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Book Review
A Natural History of the Piano: The Instrument, the Music, the Musicians--from Mozart to Modern Jazz and Everything in Between
by Stuart Isacoff
This book is a breezy look at the history of the piano, clearly written to appeal to both musicians and non-musicians. It makes a nice counterpoint to Arthur Loesser's book Men, Women, and Pianos: A Social History" in that it is far less sexist and takes the piano's role in jazz and popular music more seriously. I particularly liked the attention paid to non-classical music and musicians. Isacoff includes a lot of good and often fun information and he has a pleasantly casual approach which made this book a very enjoyable read. I kind of wished for more depth, but that is not really Isacoff's aim.
Isacoff did have an interesting framework by which he divided piano music and pianists into four types which crossed genres and periods: Combustibles, Rhythmatizers, Alchemists, and Melodists. While this framework did have its limitations, it did provide a structure that prevented the book from becoming too much of a laundry list or timeline.
by Stuart Isacoff
This book is a breezy look at the history of the piano, clearly written to appeal to both musicians and non-musicians. It makes a nice counterpoint to Arthur Loesser's book Men, Women, and Pianos: A Social History" in that it is far less sexist and takes the piano's role in jazz and popular music more seriously. I particularly liked the attention paid to non-classical music and musicians. Isacoff includes a lot of good and often fun information and he has a pleasantly casual approach which made this book a very enjoyable read. I kind of wished for more depth, but that is not really Isacoff's aim.
Isacoff did have an interesting framework by which he divided piano music and pianists into four types which crossed genres and periods: Combustibles, Rhythmatizers, Alchemists, and Melodists. While this framework did have its limitations, it did provide a structure that prevented the book from becoming too much of a laundry list or timeline.