzolla,
Ginastera and Villa-Lobos and The Russians are Coming covers such
artists as the great Anton Rubinstein through to Vladimir de Pachsman, Ignaz
Friedman, Vladimir Horowitz, Rachmaninov, Sviatoslav Richter, Vladimir Ashkenazy,
Prokofiev and Tatiana Nikolayeva.
The Germans and their Close Relations looks at Hans
von Bulow, Artur Schnabel, Rudolf Serkin, Edwin Fischer, Alfred Brendel, and Paderewski
where rivalry of piano manufacturers caused problems when he was due to perform
at the Chicago World Fair.
Keys to the World looks at the different national and
personal playing styles and includes such pianists as Godowsky, Josef Hofmann,
Myra Hess (who gets short shrift from Virgil Thomson), Alfred Cortot (who
doesn’t get a very good personal endorsement from Murray Perahia),
Michelangeli, Pollini, Leon Fleisher, Andre Watts, Yefin Bronfman and Van Cliburn.
There are useful sections on piano technique as well as piano competitions.
On the Cutting Edge is an excellent chapter heading
for such a pianist as Glenn Gould given the quote from conductor George Szell
‘The nut’s a genius.’ Film, radio and television’s influence on the piano are
covered as is, Earl Wild, and the satirical PDQ Bach (alias Peter Schickele).
Finally there is a small section on electronic and digital pianos.
The chapter Everything
Old is New Again brings together again the various genres by telling a
story about the 86 year old pianist Menahem Pressler, described as ‘a bullet
train without brakes’, and clarinettist Richard Stoltzman making their way to
give a recital at Le Poisson Rouge in Greenwich Village, an area connected to
the folk music revival of the 1960’s. There is a short section on the piano in China and on the
decorative styles of pianos including the bizarre photograph of pianist Evan
Shinners playing a grand piano from the inside.
The appendix containing supplementary notes is worth reading
in itself as it contains much that is interesting. There is a section giving
contributors’ biographies though this often excludes the individual’s dates, an
exhaustive list of sources and a comprehensive index.
Throughout the book there are numerous writings by such
figures as Piotr Anderszewski,
Menahem Pressler, Vladimir Horowitz, Yefim Bronfman, Beethoven’s
biographer and friend Ferdinand Ries, Claude Debussy, Andre Watts, Wanda
Landowska (on Creative Fainting!), Alfred Brendel, Andras Schiff, Emanuel Ax and Garrick
Ohlsson to name just a few.
There are over 100 illustrations throughout this book and
with so many anecdotes and fascinating information, written with obvious enthusiasm,
it is difficult to put this entertaining book down. The gathering together here of so much information is an
achievement in itself but to place the material in such an informative and
entertaining narrative will make all lovers of the piano and, indeed, lovers of
music want this book.
Obtainable from
Amazon:
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