Christopher Barnes

Here is a book worth its weight in platinum! Even more than that.
Prof. Christopher Barnes, a professor of Slavic languages at the University of Toronto, has translated hitherto unavailable essays, critiques and lectures from the leading teaching lights at the Moscow Conservatoire. This is a feast of valuable piano pedagogy, albeit for the advanced pianist only.
The offerings are more than mere exhortations to musicality. Illustrative is the transcript of Heinrich Neuhaus' extensive critique of a student's performance of Beethoven's Sonata in A major, Op. 101. Neuhaus, justly famous as perhaps the greatest piano teacher ever, breaks this challenging sonata down measure by measure, note by note. Imagine being in his master class, listening to his insightful comments. The student (who is identified as a male but otherwise not named) finds himself raked over the coals--I'm sure he must have felt uncomfortable (to say the least) at having the deficiencies in his playing of this most difficult sonata so mercilessly and relentlessly revealed. But then, that's why we pay piano teachers--not only to pat us on our collective backs, but to tell us how we could improve.
Neuhaus' critique alone justifies the rather hefty price tag this book carries. But there's much more--four (count 'em!!) different essays on Chopin's F minor Ballade, which many view as the crown of his compositions; helpful comments on Liszt's fiendish Mephisto Waltz. I could go on.
I have but one criticism--the book is far too short. One sincerely hopes that Prof. Barnes continues with his wonderful service to pianists everywhere, and translates additional essays and lectures. But for what he has done, he already deserves the piano world's hearty thanks.
One word of warning: This is not a book for beginners or intermediate level pianists. It won't do you much good if you don't already possess a superior level of talent and ability. This most definitely isn't Piano for Dummies. But if you're accomplished enough to already play the repertoire discussed herein, this book will be a Godsend. There is no way your playing cannot improve by orders of magnitude if you pay careful attention to the words of wisdom imparted.
Bravo!!… (plus d'informations)