Great Pianists on Piano Playing

James Francis Cooke (1875 - 1960)

The full title of this book, published in 1913, gives a good idea of its contents: “Great Pianists on Piano Playing: Study Talks with Foremost Virtuosos. A Series of Personal Educational Conferences with Renowned Masters of the Keyboard, Presenting the Most Modern Ideas upon the Subjects of Technic, Interpretation, Style and Expression.”

The author, James Francis Cooke, in addition to publishing a dozen books, was involved in music in many ways, including as a composer, a music educator, the president of a music publishing house, and the editor of a music magazine. He taught piano for 20 years.

For this book, he interviewed 19 accomplished pianists of his day, gleaning their wisdom about a large range of topics regarding piano performance. In addition, each section ends with a list of ten questions intended to encourage the student reader to think about and interpret the interviewee’s advice. - Summary by Verla Viera

Genre(s): Music

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 01 The Artist’s Life valroth
00:32:58
Play 02 Are Pianists Born or Made? tshoes76
00:22:35
Play 03 Pepito Arriola: The Story of a Wonder Child docdlmartin
00:17:50
Play 04 Wilhelm Bachaus: The Pianist of To-Morrow mkirkpat
00:16:54
Play 05 Harold Bauer: Artistic Aspects of Piano Study mkirkpat
00:24:33
Play 06 Fanny Bloomfield-Zeisler: Appearing in Public mkirkpat
00:24:32
Play 07 Ferruccio Benvenuto Busoni: Important Details in Piano Study Chuck Lavazzi
00:19:47
Play 08 Teresa Carreño: Distinctive Piano Playing valroth
00:21:00
Play 09 Ossip Gabrilowitsch: Essentials of Touch valroth
00:16:23
Play 10 Leopold Godowsky: The Real Significance of Technic mkirkpat
00:16:24
Play 11 Katharine Goodson: Analyzing Masterpieces Emil O.
00:16:36
Play 12 Josef Hofmann: Progress in Piano Study valroth
00:20:44
Play 13 Josef Lhévinne: Piano Study in Russia Andrew Mauls Byron
00:21:14
Play 14 Vladimir de Pachmann: Seeking Originality docdlmartin
00:25:24
Play 15 Max Pauer: Modern Pianistic Problems Andrew Mauls Byron
00:18:47
Play 16 S. V. Rachmaninoff: Essentials of Artistic Playing valroth
00:23:18
Play 17 Alfred Reisenaur: Systematic Musical Training valroth
00:22:17
Play 18 Emil Sauer: The Training of the Virtuoso valroth
00:25:34
Play 19 Xaver Scharwenka: Economy in Music Study Beeswaxcandle
00:22:46
Play 20 Ernest Schelling: Learning a New Piece Gila Labinger Freeberg
00:20:12
Play 21 Sigismund Stojowski: What Interpretation Really Is mkirkpat
00:16:04