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Jonathan O'Neill's Reviews > Piano Notes: The Hidden World of the Pianist
Piano Notes: The Hidden World of the Pianist
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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! ✅️
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Reading Progress
February 28, 2023
–
Started Reading
February 28, 2023
– Shelved
March 16, 2023
–
53.85%
""Professional musicians and connoisseurs tend to forget that even music badly played can sound beautiful and give pleasure."
Phew! There's hope for me yet!"
page
133
Phew! There's hope for me yet!"
March 22, 2023
–
80.16%
""...the thirty Goldberg Variations [were] probably never played in [their] entirety even for a small audience of a dozen people before 1810, when E.T.A Hoffman described such a modest performance in a salon (people began to leave by the fourth variation, and only one listener remained at the end)."
Preposterous!... But to be fair, I might too if they were being played on a harpsichord! 😅"
page
198
Preposterous!... But to be fair, I might too if they were being played on a harpsichord! 😅"
March 26, 2023
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-6 of 6 (6 new)
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Mark
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Mar 26, 2023 04:34PM
Brilliant review Jonathan, again of a topic I know little about (at this level anyway!!) . Always interesting mate - I really like your update comment from March 16th! Great stuff 😊
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Mark wrote: "Brilliant review Jonathan, again of a topic I know little about (at this level anyway!!) . Always interesting mate - I really like your update comment from March 16th! Great stuff 😊"Thanks, Marko! I'm excited to read more of Rosen's work. This wasn't even one of the books that I'd seen mentioned regularly but I found it really interesting! :)
Smiling here at the quote about Finnegans Wake� because the best way to read it is aloud, listening to the rhythm of it as you read. If you want to understand every bit of it, however, that's where 'the determined act of will' comes in:-)
Haha! I'll remember the tip when I get around to that one, Fi! :)Though I haven't read it, I have heard many comment on the "notoriety" or difficulty of Joyce's work so I found it a funny little tip of the hat! :)
Great one Jonathan . This is my favorite instrument and I happen to be extremely jealous of those who play it.
Thanks very much, Stacey! :)What's stopping you, my friend? I only started playing less than 2 years ago myself. It's slow going but modest progress has been made! 😂
