Music for the PIano
James Friskin and Irwin Freundlich

Seven years in the making, this classic survey of music for the piano is the
most comprehensive manual of its kind in English. It achieves a well-rounded
treatment of the entire spectrum of the pianistic repertoire, from the
pavanes and galliards of Byrd and Gibbons to the bewildering diversity of,
forms composed today. In a format making for quick and easy reference, it
comprises direct and carefully researched brief characterizations of every
major work, as well as an enormous number of minor works, composed for
the piano by more than 500 composers hetween 1580 and 1952. The annotations to each piece touch on form, type of fingerwork, degree of difficulty, technical requirements and interpretative treatment, and always in.
elude the publisher’s name. Critical essays on periods and styles appear where
necessary.

No other singie publication covers such a wide range of material. Not onlv
the solo piano literature is included, but also works for four hands at one
ami! two pianos as well as concertos for piano and orchestra. The selection
has many remarkable features, not least of which is a comprehensive view
of Latin American music that sends. the pianist beyond Vilia-Lobos to the
works of such lesser-known masters as Bosrnans, Paz, Ginastera, Guarnieri
and the Castros. In the case of such outstanding composers of keyboard
Music as Scarlatti, J. S, Bach, Handel, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Schumann.
Chopin, Liszt, Debussy and Ravel there is a short section with a separate
list of easier compositions, as a guide to the student. The piano outputs
of Mozart, Schumann, Chopin, Brahms, Debussy, Ravel and Bartòk are
listed almost entire. And the nuMerous lesser-known composers of individuaL
worth included— Portugal’s Carlos Seixas, America’s Edward MacDowell,
Britain’s John Ireland, Poland’s Karol Szynìanowski and many others—help
make this manual an almost unfathomable cornucopia for the pianist.

This is an indispensable volume for all performers, teachers and students
of the piano, to be referred to constantly throughout a lifetime. "it should
be the constant companion of every pianist and teacher,” Virgil Thomson.
“This book should be an eye-opener for those who seek piano repertory.
The best and fullest listing of piano repertory available in English and well
set up for quick reference,” Catherine Keyes Miller, Librarian, New York
Public Library.

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