Autobiographies

[punter]

I have just read Barenboim's and Rubinstein's (first) autobiographies, which I thought were both very good.  Could anyone reccommend any other pianist's autobiographies?

[dlu]

Well....I know a bunch of composers who have written autobiographies...

[bernhard]

If you want autobiographies (as opposed to biographies), here are some I enjoyed:

Cziffra’s autobiography: Cannon and flowers. (I think this may be out of print)

Amy Fay. Music Study in Germany New York, Da Capo Press- This is an amazing book. Amy Fay was an American pianist who went to Germany at the end of the 19th century to study piano. She met some of the great pedagogues at the time and ended up a pupil of none ohter than Liszt himself. Lots of perceptive anc astute observations on the several techniques/teachings and muscial perosnalities. Highly recommended.

John Cage - Silence: Lectures and Writings. Not exactly an autobiography, but one of the most fascinating books on the nature of music ever written (by the way, I do not particularly like Cage's music, but I love his writings on music).

Alfred Brendel - The veil of order. A very long and fascinating interview with Brendel who talks about pretty much everything. Many interesting insights. If you like it, you may like Brendel's other books: Musical Thoughts and Afterthoughts and Music sounded out. (He has also published several volumes of poetry).

Charles Rosen - Piano notes (Penguin) - Again, not exactly an autobiography but a series of extended essays on playing the piano. Fascinating.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[Nordlys]

I have just read the memoars by Shostakovich (actually written by his friend Solomon Volkov). Very interesting, and Shostakovich was also a very good pianist.

I, too, enjoy the writings of John Cage (Silence). Maybe he was more of a philosopher than a composer?

The book by Heinrich Neuhaus, "the art of piano playing", is a must. (it is kind of autobiographical, and has a lot of inspiration for pianists).

Abram Chasim "Speaking of pianists" is also nice to read.

[BoliverAllmon]

I too have read the memoirs. The book is hilarious at times and depressingly tragic at other times. Good insight though. and yeah he was a great pianist. He has recordings out of alot of his stuff. The hard part is to find them. he recorded tons for a label called russian revelation. That label has now gone out of print.  a couple of companies have picked up a couple of things, but not his entire discography.

boliver

[Nordlys]

I too have read the memoirs. The book is hilarious at times and depressingly tragic at other times. Good insight though. and yeah he was a great pianist. He has recordings out of alot of his stuff. The hard part is to find them. he recorded tons for a label called russian revelation. That label has now gone out of print.  a couple of companies have picked up a couple of things, but not his entire discography.

boliver

I find it incredible how wide his appeal must have been. When Shostakovich went to the US, on the orders of Stalin to represent the Sovjet Union, he played for an audience of 30 000 people in Madison Square Garden! (what is that, by the way, a sport arena?) He played the piano, a movement from his fifth symphony. Which 'serious' composer did ever have such a big audience in a concert? But I suspect that the reason for the interest in Shostakovich in US also must have been political, as he was known to be in opposition to the Sovjet regime.

I also found his life story very tragic. He seemed desillusioned and depressed in the memoirs, using a lot of sarcasm.

[BoliverAllmon]

yeah it is a sports arena. The boston celtics play there and most all of the biggest boxing matches happen there. Really historic place. It seemed tome that the more he recalled, the worse his state of mind became. Just a downward spiral of depression.


boliver

[magnus-y]

These might be interesing (?):

The Great Pianists
Notes of a Moscow Pianist

[Nordlys]

I just discovered that the Solomon Volkov book probably is a fraud!  It was not dictated by Shostakovich, Volkov did not have extensive contact with Shostakovich, so he just wrote it himself.  Only some paragraphs are really Shostakovich' words, as they are lifted directly from previously published articles.

Here is a discussion about this: https://www.geocities.com/kuala_bear/articles/Teachout.html