Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Composers & Musicians - Classical Instrumentalists    4. General    5. Genres & Styles - Classical    6. Music    7. Personal Memoirs    8. Steinhardt, Arnold    9. United States    10. Violinists    11. Music / Classical   

Editorial Review

Concert pianists perform from memory, a brutal but inescapable convention of musical life. Of all the demons they face onstage, none is greater than the fear of a memory slip.Cutting's bitter, dignified memoir tells the story of a musical life nearly shipwrecked by childhood molestation at the hands of her minister father. Beginning with a terrifying slip that triggers the gradual breakdown of a successful concert career, the narrative moves through hospitalization, painfully recovered childhood memories, and finally, a struggle toward compassionate understanding and a truce with the past. Throughout, she weaves the powerful theme of music: as a bribe, an addiction, a joy, and an escape. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

Humility Slips
As a victim of abuse, I found this book quite compelling. However, I have a problem with its underlying intentions.It is a moving account of a terrible kind of abuse, and the impact it has on a person's life. Unfortunately, the truth is that victims of abuse more often become abusers, and Ms. Cutting's story is not only a story of her victimization but concludes, by means of the very publicization of her father's behavior and betrays a despicable form of hypocrisy. The reader will learn of the public shaming tactics that the author's father used to humilate and shame her and shape a woman of little self-esteem. His manner of punishing and threatening her during her childhood, lest she attempt to speak up and do something about her abuse, ultimately shows that the maintenance of such a relationship of dominating power over the vulnerable, by means of exploiting a person's isolation, is a kind of preemptive revenge in order to put the his victim "back in her place."Unfortunately, the psychological impact of such treatment inevitably leads to a person learning those very same patterns, at a deep level that is really never resolved except by means constant self-consciousness and vigilance against perpetrating the same acts. By publishing this book WITHOUT ANONYMITY and thus publically shaming her father, Ms. Cutting perpetrates the same act.Ultimately, Ms. Cutting betrays her retaliatory vengeance, and embodies the very same psychological behavior her her father's abuse was the embodiment of.While in her book she seems to indicate that she had to come to peace privately, in fact she betrays her complete lack of of forgiveness, which is essential becoming a person of true humility before oneself.As human beings, we ae only forgiveable insofar as we can forgive.Such humility is our only protection against perpetrating abusive acts upon others. No doubt this abuse still plagues Ms. Cutting's life in other forms.Her book is a call to victims only to look at themselves as victims, and thus never to acknowledge their own propensities for the same behavior.

Serendipity
So very glad to have discovered this audiocassette in a discount
impressive
This memoir of an extraordinarily gifted pianist who found the courage to get help for the years in which she was sexually abused by her clergyman father stands out among similiar memoirs. That she not only found the courage to heal but to report her father to the church is a remarkable testimony to what good therapy, support, one's dedication to their craft, and personal determination to heal can do. The author's brothers were likewise abused, and wound up dealing with depression and mental illness. That the author's piano lessons first served as a bargain between her and her father, as a bribe for not telling about the abuse, makes her journey both as a professional musician, a writer, and a human being especially poignant. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Abuse - General    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Composers & Musicians - Classical Instrumentalists    5. Composers & Musicians - General    6. Psychology    7. Specific Groups - Special Needs   

Reviews (16)

Great but....
where is Wilhelm Kempff? Don't you consider him a great pianist?
Incredibly written, entertaining, and informative
Mr. Schonberg knows how to put the reader at ease when writing about most any pianist. You feel comfortable with those great titans of pianism of years past, as if they were your own teachers. He paints vivid, honest pictures of each pianist, going into detail about how they played, their own peculiar strengths and weaknesses, about how they contributed to the overall history of piano-playing. Almost ALL the major and minor pianists of the past are described or at least mentioned. Also included are wonderful anecdotes giving insight into the personalities of the pianists involved. I had to laugh aloud when I read Chopin's disagreement over how rubato's should be played when arguing with fellow pianist Meyerbeer. The latter insisted that Chopin's playing of mazurkas sounds like 2/4 time, when Chopin was vehemently insisting that it was being played in 3/4 time (vehemence = screaming).
Exhaustiveresearch , gratifying results !
This an extraordinary and best documented compilation of five generations of pianists. From Hans von Bullow to Ivo Pogorelich . Since the book is from 1990 Schoenberg makes an exhaustive , passionate and reflexive analysis of the greatest virtuous of the keyboard . Schonberg differs from the ornaments of the technical language and goes to the heart of the music .
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Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography/Autobiography    3. Composers & Musicians - Classical Instrumentalists    4. General    5. Music    6. Music/Songbooks    7. Musical Instruments - Piano    8. Pianists    9. Composers & musicians    10. Keyboard instruments    11. Music / General   

Editorial Review

Written immediately after the end of World War II, this morally complex Holocaust memoir is notable for its exact depiction of the grim details of life in Warsaw under the Nazi occupation. "Things you hardly noticed before took on enormous significance: a comfortable, solid armchair, the soothing look of a white-tiled stove," writes Wladyslaw Szpilman, a pianist for Polish radio when the Germans invaded. His mother's insistence on laying the table with clean linen for their midday meal, even as conditions for Jews worsened daily, makes palpable the Holocaust's abstract horror. Arbitrarily removed from the transport that took his family to certain death, Szpilman does not deny the "animal fear" that led him to seize this chance for escape, nor does he cheapen his emotions by belaboring them. Yet his cool prose contains plenty of biting rage, mostly buried in scathing asides (a Jewish doctor spared consignment to "the most wonderful of all gas chambers," for example). Szpilman found compassion in unlikely people, including a German officer who brought food and warm clothing to his hiding place during the war's last days. Extracts from the officer's wartime diary (added to this new edition), with their expressions of outrage at his fellow soldiers' behavior, remind us to be wary of general condemnation of any group. Read more

Reviews (90)

Survivor
Playing the piano at a cafe in 1940 helped the author to overcome his apathy and despair.The ghetto in Warsaw did not depend upon smuggling to feed itself.The winter of 1941-42 was very hard in the ghetto.Cold, hunger, vermin were present.Five thousand people died of typhus. Refutes Claude Lanzmann's SHOAH and Other Holocaust Distortions

Survival, Courage, Determination and Music
Survival, Courage, Determination and Music!
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Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Composers & Musicians - Classical Instrumentalists    5. General    6. Historical - Holocaust    7. Holocaust   

Reviews (62)

A moving tale
As a young prodigy I made the decision not to take the plunge into the music profession full time.Seeing my less talented colleague's names listed in the music pages, I've since regretted it.However, This book has given me new found comfort.
A Child of the '70s?
Rising at an enviably young age to nearly to the top of her profession as a freelance musician in New York City, Blair Tindall maintains a fairly steady and viable career for more than 20 years. Instead of enjoying her success, though, she is anxious and insecure. Lacking in conviction and perspective, tending to be buffeted by events rather than controlling them, and sometimes actively undercutting herself, she finally realizes that she won't have a very fulfulling social life unless she changes careers. In mid-life she takes the reins and pulls herself out.
Poorly written, narrow-minded, self-pitying
I have great sympathy for the author's plight, such as it was, having been through a narrow and non-remunerative graduate education myself. But Tindall seems entirely unaware that in nearly every field American graduate schools produce far more graduates than the number of available jobs.
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Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography And Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Composers & Musicians - Classical Instrumentalists    6. Composers & Musicians - General    7. History & Criticism - General    8. Music History And Criticism +    9. Personal Memoirs    10. Women    11. Music / Classical   

Reviews (1)

A review of the greatest opera book ever written
Lanfranco Rasponi in his book, The Last Prima Donnas, compiles a series of interviews spanning fifty years with some of the most legendary divas to grace the operatic stage.This book is easily the most comprehensive, engaging, and just downright fascinating piece of work concerning opera out there.Such grand old dames as Eva Turner, Lily Pons and even Maria Callas expound intelligently and lucidly upon their careers and colleagues, the past, present and future of opera and many other subjects concerning their art and lives.It's an absolute must-read for anyone who's ever been enchanted by the sounds of opera, for it is the story of opera told through the eyes of some of its greatest and most colorful interpreters ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Composers & Musicians - Classical Instrumentalists    2. General    3. Interviews    4. Music    5. Opera    6. Performing Arts/Dance    7. Singers    8. Women singers   

Reviews (3)

Definitive...
Arthur Rubinstein (1887-1982) was a complicated man.His two-volume autobiography was an interesting read, but only revealed the portions of the pianist's life which he wanted known, was filled with numerous omissions and errors, contained a great deal of petty score settling (his comments about Heifetz, Schnabel and Horowitz were especially cutting), and remarkably little discussion of music. Brilliant on Rubinstein's connection with Brazil and Villa-
I would like to contact the author, as am presently effecting a research on Villa-Lobos, and not-at this stage- write a review. I believe there are a few minor mistakes withrespect to brazilian personalities (eg thebrazilian pianist Antonieta Rudge had no connection whatsoeverwithPound's friend, the american violinist Olga Rudge) , and precisions withrespect to dates, programs of Rubinstein's concerts in the 1920s,which Ibelieve could be of interest to the author. I found the book fascinating,and would very much benefit from the possibility of discussing some pointswith theauthor.

Quite informative for Rubinstein devotees but tedious.
Arthur Rubinstein's tone and interpretations are legendary, and this book is filled with rich details of this keyboard master's life.He captures Rubinstein's complexity and emergence into a true joy in living and a love for playing for his audiences.Nonetheless, many sections require persistence and are tedious.I liked this book, but I have seen other biographies of great musicians that flowed more easily.Overall, worth the effort. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1887-    2. 1887-1982    3. Biography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Composers & Musicians - Classical Instrumentalists    7. Discography    8. Music Of The 20th Century    9. Pianists    10. Rubinstein, Artur,    11. Biography: film, television & music    12. Composers & musicians    13. Rubinstein, Artur   

Editorial Review

Chamber-music lovers will rejoice in this story of the formation, nurturing, and maturing of the Guarneri String Quartet. First violinist Arnold Steinhardt has written a delightful memoir that radiates the love of music and sense of mutual respect and affection that have kept the Guarneri's players together since the ensemble was founded in 1964. How a famous, extremely busy musician learned to write so well is a mystery, but Steinhardt's style is as engaging and captivating as his playing. After sketching his own and his colleagues' pre-quartet careers, he describes how they choose and rehearse their repertoire and how they resolve their inevitable disagreements--and he even throws light on the inexplicable magic that happens in performance. Steinhardt recounts the pleasures and hardships of traveling and the group's partnership with illustrious guests (notably pianist Artur Rubinstein); he tells musical and personal anecdotes, wryly poking fun at himself and others, but never saying a malicious or derogatory word about anyone. Most remarkably, his discussions of a score are illuminating without becoming too technical. Steinhardt describes the emotional impact of music with a strikingly felicitous, often poetic touch, yet his characterizations resonate with his own experience and avoid the overblown or extravagant. Though it helps to know the music he feels so strongly about, this is a book anyone can enjoy. Read more

Reviews (17)

Bravo, Arnold Steinhardt!
This wonderfully humorous and true-to-the-art book is sweet music to anyone who loves chamber music. Steinhardt gets it so right throughout this delightful book, I, like many of the other reviewers was disappointed when I reached the last page - I wanted it to keep on going...
Insightful and touching
I wish this book would have had twice as many pages, at the least. I found it utterly impossible to put down, raced through it in barely two days, and now feel bereft for having reached the end. Fortunately, the Guarneri's themselves are still going strong, though cellist David Soyer made way a few years ago for his pupil Peter Wiley. This book deals with the(many) years before that change took place. Arnold Steinhardt is as engrossing a storyteller as he is a violinist, and addresses the multitude of issues, both musical and personal, connected with string quartet playing without ever being boring, pompous, or academic. On the contrary, his lively, often humorous style of writing and the uncompromisingly personal tone he adopts prove perfect vehicles for an in-depth look at the daunting challenges involved in playing the quartet repertoire, but are also highly endearing. By the end you feel you truly got to know these players; an additional reason why the extensive description concluding the book, of a 90's performance of Schubert's Death & The Maiden, interspersed with Steinhardt's musings on the eventual finiteness even of the long-lived Guarneri Quartet, is extremely moving. The focus on such well-known repertoire, by the way, (Beethoven's op. 59/3 and the Cavatina from op. 130 are other Steinhardt favourites) are typical of the accessibility of the book and its laudable lack of snobbery.
GREAT book about chamber music
This book is required reading in the chamber music literature class I teach at a university. Steinhardt's writing is charming and easy to read, and he gives a fascinating look into what it's like to work with the same 3 men in such close quarters for 30+ years. If you have ever enjoyed a chamber music concert, or played chamber music yourself it is a must read. My students who play in rock bands also have found it a very valuable book, since a band is a similar animal to the string quartet. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Composers & Musicians - Classical Instrumentalists    3. General    4. Genres & Styles - Chamber    5. Music   

Reviews (6)

two too short lives ...
Richard Powers puts Philippa Schuyler (1931-1967) to the centre of his novel "The time of our singing". Halle Berry (this time as a producer instead of as an actress) wants to film her life ["Composition in Black and White"] and has found Alicia Keys as a principal actor -- also a coloured pianist and an admirer of Philippa Schuyler by whom Alicia feels deeply inspired. These two current marginal notes should already unlock us to read this book written by Kathryn Talalay about Philippa Schuyler. If one has started to explore the facts of this extraordinary biography, then one quite surely will be tied up of what this exemplarily strong woman experienced: At the beginning of her life she was, aged 11, on tour as a "child prodigy" celebrated on concert stages in about 80 countries -- also America needs his Mozarts (at first the present U.S. Foreign Secretary Condoleezza Rice was on this track, too, before she still discovered more essential). Philippa Schuyler (got adult) changed her name because of the racialist injustices , which made the USA particularly to the axis of the bad in the Mccarthy era -- for children from mixing marriages absolutely also. Philippa Schuyler tried to award a South American Spanish touch to herself with the pseudonym Felipa Monterro. (Jennifer Lopez today is an example, too, that this sort of identity absolutely gets more acceptance than a clear origin from a black American ghetto. ) Philippa Schuyler started with a second life as a (very successful) journalist, getting more awake for political discussions. She, an "American Sheroe" -- she died at the age of 35 years... at a report refund over Vietnam during a helicopter crash in 1967.

All you need to know about Phillipa's life.
This book is PACKED with details. The author really did her homework on this book. The author takes you on a journey beginning with the lives of her parents, Phillipa crossing the world on adventures and finally ending in pure tragedy. Phillipa was a very gifted child pianist. She grew up in New York as a multi-racial child. Her mother was a white southern heiress, her father was a talented black journalist. The two fell in love in a time where inter-racial couples were worse than taboo.
Excellent!!!
I loved this book and couldn't put it down.Very well written and researched.Philippa Schulyer was a fascinating woman!I highly recommend this book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Composers & Musicians - Classical Instrumentalists    4. Literary Criticism    5. Music Of The 20th Century    6. Pianists    7. Schuyler, Philippa    8. United States    9. Women And Music    10. Biography: general    11. Composers & musicians    12. Ethnic studies    13. History, American | African American    14. Women's studies   

Editorial Review

Writing this book must have required enormous courage; reading it is overwhelming, especially for anyone personally connected to the events it describes. Martin Goldsmith, best known as the host of NPR's Read more

Reviews (41)

A different Holocaust story
MG's story of his family during the early Nazi era is an unusual glimpse into the lives of German Jews during the period from 1933-1941.He writes about the Kulturbund, an organization created by the Nazis to (1) rid Germany of Jewish influence in the arts and (2) provide propaganda coverage of the maltreatment of Jews by the Third Reich.
A son's voyage of discovery of his parents' nightmarish past
What do we really know about our parents' life before we were born?That depends largely, I guess, on how much of an interest we show - and on how much they are willing to reveal.Because in the life of every person there are instances and times they rather wish to forget, and not revive time and again by discussion, even if only among their nearest and dearest.

Subjects:  1. 1913-    2. 1917-1984    3. Biography    4. Biography & Autobiography    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. Composers & Musicians - Classical Instrumentalists    8. Germany    9. Goldsmith, George,    10. Goldsmith, Rosemary,    11. Historical - General    12. Historical - Holocaust    13. Holocaust    14. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)    15. Jewish musicians    16. Biography & Autobiography / Historical    17. Biography: historical    18. European history: Second World War   

Reviews (3)

Interesting history many people probably don't know about
This memoir was written by one of the greatest American violinists of the twentieth century, and he recounts an extraordinary life in music. Born in 1905, Louis Kaufman studied and played violin with many of the big names of that era. He eventually became the most sought after violin soloist in Hollywood, playing in around 500 films, including Casablanca, Gone with the Wind, The Diary of Anne Frank, Wuthering Heights, The Grapes of Wrath, and Spartacus. The book includes a music CD with Kaufman's performances.

A passion for music and art
Lovers of the violin and modern art will enjoy this fascinating story of Louis Kaufman (1905-1994), known as "a violinist's violinist" during his career from the 1920s to the 1970s, and one of the first American violinists to be celebrated worldwide.Mr. Kaufman tells about making music here and in Europe with many of the top musicians of the 20th Century.Louis and Annette Kaufman were also great collectors of art, focusing on Milton Avery and other modern artists, and their passion for art is also in this book. Mr. Kaufman can be heard on many of the classic movies of the 1930s and 40s, when he worked in Hollywood as concertmaster and soloist in films such as "To Have and Have Not," "Top Hat," and "Key Largo."He was also a leader in the rediscovery of the violin concertos of Vivaldi, and an enthusiastic exponent of many works by contemporary composers.A CD of selections from Louis Kaufman's recordings ranging from Vivaldi to Copland comes with the book.

disappointing
The book doesn't do justice to its author. There's little to really sink your teeth into. Svejda's Foreward says: "If it weren't for Kaufman, the best-known cue in the history of film music - Tara's Theme from Gone with the Wind - would not have been heard so expressively, but that's another story and one far better told by the violinist himself."Read more

Subjects:  1. 1905-    2. 1905-1994    3. Artists, Architects, Photographers    4. Audio Adult: Other    5. Biography    6. Biography & Autobiography    7. Biography / Autobiography    8. Composers & Musicians - Classical Instrumentalists    9. Kaufman, Louis,    10. Personal Memoirs    11. United States    12. Violinists    13. Biography: film, television & music    14. Composers & musicians    15. Kaufman, Louis    16. Music / Classical    17. String instruments   

Reviews (1)

Notes of an American Original
Louis Moreau Gottschalk was sometimes called the American Chopin, or the Chopin of the Creoles.He wasn't.His music, mostly piano pieces, is by turns jovial, stormy, sentimental, or lachrymose, and is a surprising blend of European, African-American, and Latin music, with plenty of quotations from American national ballads thrown in.It isn't superficial, but its appeal is frank and obvious, which is perhaps why he isn't heard often these days.If his works are absent from concert performances now, they can easily be found in recordings, and they are worth listening to.His pieces were enormously popular at the time around the Civil War.People bought his sheet music if they could not hear him.To hear him, they often did not have to go far out of their way, because Gottschalk traveled all over to give solo concerts or to organize concerts by others (sometimes Monster Concerts of 650 musicians).He was wildly popular, mostly because he worked hard to be, but he caught on as a matinee idol.It would be wonderful to hear him play; even those who objected to his compositions were amazed by his proficiency at the piano, and caricatures of him playing show hundreds of fingers flying over the keys.We can't hear him play, but we can read what he had to say about playing and about the life of a nineteenth century musical superstar in his collection of notes, diary entries, and articles that was first published eleven years after his death in 1869 and is now back in print._Notes of a Pianist: The Chronicles of a New Orleans Music Legend_ (Princeton University Press) is a delightful book.Gottschalk was masterful with words as well as with musical notes.
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Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Composers & Musicians - Classical Instrumentalists    5. Composers & Musicians - General    6. Genres & Styles - Classical    7. Personal Memoirs    8. American History    9. American Language and Literature    10. Biography & Autobiography / Composers & Musicians    11. Biography: film, television & music    12. Composers & musicians    13. Keyboard instruments    14. Music    15. Romantic music (c 1830 to c 1900)   

Reviews (3)

An odd object, perhaps, but a beautiful one
In terms of quality of writing, the famous cellist might have stuck to his principal art rather than venturing into autobiography. But then we would be without this odd little gem of self-reflection. That would be a pity.
the World of Music according to Starker.
A wonderful book for anyone to read, especially anyone with visions of entering the madness of the concertizing world. It is hard to imagine his abilities as far as playing difficult repertoire on short notice, even recording it.
Starker: a great musician and writer.
This autobiography proved immensely enjoyable for its revelations about the world of music, all the more so coming from a musician originating from a country which knew so much tragedy in the 20th century. Janos Starker's wit and wisdom shines throughout the book and he really knows how to write - he is much more than amere raconteur intent on self-advertisement. I would definitely recommend this to any music-lover or indeed to anyone with a curious turn of mind - such a person would start off with something in common with maestro Starker. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Composers & Musicians - Classical Instrumentalists    6. General    7. Musical Instruments - Strings    8. Starker, Janos    9. United States    10. Violoncellists    11. Composers & musicians    12. String instruments   

Reviews (13)

Well-balanced biography of a phenominal artist
This is a very well-balanced, thorough biography of the Canadian pianist/musician/composer Glenn Gould. Very well written, a joy to read (and a lot easier to read then most of the stuff Glenn wrote himself...)
the mysteries of a perfect art
This unstoppably heartrending biography of Canadian pianist Glenn Gould unveils the mysteries of a perfect art more cogently and beautifully than has any other artist's biography I've ever come across.Kevin Bazzana has opened up Gould's eccentricities and placed them where finally they must sleep - merely deep in the natural whole of one of the inescapable musicians of the 20th century.Those lucky enough to know the meaning of the art of Glenn Gould will always be grateful for that achievement.
This will stand as the definitive biography of Glenn Gould
The definitive biography of the idiosyncratic pianist Glenn Gould, who died of a massive stroke in 1982, nine days after his 50th birthday. Gould is often regarded as an anomaly, outside of any tradition, but this book places him in the context of his upper middle class Protestant upbringing and the cultural milieu of mid-twentieth century Canada.This book also dispels long-held myths about Glenn Gould. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Artists, Architects, Photographers    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Composers & Musicians - Classical Instrumentalists    6. Genres & Styles - Jazz    7. History & Criticism - General    8. Musical Instruments - Piano    9. Biography & Autobiography / Artists, Architects, Photographers    10. Music | Music History, Western | Twentieth Century   

Subjects:  1. 1902-1942    2. Biography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Composers & Musicians - Classical Instrumentalists    5. Composers & Musicians - General    6. Feuermann, Emanuel,    7. General    8. Individual Instrumentalists    9. Music    10. Violoncellists    11. 20th century    12. Austria    13. Biography: film, television & music    14. Composers & musicians    15. Feuermann, Emanuel    16. Music / General    17. String instruments   

Reviews (4)

Music Positively Affects Young Lives
As devastating as it must have been for Roberta to 'lose' her husband, this unfortunate turn of events in her life ended up saving and improving immeasurable young lives in East Harlem.Often something that seems to be tragic is actually a blessing in disguise and Roberta's dedication to the violin and teaching has made and continues to make a huge difference in the lives of many children.This is a touching story of the life of an American-Italian woman and how she was able to affect the lives of young people.I greatly recommend it - especially to those in power of cutting funds for music in public places!

Music of the Heart
She had no idea where to begin.Her marriage having just collapsed, she arrived in New York City in 1980 with her two boys and a crate full of violins. Music of the Heart (by Roberta Guaspari with Larkin Warren) is astory about Roberta Guasparti and how much music impacted her life and thelives of those she came in contact with.Roberta began playing theviolin at age nine, and through her life, her violin has been the onlyinstrument that, through playing, she found peace, sanity, and control fora once shattered life.Being a violin player myself, I can relate andunderstand how much music can impact someone's life. Through this book, Ican see how important music is to Roberta, to me, and others as well. One life-shattering thing that Roberta went through was the finding out ofher husband's affair. The Guaspari family was living in Greece at the time,and the night before they were supposed to catch a flight back to theUnited States, Roberta discovered her husband and another lady at 2:00 inthe morning on a beach. She was literally devastated. Her husband thenannounced that he didn't want her to be a part of his life anymore, and theonly thing she could do for the next couple of days was lay in bed, stareat the spinning ceiling, and cry.Starting out again in America, shestayed with her parents until she could get back on her feet again. Afterrealizing what more life had to offer, she eventually moved out on her ownwith her two sons Nick and Alexi. They ended up in East Harlem and musicbecame a huge part of her life again.She began teaching kids of allages at a public school that met many difficulties. Having a low budget towork with, she had to give more time, money, and energy that she everimagined. But her school kids, their progress, and getting back on her feetbrought her happiness again.This book reminded me of how much I lovemusic, especially violin music. That is what first got me interested inthis book. If you are interested in any sort of music, or want to know howmuch it can affect you, I would suggest Music of the Heart.

Gloria isthe brightest star!
"Gloria Estefan has reached a point in her life where everything she does is amazing! She�s the best! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Composers & Musicians - Classical Instrumentalists    6. Composers & Musicians - General    7. Educators    8. Guaspari-Tzavaras, Roberta    9. Music Education    10. Teachers    11. United States    12. Violin teachers    13. Violinists    14. Women    15. Biography & Autobiography / Composers & Musicians   

Subjects:  1. 1923-1977    2. Biography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Callas, Maria,    6. Composers & Musicians - Classical Instrumentalists    7. General    8. Sopranos (Singers)    9. Callas, Maria    10. Music / General   

Reviews (12)

Nice, but . . .
In many ways this is an enjoyable read - I passed a couple of two-hour flights with it. However by the end - and I read practically every chapter in its entirety - I almost completely forgot that I picked it up expecting to gain some insight into the worlds of Horowitz, Rubenstein, Gould etc. Yes, I enjoyed the anecdotes about these great artists and yes, I also enjoyed learning about the care and attention the wonderful instruments they work with receive from devoted and gifted craftsmen such as Mr. Mohr. But what was I left with? What was I thinking after I had put the book down for the last time? The thought that was upper-most in my mind was: I can understand why many people - including myself - resent being preached to by self-styled missionaries about subjects that are - or at least should be totally private matters between one and his conscience. Whether the preacher is a likeable, seemingly sincere individual like Mr. Mohr or a politician looking to score some points for the next election by telling a gullible public about his latest conversation with God, at some point one has to say "enough." Finishing almost every chapter with a hard sell for one's religious beliefs isn't very ethical as far as I'm concerned. But then again, "in your face religion" seems to be the order of the day. Which god are we hawking today anyway?
enjoyable read
This book is easy to read, as the language is casual and conversational. The stories with the pianists are interesting, delightful and sometimes humorous. They also reveal a great deal about each pianist's personality. I am a musician, but not a pianist. although I never thought playing the piano was easy, the fact that pianists don't have to worry about tuning while performing as instrumentalists do always seem unfair. But this book gave me a greater appreciation for pianists and certainly a lot of respect for Steinway. There are also many great stories from his life, one of which I was captivated by the most was from his childhood during WWII in Germany. Mr. Mohr does talk about his Christian beliefs throughout the book. I don't really understand why other reviewers criticize Mr. Mohr for that. If this book is about his life and Christianity is central his life, wouldn't it make sense that his experiences with the pianists he worked for and other life events are told through his worldview? Edith Schafferalso adds inspiring insghts and wisdom through her contribution to the book.

Great book
A wonderful book detailing the life of concert piano technician, Franz Mohr.He speaks extensively about Horowitz, Rubinstein, Cliburn and others.While reading the book, you feel like you are personally there...backstage.Read more

Subjects:  1. 1927-    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Children's Books/Young Adult Biography    6. Composers & Musicians - Classical Instrumentalists    7. General    8. Mohr, Franz,    9. Piano technicians    10. United States    11. Mohr, Franz   

Reviews (1)

Remarkable account of the professional chamber music life
I have been a fan of Susan Tomes and her trio's prize-winning recordings for several years, and when Gramophone magazine had a laudatory review of her new book, "Beyond the Notes", it was irresistible. So I bought it, and devoured it ravenously over the course of 3 days. I don't think that the review did the book justice: I think that it's one of the most remarkable books on music that I have ever read. It has so much: musical insights and useful points for the non-professional player, humor, colorful descriptions of personalities, insights about teaching, learning a piece, rehearsing, the nature of audiences, extramusical considerations in performance, etc. I marked dozens of places in the book, and listed the pages with the marks so I can return to them often. Over and above all this, the book conveys the passion for excellence and the love of music that sustained the author and her partners in the most difficult times. Splendid and riveting. A must read for music-lovers and players.
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Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Composers & Musicians - Classical Instrumentalists    5. Genres & Styles - Chamber    6. History & Criticism - General    7. Music/Songbooks    8. Personal Memoirs    9. Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs    10. Chamber ensembles    11. Essays, journals, letters & other prose works    12. Techniques of music   

Reviews (2)

An awful and self serving betrayal of a very important pianist
There is nothing much to say about this contemptible betrayal of a personal trust.This is an awful book that deserves to be avoided at all costs.Better you should pick up a copy of Harold Schonberg's "Horowitz - His Life and Music".I am certainly not the first or hundredth to find this book awful beyond belief.Please avoid it and turn to something other than this self-serving waste of trees.

Reveals as much about Dubal as Horowitz
How do you get nearly exclusive access to one of the most elusive and reclusive artists in the world?You put yourself in a very submissive position, you grovel, you kowtow to him.That's what author David Dubal did, through most of their relationship, and this book is an interesting look at that.
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Subjects:  1. 1903-1989    2. Composers & Musicians - Classical Instrumentalists    3. Composers & Musicians - General    4. Discography & Buyer's Guides    5. Horowitz, Vladimir,    6. Interviews    7. Music    8. Music/Songbooks    9. Musical Instruments - Construction And Repair    10. Musical Instruments - Piano    11. Performing Arts/Dance    12. Pianists    13. United States    14. Composers & musicians    15. Keyboard instruments    16. Music / Reference