Volume 34, Number 9 · May 28, 1987
The Chopin Touch
By Charles Rosen
Fryderyk Chopin: Pianist from Warsaw
by William G. Atwood
Columbia University Press, 305 pp., $30.00
Chopin: Pianist and Teacher as Seen by his Pupils
by Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger, translated by Naomi Shohet, translated by Krysia Osostowicz, by Roy Howat, edited by Roy Howat
Cambridge University Press, 324 pp., $69.50
How Chopin played the piano, though a puzzling question, is not beyond all conjecture. For almost the last hundred years, we have been given an image of the past by records and tapes, but that specious patent from oblivion is generally misleading and always distorted—and subtle distortions are the most difficult to compensate for (no recording will adjust to the acoustics of your living room as a live performer would). Before recording, we have only uncertain memories, twisted by time and prejudice, inaccurately set down, and letters or reviews, dusty, crumbling, and not to be trusted.
Review, 3322 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |