Book Reviews (マイブック評)

This is a book review on Artur Schnabel’s auto-biographical book. Schnabel  (1882-1951) is a legendary figure and he has been one of pianists I always respect and admire. I have studied his famous edition on Beethoven sonatas, and heard his recordings mainly on Beethoven and Schubert sonatas. Whenever I play Beethoven or teach Beethoven to […]

I usually write about books in my Book Reviews, but this book is so strong that I decided to write in my blogs. This book has been Bestsellers for weeks, and I was very excited to start reading it. It is a documentary, a science history, a racism in America, a family history, humanity, poverty, and […]

I was reading the book “the Danger of Music and Other Anti-Utopian Essays” by Richard Taruskin, and found a very interesting essay about Horowitz and Tchaikovsky. In this essay, he quotes an article on Horowitz in Grove Dictionary from 1980. I am lucky to still own this old version of Grove Dictionary (Paper Copy!!). 20 […]

I have been reading a book ” “Hitler’s Emigres and Exiles in Southern California: A Windfall of Musicians” by Dorothy Lamb Crawford, and found a wonderful quote from a great cellist, Piatigorsky. This is from P. 64 to P. 65 in this book. -You don’t have to be a genius to know your shortcomings, because […]

I am reading a book “Violin Dreams” by Arnold Steinhardt. He writes about his parents as Jewish. It is very touching, and the music in their lives has been deeply attached to their long history. Mr. Steinhardt writes “Jews believed that only music could give these prayers wings strong enough to deliver them to God.” […]

Dear Mr. Steinhardt, I just finished your book, and I am still very moved and touched. Your book gave me tear, giggle, and smile. You wrote a wonderful book. Toward the end of the book, you talk about Schubert “Death and the Maiden” quartet.  So I pulled the music out of the bookshelf, and played the […]