Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface: Grigory Kogan: His Life and Times
- Acknowledgments
- Busoni as Pianist
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Busoni's childhood and youth, 1866–88
- Chapter 2 Finland and Moscow, 1889–94
- Chapter 3 Berlin: Busoni's emergence as a great pianist
- Chapter 4 Busoni's technique: Piano orchestration, tone production
- Chapter 5 Busoni's repertoire: An anti-Romantic approach
- Chapter 6 Busoni's interpretation of Beethoven, Liszt, and Chopin
- Chapter 7 Busoni's interpretations. Textural liberties
- Chapter 8 Busoni's interpretations of Bach. Articulation
- Chapter 9 Rhythm and dynamics
- Chapter 10 Busoni's recording of the Liszt's Rigoletto Paraphrase
- Chapter 11 Technical phrasing
- Chapter 12 Technical variants
- Chapter 13 Fingering, pedal
- Chapter 14 Compositions, transcriptions, editions, teaching, writings
- Chapter 15 Busoni's esthetics
- Chapter 16 Busoni's esthetics, continued
- Chapter 17 World War I. Operas
- Chapter 18 Busoni's final years, 1918–24
- Conclusion
- Annotated Discography
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Translator's Bibliography
- Index
- Miscellaneous Endmatter
Preface: Grigory Kogan: His Life and Times
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface: Grigory Kogan: His Life and Times
- Acknowledgments
- Busoni as Pianist
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Busoni's childhood and youth, 1866–88
- Chapter 2 Finland and Moscow, 1889–94
- Chapter 3 Berlin: Busoni's emergence as a great pianist
- Chapter 4 Busoni's technique: Piano orchestration, tone production
- Chapter 5 Busoni's repertoire: An anti-Romantic approach
- Chapter 6 Busoni's interpretation of Beethoven, Liszt, and Chopin
- Chapter 7 Busoni's interpretations. Textural liberties
- Chapter 8 Busoni's interpretations of Bach. Articulation
- Chapter 9 Rhythm and dynamics
- Chapter 10 Busoni's recording of the Liszt's Rigoletto Paraphrase
- Chapter 11 Technical phrasing
- Chapter 12 Technical variants
- Chapter 13 Fingering, pedal
- Chapter 14 Compositions, transcriptions, editions, teaching, writings
- Chapter 15 Busoni's esthetics
- Chapter 16 Busoni's esthetics, continued
- Chapter 17 World War I. Operas
- Chapter 18 Busoni's final years, 1918–24
- Conclusion
- Annotated Discography
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Translator's Bibliography
- Index
- Miscellaneous Endmatter
Summary
So many-sided were Ferruccio Busoni's accomplishments—as composer, author, pedagogue, opher-that even his most important biographers have cast only a cursory glance at the pianistic aspect of Busoni's fascinating career. This book by Grigory Kogan, offered here in English translation, is the first to concentrate exclusively on Busoni-the-Pianist, through a comprehensive summation of extant written materials (reviews, contemporary commentary, Busoni's own writings), painstaking analysis of piano rolls, and an examination of the master's editorial and pedagogical works. As such, it is of interest to every pianist, historian, and musicologist.
Grigory Kogan (1901–1979) was a leading Soviet pianist and musicologist, musical writer, and critic. A conservatory professor at the age of twenty-one, creator of the first-ever course on the history and theory of pianism, art historian, scholar, polemicist, writer—such is the short list of Kogan's accomplishments. With his brilliant lectures, his concertizing, and his many books, articles and reviews, Kogan influenced an entire generation of Soviet pianists. Among his friends were luminaries such as Emil Gilels, Sviatoslav Richter, Heinrich Neuhaus, and Tatiana Nikolaeva. His greatest contribution to the study of pianism was the shifting of emphasis from the muscular and physiological aspects of the pianist's learning process to its psychological and artistic dimensions, illustrating that it is these latter facets that form a truly effective foundation of practice and performance.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Busoni as Pianist , pp. ix - xxiiPublisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2010