My Musical Bookstore
I am very pleased present this musical bookstore in association with Amazon.com. Every few days I will recommend books that will be of great interest to the classical musician and midi enthusiast. I have listed the books in several categories: famous composers, famous musicians and conductors, midi, the music business, and recording. Each book is linked to Amazon.com's web page and you will be able to buy it directly from them and enjoy their discounted rate (many books have at least 10-20% discount), fast delivery service and secure method of payment.
You will also be able to search Amazon.com's site by typing keywords into the box below which will give you a list of matches. For example, if you type in the word midi, you will get at least 100 hits which include books about midi, midi sequencing software, and even (unrelated to midi) cassettes and CDs of Debussy's beautiful orchestral piece "L'Apres Midi D'un Faune"! If you type in the name of a composer, say Liszt, you will get a huge number of books (some that I have heard of and read, and many I haven't), sheet music, CD and cassette recordings and even videos related to the composer. I never thought thy had such a huge selection. It's an amazing resource!
Here are some of my recommendations:
Famous Composers
Chopin's Letters by Opienski and Voynich is an interesting collection of letters to his friends, publisher, George Sand, Franz Liszt and gives one a good idea what his personality was like, the inspiration for some of his compositions, his relationships with others, his good and bad moods.
Franz
Liszt: The Final Years 1861-1886 by Alan Walker, one of the
world's best authorities on Liszt is the third in a set of three books.
It is a fascinating book that describes eye witness accounts of Liszt's
masterclasses and his pupils in Weimar, his time as a catholic priest,
his problematic relationship with members of Richard Wagner's family, the
book Liszt wrote on Bohemians and Their Music in Hungary edited adversely
by Princess Carolyn which caused a storm of protest causing him to be wrongly
accused of being anti-semitic, details of an accident when he had a bad
fall, and his illnesses that led to his death. It is also available in
paperback.
Famous Musicians and Conductors
Hilary
and Jackie is the book on which the movie is based.
Musical Thoughts and Afterthoughts by Alfred Brendel the famous pianist and musician. This book provides a fascinating insight into Brendel's views on Franz Liszt, the difference between a live performance and a recording session, the problems of playing on different types of piano, experiences with his teacher, musical interpretation etc. He writes in an amusing way (he has a good sense of humour) and is quite a philosopher!
Memoirs:
Sir George Solti This book describes how Sir George Solti grew up in
Hungary, his musical education and studies with Kodaly, Bartok and Dohnanyi,
his experiences during the war, his impression of Richard Strauss and Igor
Stravinsky, his work with various symphony orchestras, and his ideas on
the interpretation of great symphonic works and operas. There are some
interesting photographs of him and his family and of other famous conductors
and musicians.
The
Great Pianists by Harold Schonberg is a book that
no classical pianist should be without. It traces the development of pianism
from J.S Bach to present day artists such as Murray Perahia. It is full
of interesting photographs and descriptions of the pianists featured.
Midi
The Musician's Guide To Midi by Christian Braut is one of the textbooks I used when I started producing midi sequences. It starts at the basics explaining what midi is, about the bit streams and midi format, controllers, sysex messages etc. It explains how to set up the various types of midi equipment configurations, synthesizers, sequencers, midi recording techniques. It is very detailed and comprehensive and tells you everything you are likely to want to know.
The Midi Manual By David Huber This is another excellent book which is easy to read and explains the midi protocol, equipment arrangements, sequencing, midi equipment adn sequencing program reviews.
Music Business and Recording
The
Musician's Guide to Making & Selling Your Own Cds & Cassettes
provides and excellent guide how to plan, record, produce,
promote, advertise and market your own CD or cassette and make a lot of
money without having to be taken on by a major record label. This is something
I am hoping to do very soon.
How to Make and Sell Your Own Recording: A Guide for the Nineties by Jane Rapaport is a comprehensive guide that describes everything from initial planning concepts to selling the finished product. It covers design, printing, manufacturing, various types of recording procedures, making a master copy, copyrights, legal issues, preparing a budget and business plan.
The Musician's Guide To The Internet by Gary Kustwit gave me very helpful ideas how to arrange my web page, how to advertise and promote my site using various search engines
Piano Tuition
Piano
Lessons : Music, Love, & True Adventures
How
to Play Popular Piano in 10 Easy Lessons
Piano Maintenance
Piano
Servicing Tuning and Rebuilding : For the Professional, the Student, the
Hobbyist
Piano Purchase
