Off the Record: Performing Practices in Romantic Piano Playing
"Engaging and thought provoking...An outstanding contribution to the discussion of how Romantic piano music might be performed...No serious teacher, performer (or critic) of the Romantic piano literature should be without this book. In questioning old assumptions and presenting a wealth of historical information, it will make you play and listen with new ears." --Limelight Magazine(Australia)"The section on unnotated arpeggiation (with its oral tradition extending back to Bach) isparticularly fascinating; pianists performing Beethoven, Chopin, and Brahms may find this discussion liberating. Via audio examples on the companion website the author reveals how his research has affected his own keyboard playing...Recommended." --Choice"A very welcome and important addition to our understanding of how pianists of an earlier generation performed nineteenth century romantic piano repertoire." --ARSC Journal"[Peres da Costa] has read everything, listened to everything and marshalled it into a well-written and logically organised narrative. His range of references is highly impressive. He has provided pianophiles with some thought-provoking questions." --Gramophone"An extremely welcome addition to the bookshelves of every performing musician, teacher, musicologist and music professional...It will bring fresh inspiration and a whole newexpressive palette to the interpreters of nineteenth-century works." --The Pianola Journal"Excellent." --Alex Ross, TheRestIsNoise.com"Da Costa's book is ground-breaking: 'authenticity' is only reached by taking the score with a grain of salt and diving into the spontaneous creativity of the pre-war style." --NRC Handelsblad