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Note: I read the original 1960s publication.

Quite a charming little book, complete with Schonberg's own particular diction. While a bit "outdated" in the sense that the book no longer writes to the "present," I loved how Schonberg encompassed all known virtuosity since the very beginning of the instrument.

Some sections I considered much more charming and interesting than others. Particularly, the older time periods really captured my interest. Maybe that is just personal bias, but I really love how Schonberg weaved together the tales of Mozart, Clementi, and the other beginning classical pianists. The details he incorporated - everything to Mozart's style, the expectations of piano performance at the time period, and some of the pianist's eccentricities particularly amused me.

As the book passes into the present, I feel it drags a bit more, as though Schonberg settled into a groove and just repeated the same sorts of details for all the pianists without making the effort to distinguish each one from the other. Again, some parts were better than others. I certainly had no hesitation reading about Horowitz, Rubinstein, de Pachmann (oh my goodness I love that guy), and so forth.

What I really get out of this book is how connected the musical eras are together. I felt the constant movement and morphing as one era blurred into the other, something new always occurring in music. And how close together everything is! Suddenly it no longer seems as though Mozart performed so long ago; it seems as though the Romantic Era began yesterday. So few generations from then until now! A beautiful connectedness of music... it makes me excited to see what else will froth forward in the constantly-surging sea.