Frederic Chopin and the Art of the Piano

A JOURNEY THROUGH CHOPIN'S TWENTY-SEVEN ÉTUDES, THE FOUNDATION OF VIRTUOSO PIANO TECHNIQUE, REVEALING HOW THE HAND ACTUALLY WORKS, IN THE CONTEXT OF THE HISTORY OF THE PIANO AND THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT IN MUSIC

© ALAN KOGOSOWSKI 2005 GENIUS OF THE PIANO - ÉTUDE!

CHOPIN'S ÉTUDES AND THE ART OF THE PIANO

Excerpt #4: The Imagery

Genius of the Piano constitutes one of the most comprehensive examinations yet of the art of piano playing. Nevertheless, it is not intended as a training course for pianists. As a guide to an appreciation of the art of the piano, its history and social setting, and the physical and mental skills involved in playing it, with Frederic Chopin, greatest of all composers for the piano per se, as our central point of reference, Genius of the Piano might serve as the basis of a course for students of the arts in general. But above all, it is intended for the intelligent reader and observer: the physiological insights which lie at the heart of this exploration are of universal relevance and application.

Kogosowski's exposition of the range of possibilities open to the pianist, as well as the availability of flexible, unstrained use of the hands to everyone, through the prism of Chopin's Etudes, is a springboard for the imagination. Here is the complete story of the art of the piano and pianists, in a narrative starting with the hands and fingers and moving outwards as the ripples in a pond from the point of impact of a pebble launched in the water. Or, if you will, as the blossoming of a flower from its epicentre. The hands and fingers constitute this immutable epicentre, and as Kogosowski explains their workings, this central issue becomes a fascinating story, one of universal relevance.

Besides being the best studies in the art of piano playing ever conceived, and also being representative in many ways of the whole direction taken by European music, Chopin's Etudes are exquisitely beautiful and enjoyable simply as great music. For the most part no longer than 2.5 minutes' duration each, the self-contained perfection of every individual Etude makes it a veritable tone-poem, and as the composer covers every element of piano playing and piano music without ever repeating himself, the great variety from one Etude to another throughout these twenty-seven miniature masterpieces makes the series suggestive, in a very modern, direct way, of visual imagery.

This imagery suggested begins at New York's famous Steinway Hall on West 57th st., across the street from Carnegie Hall. Kogosowski will introduce the reader to many of the great pianists of the past century and a half - Liszt, Anton Rubinstein, Paderewski, Rachmaninoff, Lhévinne, Horowitz and Artur Rubinstein - all, with the exception of Liszt, exclusively 'Steinway artists' - and many others of the legendary pianists of the 20th century, including Richter, Backhaus, Lipatti.

As the focus of the story shifts to Paris, each chapter, following the influences and developments of the story, is set against a different backdrop. Kogosowski acts as the reader's guide around Chopin's Paris - the exciting, vibrant Paris of George Sand, Eugène Delacroix, Honoré de Balzac, Franz Liszt and Gioacchino Rossini to which Frederic Chopin came in the 'Romantic' 1830s, and in which he would forever occupy a mythical place. From the environs of the Opéra to the Tuleries gardens, from the studio of Delacroix on the Left Bank of the Seine to the magical little house of Balzac in today's 16th arrondissement, from the gardens of George Sand's house in the country to Chopin's own apartments, the reader will share some of the atmosphere of places and sights which are integral to the story of Chopin's life and to his development of piano technique with the creation of the Etudes.

Read about the author of the book GENIUS OF THE PIANO ÉTUDE! FREDERIC CHOPIN AND THE ART OF THE PIANO:

Alan Kogosowski ...