I saved this from the chopinmusic forum before it disappeared. Here is what it said:
"I found this in a book, though, called The Art of the Piano by Dubal. Some of you probably already have this but I thought it was REALLY cool. Unfortunately, he has a semi-unflattering passage about Cziffra, but he makes up for it with his hilarious comments about Lang Lang (as hilarious as you could expect in a book like this, I guess).
Anyway, this part is super-cool, at least for me. He list's 12 "Commandments" set forth by Busoni (not called that in the book) for pianists:
Busoni was considered by many the greatest pianist of his time, so anything he has to say is interesting. So, thanks for sharing.
One problem with "commandemnts" is that they usually need qulaification. So manytimes we may disagree with something that Busoni could have explained better if asked to do so. Anyway, here we go.
1) Practice the passage with the most difficult fingering; when you have mastered that, play it with the easiest.
Complete waste of time. It also assumes that one knows what will be the most difficult and the easiest fingering. Investigation of the easiest fingering may of itself consume huge amounts of time. I think this is complete non-sense.
2) If a passage offers some particular technical difficulty, go through all similar passages you can remember in other places; in this way you will bring system into the kind of playing in question.
Yes, this is very useful advice. However it requires much experience anc knowledge of repertory.
3) Always join technical practice with the study of interpretation; the difficulty often does not lie in the notes, but in the dynamic shading prescribed.
Yes, this is mandatory because technique is decided by interpretation. One must only approach a piece of music after one knows what sound one is after. He should have stopped at the first sentence. The "dynamic shading" bit doesn´t make much sense to me. (What about articulation?)
4) Never be carried away by temperament, for that dissipates strength, and where it occurs there will always be a blemish, like a dirty spot which can never be washed out of a material.
I am not sure what he is about here. At first I thought he was talking about systems of tuning

, but then I realise that he is talking about emotionalism. Yes, I agree and I hope Lang Lang reads this.
5) Don't set your mind on overcoming the difficulties in pieces which have been unsuccessful because you have previously practiced them badly; it is generally a useless task. But if meanwhile you have quite changed your way of playing, then begin the study of the old piece from the beginning, as if you did not know it.
Yes, this is very good advice. Even if you practised a piece correctly, it is a very good idea to leave for a couple of years and then revisit it as it was a compltely new piece and relearn it from scratch. This is actually the basis for permanent memory.
6) Study everything as if there were nothing more difficult; try to interpret studies for the young from the standpoint of the virtuoso; you will be astonished to find how difficult it is to play a Czerny or Cramer or a Clementi Etude.
I would not put it quite that way, but I think I understand what he is getting at, and I would agree. (Also I wouldn´t bother with Czerny, Clementi or Cramer).
7) Bach is the foundation of piano playing, Liszt is the summit. Beethoven makes the two possible.
Bach: Definitely.
Liszt: Maybe.
Beethoven: I think he is way of mark here (Bach died in 1750, Beethoven was born in 1770).
I would say this is one of these senteces crafted to impress and be quoted later on, but on closer scrutiny turns out to be complete baseless. (By the way, I love Beethoven - I just don´t think he makes it possible to play Bach and Liszt).
8 ) Take it for granted from the beginning tha everything is possible on the piano, even when it seems impossible to you, or really is so.
Most definitely.
9) Attend to your technical apparatus so that you are prepared and armed for every possible event; then, when you study a new piece, you can turn all your power to the intellectual content; you will not be held up by technical problems.
No. He is way of mark here. he believes that techniqeu can be acquired in isolation. Of course, I do agree that one should not be held by technical problems, but the way to be preapred for them is to work on the pieces. There is no way you can be prepared for every eventuality by working on technique alone, becuse there is no such a thing as technique alone.
10) Never play carelessly, even when there is nobody listening, or the occassion seems unimportant.
Yadda yadda. However, the only person ever top paly the piano when no one was litening was Beethoven in his old age, so I will disregard this commandment as another "quotable" sentence.
11) Never leave a passage which has been unsuccessful without repeating it; if you cannot do it in the presence of others, then do it subsequently.
I am not quite sure what was meant here. I believe he istalking about passages one flunked publicly, and therefore one is now afraid of playing it. Sort of "if you fall form a horse you must mount again". So, yes, I agree.
12) If possible, allow no day to pass without touching your piano."[/i]
No, getting a few days away from the piano can be very good. (I would not even apply this commandment to a girlfriend

)
I disagree with #1, #3 (slightly) and #7 seems not so useful and a bit opinionated.
However, #2, #5, #8, #9, #10, #11and #12 seem very useful.
The most efficient way to learn a piece is to not even go near making mistakes. If you never make a mistake, then you are almost never going to make a mistake later if you learn your pieces correctly. #5 mentions practice habits and how that is by far the most important. #2 is helpful. Any passage in double notes is better if I warm up with March Wind.
What do you think?
I agree with you. A lot of work shoud be done away from the piano, before one touches any key, so that when one actually does that no mistakes are incurred.
Best wishes,
Bernhard.