The Glass Piano


Book Description

Princess Alexandra thought her life would never change, living in the castle with her father King Ludwig, her maid Galstina, and glimpses of her mother as she runs from the stables to the rose bushes. And of course, there's the matter of the grand piano made of glass that she swallowed as a child, sitting inside her at all times. But then Lucien Bonaparte arrives, and suddenly anything seems possible... Laced with dry humour, Alix Sobler's smart play will transport you to the 19th century Bavaria to find four characters trapped by their situations, and prevented from fulfilling their dreams of love.




Words Without Music: A Memoir


Book Description

New York Times Bestseller An NPR Best Book of the Year Winner of the Chicago Tribune Literary Award Finalist for the Marfield Prize, National Award for Arts Writing "Reads the way Mr. Glass's compositions sound at their best: propulsive, with a surreptitious emotional undertow." —Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, New York Times Philip Glass has, almost single-handedly, crafted the dominant sound of late-twentieth-century classical music. Yet in Words Without Music, his critically acclaimed memoir, he creates an entirely new and unexpected voice, that of a born storyteller and an acutely insightful chronicler, whose behind-the-scenes recollections allow readers to experience those moments of creative fusion when life so magically merged with art. From his childhood in Baltimore to his student days in Chicago and at Juilliard, to his first journey to Paris and a life-changing trip to India, Glass movingly recalls his early mentors, while reconstructing the places that helped shape his creative consciousness. Whether describing working as an unlicensed plumber in gritty 1970s New York or composing Satyagraha, Glass breaks across genres and re-creates, here in words, the thrill that results from artistic creation. Words Without Music ultimately affirms the power of music to change the world.




The Glass Piano


Book Description

The first novella within the Tottering Trilogy. Book 1 - The Glass Piano Princess Alexandra of Bavaria lives a secluded and cushioned life within the walls of her palace. She spends her days writing poetry, translating literature, and dreaming of the world outside the silk and gold, while her father surrounds himself with dozens of mistresses and her mother tries to balance her power in the government, as well as her marriage. Coddled and trapped within luxury, Alexandra's eccentric tendencies can usually be overlooked, until the day she discovers within herself a much larger strand of... instability. An instability that could seal her fate of a lifetime of entrapment.




The Library of Modern Piano Music


Book Description

The Library Of Modern Piano Music strives to illustrate the vigour and variety of modern piano music. These original compositions span standalone pieces, albums, suites and arrangements from talents as diverse as Igor Stravinsky, Francis Poulenc, Lennox Berkeley, Witold Lutosławski , Hans Werner Henze, Peter Maxwell Davies, Philip Glass and Ludovico Einaudi. As well as these concert pieces, a number of works have been written specially for screen. From Michael Nyman’s celebrated music for ‘The Piano’ to Richard Rodney Bennett’s score for the now rarely seen but superb 1980s miniseries of ‘Tender Is The Night’, there is ample proof of the richness added to international screen dramas by first-rate composers. These and over 100 more piano pieces make The Library Of Modern Piano Music a true classic.




The Glass Armonica


Book Description

"A history of glass music from the Kama Sutra to modern times, including the glass armonica (also known as the glass harmonica), the musical glasses and the glass harp."




Max Richter: Piano Works


Book Description

Max Richter: Piano Works presents, for the first time in print, 15 of Max Richter’s piano pieces, suitable for the intermediate pianist. Each piece is accompanied by notes specially written by the composer. This ground-breaking collection represents a unique drawing together of Max Richter’s varied output, embracing his work with the London Philharmonic (Memoryhouse), The Blue Notebooks, Royal Ballet-commissioned Infra and subsequent his acclaimed concept albums. Innovative and imaginative, yet at the same time accessible and easy to play, some of Max Richter's most famous Piano Works are at last available in what will surely become an instant classic collection. This volume includes: - Andras - The Blue Notebooks - Circles from the rue Simon-Crubellier - Departure - The Family - Fragment - From the rue Villin - H in New England - Horizon Variations - INFRA 3 - Leo's Journal - The Tartu Piano - The Twins (Prague) - Vladimir's Blues - Written On The Sky




Night Music


Book Description

"A dreamy summer rom-com that'll make you believe in love again." --Bustle "Full of not only sigh-inducing swoons but the social commentary [Thorne] is talented at writing." --Paste Music was Ruby's first love, but did it ever love her back? After a nightmare audition at the music school where her famous father teaches, the answer to this question is unavoidable. And so, it seems, is Oscar Bell. Musical genius, YouTube sensation, and her dad's new protégé, Oscar is the last person Ruby needs in her life. Being around him feels dangerously like being with her first love again--except music never kissed her like this. Oscar is falling for Ruby too, but he knows how it'll look to the ultra-privileged, ultra-white world of classical music--a Black guy dating his mentor's white daughter. As the New York City summer heats up, though, so does the spark between them. Can two people still figuring themselves out figure out how to be together? And will Ruby get over her first love in time to save what she has with her second? "Delightful...Hits all the right notes." --Mackenzi Lee, author of The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue "Seriously swoony...I loved it." --Rachel Hawkins, author of Royals "Sweet and intense...[An] engrossing romance with a social conscience." --Kirkus "Utterly romantic." --Tanaz Bhathena, author of A Girl Like That "Full of heart and humor. It crackles with energy." --Kelly Loy Gilbert, author of Picture Us in the Light "Timely and romantic." --Publishers Weekly "Beautiful, heartfelt, aware, and raw." --Lauren Gibaldi, author of This Tiny Perfect World "Thoughtful, nuanced." --Booklist




Book of Longing


Book Description

Book of Longing is Leonard Cohen's first book of new poetry since Book of Mercy was published two decades ago. It collects Cohen's poetry written between the 1980s and the present, and also includes his wonderfully witty and sensuous illustrations, including numerous playful self-portraits. The illustrations interact with, and complement, the poetry in unexpected and fascinating ways. Book of Longing demonstrates the range and depth of Cohen's work, revealing an extraordinary gift of language and visual art that speak with rare clarity, passion and timelessness.




The Contemporary Piano


Book Description

With Contemporary Piano: A Performer and Composer’s Guide to Techniques and Resources, Alan Shockley provides a comprehensive resource for composers writing music that uses extended techniques for the piano, and for pianists interested in playing repertoire that makes use of techniques and/or implements unfamiliar to them. Shockley explains dozens of ways to prepare a piano without damaging the instrument, how to notate every standard technique and many, many obscure ones, and the specific geographies of every common concert hall piano. This will be the standard reference for pianists touring and playing inside-the-piano repertoire, and for composers at all levels of familiarity with the piano hoping to understand the mechanical miracle that is the modern piano.




The Piano


Book Description

A fascinating history of the piano explored through 100 pieces chosen by one of the UK’s most renowned concert pianists An astonishingly versatile instrument, the piano allows just two hands to play music of great complexity and subtlety. For more than two hundred years, it has brought solo and collaborative music into homes and concert halls and has inspired composers in every musical genre—from classical to jazz and light music. Charting the development of the piano from the late eighteenth century to the present day, pianist and writer Susan Tomes takes the reader with her on a personal journey through 100 pieces including solo works, chamber music, concertos, and jazz. Her choices include composers such as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Robert Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Debussy, Gershwin, and Philip Glass. Looking at this history from a modern performer’s perspective, she acknowledges neglected women composers and players including Fanny Mendelssohn, Maria Szymanowska, Clara Schumann, and Amy Beach.