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Piano Notes: The World of the Pianist
Among the world's instruments, the piano stands out as the most versatile, powerful, and misunderstood -- even by those who have spent much of their lives learning to play. In Piano Notes, a finalist for a 2003 National Book Critics Circle Award, Charles Rosen, one of the world's most talented pianists, distills a lifetime of wisdom and lore into an unforgettable tour of the hidden world of piano playing.
You'll read about how a note is produced, why a chord can move us, why the piano -- "hero and villain" of tonality -- has shaped the course of Western music, and why it is growing obsolete. Rosen explains what it means that Beethoven composed in his head whereas Mozart would never dream of doing so, why there are no fortissimos in the works of Ravel, and why a piano player's acrobatics have an important dramatic effect but nothing more. Ending on a contemplative note, Piano Notes offers an elegant argument that piano music "is not just sound or even significant sound" but a mechanical, physical, and fetishistic experience that faces new challenges in an era of recorded music. Rosen ponders whether piano playing will ever again be the same, and his insights astonish.
You'll read about how a note is produced, why a chord can move us, why the piano -- "hero and villain" of tonality -- has shaped the course of Western music, and why it is growing obsolete. Rosen explains what it means that Beethoven composed in his head whereas Mozart would never dream of doing so, why there are no fortissimos in the works of Ravel, and why a piano player's acrobatics have an important dramatic effect but nothing more. Ending on a contemplative note, Piano Notes offers an elegant argument that piano music "is not just sound or even significant sound" but a mechanical, physical, and fetishistic experience that faces new challenges in an era of recorded music. Rosen ponders whether piano playing will ever again be the same, and his insights astonish.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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About the author
Charles Rosen
61?books49?followersCharles Rosen was a concert pianist, Professor of Music and Social Thought at the University of Chicago, and the author of numerous books, including The Classical Style, The Romantic Generation, and Freedom and the Arts.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
March 26, 2023
4 ??
Seven chapters, each a kind of mini-essay covering one or more musical/pianistic microthemes.
Whether drawing from his deep well of knowledge and experience for something anecdotal, educational or troubleshooting, Rosen is rarely less than highly entertaining and offers the kind of insight that only a professional who's been there and done it could provide.
Towards the end of the final Chapter - 'Styles and Manners' - Rosen conducts a convincing defence of the relevance and integrity of avant-garde modernism/contemporary piano literature/atonality. This is the second of such defences that I have read (the other being Aaron Copland's in his 'What to listen for in Music').
"A distaste for modernism is understandable and needs neither defence nor apology. It is not an easy style to come to terms with; and it requires, as I have said, a determined act of will. But in the end it is simpler to succeed in loving the music of Alban Berg than to read Finnegan's Wake."
The argument by both greats is largely the same but I think Rosen is more effective, probably largely due to his neutrality where I felt Copland was arguing in mildly agitated defence of his own work as much as his contemporaries.
My first Rosen and good enough that I've purchased several more. It gets my tick of approval! ??
Seven chapters, each a kind of mini-essay covering one or more musical/pianistic microthemes.
Whether drawing from his deep well of knowledge and experience for something anecdotal, educational or troubleshooting, Rosen is rarely less than highly entertaining and offers the kind of insight that only a professional who's been there and done it could provide.
Towards the end of the final Chapter - 'Styles and Manners' - Rosen conducts a convincing defence of the relevance and integrity of avant-garde modernism/contemporary piano literature/atonality. This is the second of such defences that I have read (the other being Aaron Copland's in his 'What to listen for in Music').
"A distaste for modernism is understandable and needs neither defence nor apology. It is not an easy style to come to terms with; and it requires, as I have said, a determined act of will. But in the end it is simpler to succeed in loving the music of Alban Berg than to read Finnegan's Wake."
The argument by both greats is largely the same but I think Rosen is more effective, probably largely due to his neutrality where I felt Copland was arguing in mildly agitated defence of his own work as much as his contemporaries.
My first Rosen and good enough that I've purchased several more. It gets my tick of approval! ??
April 1, 2013
The late Charles Rosen, who died in 2012 aged 85, is remembered as both pianist and writer, and Piano Notes is in large part a personal response to the art and pleasure of keyboard playing. I found this a wonderful book, full of enthusiasm, experience, expertise, knowledge and humour, and it helps that this reviewer largely shares the writer¡¯s philosophy (though, sadly, not the experience, expertise and knowledge). The first couple of chapters are a little hard going, even for someone like me with an admittedly meagre piano background, but the remainder of the book flows easily and is greatly enjoyable for both pianists and the general reader.
An abiding notion that I associate with this book is Rosen¡¯s assertion that an assiduous pianist can sight-read their way through most of the solo classical repertoire in just a few years. Though I did wonder how feasible this is I of course bow to his professional opinion; after all he has recorded much of that repertoire, from Bach to Schoenberg and from Brahms to Stravinsky and Boulez. Above all I love the sense of continuity of tradition reaching back to his teachers and beyond that to Liszt, and I rejoice that I¡¯ve had lessons with someone who had lessons with him. This is a book that I may find I have to re-read every so often to get the most out of it.
An abiding notion that I associate with this book is Rosen¡¯s assertion that an assiduous pianist can sight-read their way through most of the solo classical repertoire in just a few years. Though I did wonder how feasible this is I of course bow to his professional opinion; after all he has recorded much of that repertoire, from Bach to Schoenberg and from Brahms to Stravinsky and Boulez. Above all I love the sense of continuity of tradition reaching back to his teachers and beyond that to Liszt, and I rejoice that I¡¯ve had lessons with someone who had lessons with him. This is a book that I may find I have to re-read every so often to get the most out of it.
May 1, 2012
Do "many pianists" really play the opening left-hand note and chord of Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata with two hands, because the leap is so great? Rosen says many do. I have small hands, and I've never really had a problem playing it with one hand. Daniel Barenboim has tiny, fat hands, and he doesn't really have a problem.
Rosen's musings (this book is based on a lecture given at the New York Public Library, and subsequently printed in the New York Review of Books) were moderately interesting. I did enjoy his chapter on "Conservatories and Contests." Rosen served on the jury at one of the Leeds piano competitions along with the famed Nadia Boulanger. When Mlle. Boulanger became bored by a performer, "she would compose canons. On a large piece of paper she had brought with her, she would rule several five-line staffs, and begin to invent some elaborate counterpoint."
Rosen tells the brief story of Stefan de Groote (he misspells it de Groot), a South African pianist voted out early in one of the Leeds competitions; he went on to win the Van Cliburn competition later that year. Rosen informs us that de Groot(e) would have "made a brilliant career but killed himself a few short years later while flying a plane." Actually no, he didn't. He was seriously injured piloting a plane in 1985, recovered, and died from AIDS in 1989.
Rosen's musings (this book is based on a lecture given at the New York Public Library, and subsequently printed in the New York Review of Books) were moderately interesting. I did enjoy his chapter on "Conservatories and Contests." Rosen served on the jury at one of the Leeds piano competitions along with the famed Nadia Boulanger. When Mlle. Boulanger became bored by a performer, "she would compose canons. On a large piece of paper she had brought with her, she would rule several five-line staffs, and begin to invent some elaborate counterpoint."
Rosen tells the brief story of Stefan de Groote (he misspells it de Groot), a South African pianist voted out early in one of the Leeds competitions; he went on to win the Van Cliburn competition later that year. Rosen informs us that de Groot(e) would have "made a brilliant career but killed himself a few short years later while flying a plane." Actually no, he didn't. He was seriously injured piloting a plane in 1985, recovered, and died from AIDS in 1989.
April 4, 2010
Rosen writes this book about playing the piano from a much more personal perspective than he did The Classical Style. He's less the musicologist here and more the musician reflecting on his experiences and offering up his thoughts. He discusses not just his own playing experiences, but also the piano's role in music history, place in culture, etc. However, Rosen does focus on the professional experience (concerts, recording, pedagogy), rather than the amateur or student experience. I found his discussions of the ways in which the purely physical aspects of the instrument and the playing techniques affect the music and how it is experienced (by both the listener and the performer) the most interesting parts of the book. Also, the view of music history through the lens of the piano was very illuminating. Unfortunately, Rosen is occasionally curmudgeonly about the future of the piano and piano music.
March 11, 2018
Charles Rosen's simultaneously hilarious and patronizing notes about the piano. My favourite meaningful quote:
Basically our problem is to rid ourselves of complacency and avoid the two complementary forms of subservience: an exaggerated obedience to what is considered academically correct or fashionable, and a self-indulgent and frivolous confidence in our own ego. A performance ought always to give the impression of a fresh contact with the music, an original approach that respects the work. "I have never heard that music played that way before" is not a compliment if the performance does not reveal an aspect of the work that we feel was already there but unnoticed before. We all pay lip service to the ideal that a good performance must be an illuminating renewal of even the most familiar work, but how to achieve that renewal cannot be reduced to a system and will differ from one pianist to another.
July 31, 2019
Keen insights into the world of concert pianists, albeit winging it at times and careless with the truth, as some knowledgeable reviewers have taken care to point out. Moreover, Rosen often lost me on technical aspects of music and theory, temperament and register, ascending and descending modulation, and more, but his discussions of conservatories, competitions, concertizing, recording and much else part some very murky waters, make a great deal of sense, and put this particular world in sharp relief. He's more or less nonchalant regarding the specific superpowers of successful concert pianists - practicing a complicated new piece while reading a mystery, reading through and comprehending the entire scored output of a composer's piano literature in a few hours, and the like - and his tone is never less than absolutely certain of his own correctness (I disagree with his continuous, hyperbolic trashing of the historically informed performance crowd and its malign influence on classical music), and sometimes he'll toss in a zinger that simultaneously says, "See, I'm not talking down to you," but, "You won't get this, so yes, I am talking both down and around you," but if you love piano, chances are very good that you'll enjoy this book.
December 27, 2022
A slim volume, yet most insightful. Rosen is capable of bringing out the hidden details of a pianist's experience. I can only wish he'd written more on the subject, much more.
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April 22, 2013I want to make it clear I didn't finish this book because it is way too sophisticated for my level of music knowledge. The book seems well written as far as I could follow it. He expressed some interesting concepts before starting to get just way over my head. It would be like trying to learn calculus when one has just begun Algebra I. Maybe someday I'll be knowledgable enough to follow what the author was saying. It sounded quite interesting!
March 28, 2018
I love how this book is like a philosophy of playing the piano as well as a love letter to the art form. I learned piano for quite some time, but even this blew my mind with some of the advanced techniques involved in being a classical musician. Rosen is a delightful writer and his enthusiasm shines through the prose.
January 23, 2017
An interesting, semi-autobiographical collection of musings on piano playing and the world of the pianist from Charles Rosen.
March 15, 2019
Piano Notes: The World of the Pianist comes from Charles Rosen, a notable concert pianist, music critic, and overall celebrated thinker of music of the common practice period. Perhaps his two most well-known volumes on music are The Classical Style and The Romantic Generation, both which I referenced in some undergraduate essays. When I found this shorter work by Rosen, I had to give it a read. It¡¯s written memoir-style and focuses on the experience of playing the piano, nothing more.
Style
This book is conversational in tone, easy to read, and not exploding with piano or music theory jargon. The only thing that may trip up a nonmusician is the examples drawn from actual sheet music, but even then, his descriptions in words should be enough for a nonmusician to understand.
Content/Organization
Piano Notes follows a logical flow, probably outlining his experiences at the piano in a chronological sequence.
It starts with how we hear and experience the piano in our minds and how our bodies react to the music-making process. The two chapters he spends on this topic reminded me of what made me fall in love with the piano, and it was heartening to read about the human perception of the piano¡¯s sound from someone so passionate and articulate.
The performer has to cooperate directly in every crescendo and decrescendo: playing the piano is closer to the origin of music in dance than performing on the earlier keyboards that it superceded.
From here, Rosen goes into the mechanics of the piano. He includes stories about concert pianists picking which piano to perform on, as well as describing small trends in the manufacturing process that changes things such as how the pedals function or how precisely the instrument must be calibrated.
After this, the focus shifts out from the piano itself to the world in which it resides. He covers life in the conservatory, competitions, solo concerts, and how the process of recording differs from live performance. I found all of these topics especially illuminating as I have little experience with these, even though Rosen¡¯s experience recording especially is a bit outdated.
Rosen closes with a chapter that sounds more like the rest of his written work: an exploration of the Common Practice Period composers and how they¡¯re traditionally played and why, as well as his thoughts on these styles of playing.
He doesn¡¯t go too far in depth as to leave novices behind, just enough for everyone to appreciate each style and the playing of them a little more.
Who is this for? Who would enjoy this?
Piano Notes is approachable to anyone interested in reading about what it¡¯s like to be a pianist: what decisions are made, how time is spent, what life in general is like in the field. Also, while there may not be any one highest authority on the topic, it is good for pianists to learn about the process of their craft from as many masters as possible, and Rosen is certainly an articulate one.
Style
This book is conversational in tone, easy to read, and not exploding with piano or music theory jargon. The only thing that may trip up a nonmusician is the examples drawn from actual sheet music, but even then, his descriptions in words should be enough for a nonmusician to understand.
Content/Organization
Piano Notes follows a logical flow, probably outlining his experiences at the piano in a chronological sequence.
It starts with how we hear and experience the piano in our minds and how our bodies react to the music-making process. The two chapters he spends on this topic reminded me of what made me fall in love with the piano, and it was heartening to read about the human perception of the piano¡¯s sound from someone so passionate and articulate.
The performer has to cooperate directly in every crescendo and decrescendo: playing the piano is closer to the origin of music in dance than performing on the earlier keyboards that it superceded.
The danger of the piano, and its glory, is that the pianist can feel the music with his whole body without having to listen to it.
From here, Rosen goes into the mechanics of the piano. He includes stories about concert pianists picking which piano to perform on, as well as describing small trends in the manufacturing process that changes things such as how the pedals function or how precisely the instrument must be calibrated.
After this, the focus shifts out from the piano itself to the world in which it resides. He covers life in the conservatory, competitions, solo concerts, and how the process of recording differs from live performance. I found all of these topics especially illuminating as I have little experience with these, even though Rosen¡¯s experience recording especially is a bit outdated.
Rosen closes with a chapter that sounds more like the rest of his written work: an exploration of the Common Practice Period composers and how they¡¯re traditionally played and why, as well as his thoughts on these styles of playing.
Historical purity is not the most important goal of a performance, particularly when we consider that we can never be sure that we are getting it right.
He doesn¡¯t go too far in depth as to leave novices behind, just enough for everyone to appreciate each style and the playing of them a little more.
Who is this for? Who would enjoy this?
Piano Notes is approachable to anyone interested in reading about what it¡¯s like to be a pianist: what decisions are made, how time is spent, what life in general is like in the field. Also, while there may not be any one highest authority on the topic, it is good for pianists to learn about the process of their craft from as many masters as possible, and Rosen is certainly an articulate one.
August 4, 2017
I liked music my entire life. I got to love making music only a few years ago. So I am very new to the realm of music theory and in general any elaborate thoughts about music. I had never thought possible this level of sophistication in the musical world, I was a science guy and therefore ignorant about anything about music but hearing it. This kind of book opens a whole new universe to me. And I am sure, that I will come back many times to this book as my understanding of music and the piano in particular will, hopefully, grow.
A book not at all for a beginner. But a dilletante like me, in the best meaning of the word, will appreciate its many levels of invaluable information.
A book not at all for a beginner. But a dilletante like me, in the best meaning of the word, will appreciate its many levels of invaluable information.
June 30, 2022
Charles Rosen was an American concert pianist and an influential writer on classical music. Sadly, this book did not deliver. I learned a few snippets: Josef Hoffman had a hand so small that it could reach no further than an octave, Domenico Scarlatti was more virutosic than many who came after, and Rosen questioned some of the tenets of piano pedagogy.
But Rosen is not focused enough. In his writing, ideas are lost in long paragraphs. And even then, it is unclear what they are. It felt more like lumbering essays than a book. The pianist's world is only vaguely rendered. Susan Tomes's 'Speaking the Piano' is a much more enjoyable work from a concert pianist.
But Rosen is not focused enough. In his writing, ideas are lost in long paragraphs. And even then, it is unclear what they are. It felt more like lumbering essays than a book. The pianist's world is only vaguely rendered. Susan Tomes's 'Speaking the Piano' is a much more enjoyable work from a concert pianist.
December 23, 2020
Outstanding book by the renowned concert pianist Charles Rosen. He writes with a lifetime of experience. To a non - pianist, or even a non-advanced pianist, much of what he says could be too technical, and too detailed in terms of the physicality of playing the piano. He also deals with the philosophcal development of classical music. I found it incredibly helpful, even if I can't agree with his positive views on the modernist music of composers like Stockhausen and John Cage. I note from the ABRSM piano Performance Diploma syllabus that this is on the list of recommended reading. Excellent.
February 20, 2025
The pedigree & background of the author-pianist elevates the book but it¡¯s a free-flowing sort of ramble or talk on what he deems pertinent. A concert pianist would relate much better than an amateur or hobbyist. Sometimes I was inspired & encouraged, but most of the time I was reminded that there are LEVELS, and that if I were in a room w/Charles Rosen I¡¯d basically be a non-musician, just a spectator.
September 14, 2019
This is definitely written for (classical) musicians but I enjoyed the first 6 chapters even if I didn¡¯t always 100% understand everything in them. Chapter 7 however was entirely too long and felt like there were fewer touchpoints for a general audience.
December 16, 2021
An interesting take on a pianist personal views of the instrument and its scene. Albeit at times pretentious and self-indulgent, it still provides a valuable account of the experience of a piano player as he recounts his point of view.
April 10, 2024
Rosen's prose was a little dry and technical at times, but the wealth of anecdote and sheer piano knowledge gleaned from a lifetime of performance and criticism was priceless. Reading this book was like getting piano lessons without having to practice.
October 26, 2017
Some interesting parts for the lay person (me), but definitely could have enjoyed more if I knew more about music or composers.
December 29, 2018
Great, if you are a pianist or want to know more about the pianist's world.
Read
July 24, 20195 years ago, I met my boyfriend over this book
August 25, 2019
Rosen has the rare gift of being as sublime of a writer as he is a pianist.
Read
November 20, 2019Jeg leser ikke s? ofte fakta, men dette var virkelig spennende.
La meg bare si at jeg har pr?vd ? absorbere alt, slik at pianoopplevelsen min blir utnyttet til det fulle framover.
La meg bare si at jeg har pr?vd ? absorbere alt, slik at pianoopplevelsen min blir utnyttet til det fulle framover.
February 26, 2020
Some very interesting tidbits, but mostly 'inside baseball' to me.
March 19, 2020
I loved this book !
June 6, 2020
Not very informative and the author sounds like an arrogant jerk. I'm surprised so many people liked this book. It lacks substance and value.
September 14, 2020
ЦËÀÎÒÁË
very amusing
very amusing
January 21, 2023
I thought I was a half-decent pianist until I read this.
May 12, 2023
3.5 stars ¡ª a little boring in parts but the good bits were really good and got me inspired to go play piano
August 16, 2023
shop talk, 2002. required reading for the serious pianist, to grasp loosely the 300yrs of historical context of piano technique.
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