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Topic: Master School of Piano Playing and Virtuosity-Most comprehensive Technique book!  (Read 2487 times)

Offline opus10no2

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https://imslp.org/wiki/Master_School_of_Piano_Playing_and_Virtuosity_(Jon%C3%A1s,_Alberto)

You've seen the Hanon and all the other famous 'technical exercise' books.

But THIS is the most comprehensive thing I have ever seen - fascinating to flick through even if you are not a fan or advocate of exercises.

I was reminded of these when I read that Stephen Hough has returned to using exercises to warm up and he uses ones from this very book.

7 books with contributions by
Wilhelm Bachaus (1884-1969)
Fannie Bloomfield Zeisler (1863-1927)
Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924)
Alfred Cortot (1877-1962)
Ernő Dohnányi (1877-1960)
Arthur Friedheim (1859-1932)
Ignaz Friedman (1882-1948)
Ossip Gabrilowitsch (1878-1936)
Rudolph Ganz (1877-1972)
Katherine Goodson (1872-1958)
Leopold Godowsky (1870-1938)
Josef Lhévinne (1874-1944)
Isidor Philipp (1863-1958)
Moriz Rosenthal (1862-1946)
Emil von Sauer (1862-1942)
Leopold Schmidt (1860-1927)
Sigismond Stojowski (1869-1946)

The pure exercises are of course useful for people looking to develop weaknesses but the most interesting aspect is the plethora of *Musical* examples that are borrowed from repertoire.

It really is the closest thing anyone has come to making a practical 'Encyclopedia' of Pianism.
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Offline perfect_pitch

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I believe this was posted a number of months ago, but I can honestly say it is almost exactly that - an encyclopaedia of Pianism.

Very good read...

...but to those who may be confused as to why the hyperlink doesn't work:

https://imslp.org/wiki/Master_School_of_Piano_Playing_and_Virtuosity_(Jon%C3%A1s,_Alberto)

Offline kawai_cs

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Wow, that is absolutely GREAT! I have just glimpsed thru some chapters - amazing stuff.  I think I will buy the books. Thank you for sharing!!
Chopin, 10-8 | Chopin, 25-12 | Haydn, HOB XVI:20

Offline opus10no2

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Thankyou for the link correction. Appears the person who posted it a while back had exactly the same problem haha.

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=58331.0

Kawai you're welcome - I'd advise against buying them just yet as they are overpriced and the copyright doesn't seem to allow for publication of the complete set yet so they are only partial.

I suggest a thorough browse through the scores on IMSLP and to print off sections that are useful to your goals. Unless of course your ink and paper resources are plentiful enough for a complete print out.  ;D

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Offline adodd81802

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I like finding out about these types of books, thanks for posting.
"England is a country of pianos, they are everywhere."

Offline ted

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Thanks for drawing attention to this, Opus10. Especially interesting is the variety of approach expressed by the writers and the comments about their preferences. I shall have a lot of fun trying out the ones which appear pertinent to my hand and my music. Of course none of those writers played modern rhythmic effects, and I guess both weight and key dip might have been considerably less than on modern, heavy instruments. All good for experimentation though. Amazing collection.
"Mistakes are the portals of discovery." - James Joyce

Offline pianiststrongbad

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I discovered this series about a year ago, and was very impressed. I really liked that it pulled examples from the repertoire to show how the exercises applied. I think the exercises are several steps above those in Hanon and the like. I've used the book on double notes, and arpeggios the most. They also have some pretty neat historical photos inside.

It took me several months of looking on ebay, but I did manage to purchase all of them in the original hardback (published by Carl Fischer) in very good condition for about $100. I'm a bit of a collector and like having all of them in my collection.

Offline minhogang

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Thanks!

Can anyone give me a comparison with this from something like Czerny Etudes or Hanon?
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