{"product_id":"a-natural-history-of-the-piano","title":"Stuart Isacoff: A Natural History of the Piano [2012] hardback","description":"Stuart Isacoff - pianist, critic and teacher - explores the history  and evolution of the piano, how its sound provides the basis for  emotional expression and individual style and why it has so powerfully  entertained generation upon generation of listeners. A Natural History of the Piano  distills a lifetime of research and passion into one brilliant  narrative. We witness Mozart unveiling his monumental concertos in  Vienna's coffeehouses, using a special piano with one keyboard for the  hands and another for the feet; European virtuoso Henri Herz  entertaining rowdy miners during the California gold rush; Beethoven at  his piano, conjuring healing angels to console a grieving mother who had  lost her child; Liszt fainting in the arms of a page turner to spark an  entire hall into hysterics.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRanging from the groundbreaking music of Mozart, Beethoven, Liszt and  Debussy to the breathtaking techniques of Glenn Gould, Oscar Peterson,  Arthur Rubinstein and Van Cliburn, Isacoff delineates how classical  music and jazz influenced each other as the uniquely American art form  progressed from ragtime, novelty, boogie, bebop, and beyond, through  Scott Joplin, Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Herbie Hancock and Bill  Charlap.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHere is the instrument in all its complexity and beauty. We learn of  the incredible craftsmanship of a modern Steinway, the peculiarity of  specialty pianos built for the Victorian household, the continuing  innovation in keyboards including electronic ones. And most of all, we  hear the music of the masters, from centuries ago and in our own age, as  brilliantly evoked as its most recent performance.","brand":"Isacoff, Stuart","offers":[{"title":"Good","offer_id":47271015579987,"sku":"XG80285641129","price":14.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false},{"title":"New","offer_id":49136134848851,"sku":"9780285641129","price":28.57,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0616\/4001\/6057\/files\/isacoff-stuart-stuart-isacoff-a-natural-history-of-the-piano-2012-hardback-57975081042259.jpg?v=1726592881","url":"https:\/\/theirishbookshop.live\/products\/a-natural-history-of-the-piano","provider":"Chapters Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}