The thirty-two Piano Sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven form one of the most important segments of piano literature. In this accessible, compact, and comprehensive guidebook, renowned performer and pedagogue Stewart Gordon presents the pianist with historical insights and practical instructional tools for interpreting the pieces. In the opening chapters of Beethoven's 32 Piano Sonatas, Gordon illuminates the essential historical context behind common performance problems, discussing Beethoven's own pianos and how they relate to compositional style and demands in the pieces, and addressing textual issues, performance practices, and nuances of the composer's manuscript inscriptions. In outlining patterns of structure, sonority, keyboard technique, and emotional meaning evident across Beethoven's compositional development, Gordon provides important background and technical information key to understanding his works in context. Part II of the book presents each sonata in an outline-chart format, giving the student and teacher ready access to essential information, interpretive choices, and technical challenges in the individual works, measure by measure, all in one handy reference source. In consideration of the broad diversity of today's Beethoven interpreters, Gordon avoids one-size-fits-all solutions or giving undue weight to his own tastes and preferences. Instead, he puts the choices in the hands of the performers, enabling them to create their own personal relationship with the music and a more powerful performance.

About the Author
Stewart Gordon is a Professor of Keyboard Studies at the Thornton School of Music of the University of Southern California. He is the author of Etudes for Piano Teachers, Mastering the Art of Performance, Planning Your Piano Success, and A History of Keyboard Literature. He has edited the thirty-two Beethoven piano sonatas, the Debussy etudes, and is preparing an edition of the Mozart piano sonatas.

Reviews
Although there are moments, here and there, that synthesize research and approaches to the sonatas (especially chapters 1-3), the rest of the book presentsan expanded version of the author's excellent and thoughtful critical edition combined with Romantic commonplaces about the universality of music, debatable claims about Beethoven's intentions, and peripheral background information. In order to appreciate Gordon's observations about Beethoven, performers and readers would be best served by paying careful attention to the extensive commentary. * Notes *
This friendly, helpful, refreshingly nondoctrinaire guide to performing Beethoven is quite far from what appears to be a hornets nest atmosphere in American musicology today. It is addressed to thinking pianists who wish to make up their own minds about what Beethoven may have wanted in his sonatas. It is a book of choices, reasonably argued. * Benjamin Ivry, International Piano *



Book Information
ISBN 9780190629175
Author Stewart Gordon
Format Hardback
Page Count 290
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 646g
Dimensions(mm) 163mm * 239mm * 23mm