Virtuosi
A Defense and a (Sometimes Erotic) Celebration of Great Pianists
Mark Mitchell
A bravura performance!
"Vigorous, opinionated, and always entertaining, here is a personal
essayist of great charm and sincerity. Mitchell's erudition—his
collection of odd and illuminating bits of knowledge—is always a
delight and adds a sauce piquanteto the whole dish!" —Edmund White
"...a literary work of real élan, vibrancy, and grace—the very
qualities that in his view define the virtuoso. [Mr. Mitchell
explores] the traditional linking of musical and sexual virtuosity,
the ethical implications of the original instruments' movement, the
near deification of Mozart in Anglo-Saxon culture, and, in a
particularly witty section, the relationship of the virtuoso to his
stool. Throughout, Mr. Mitchell's prose is humorous, intimate, and
unapologeticaly polemical." —Cynthia Ozick
The artistic merit of performers with superior technique has long been
almost ipso facto denied. At last, Mark Mitchell launches a
counterattack. In essays crackling with pianistic lore, Mitchell takes
on topics such as encores, prodigies, competitions, virtuosi in film
and literature, and the erotics of musical performance. Liszt,
Horowitz, and Argerich share these pages with the eccentric Pachmann,
Ervin Nyiregyh ("the skid-row pianist"), and Liberace. The
illustrations include rare portraits of long-forgotten girl prodigies,
historic concert programs, and stills from a lost 1927 film on
Beethoven. Punctuating this celebration of personal voice are
vignettes, running from the beginnings of the author's obsession with
the piano to the particularities of concert-going in Italy (where he
now lives).
Mark Mitchell's piano studies led to a friendship with Vladimir
Horowitz and other pianistic luminaries. With David Leavitt he
co-authored Italian Pleasures and co-edited Pages Passed from Hand to
Hand. He also edited The Penguin Book of International Gay Writing.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780253028549
Publisert
2016
Utgiver
Vendor
Indiana University Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter