{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20261010T034321Z-reviewed-full-unique-works","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/0743243129?tag=bookfrontie00-20","asin":"0743243129","authors":["Charles Rosen"],"book_id":"9780743243124","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/piano-notes-9780743243124","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780743243124.jpg?v=f18e54330534ff03","description":"Among the world's instruments, the piano stands out as the most versatile, powerful, and misunderstood -- even by those who have spent much of their lives learning to play. In Piano Notes, a finalist for a 2003 National Book Critics Circle Award, Charles Rosen, one of the world's most talented pianists, distills a lifetime of wisdom and lore into an unforgettable tour of the hidden world of piano playing. You'll read about how a note is produced, why a chord can move us, why the piano -- \"hero and villain\" of tonality -- has shaped the course of Western music, and why it is growing obsolete. Rosen explains what it means that Beethoven composed in his head whereas Mozart would never dream of doing so, why there are no fortissimos in the works of Ravel, and why a piano player's acrobatics have an important dramatic effect but nothing more. Ending on a contemplative note, Piano Notes offers an elegant argument that piano music \"is not just sound or even significant sound\" but a mechanical, physical, and fetishistic experience that faces new challenges in an era of recorded music. Rosen ponders whether piano playing will ever again be the same, and his insights astonish.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9780743243124","publication_date":"20040203","publisher":"Free Press","slug":"piano-notes","subtitle":"The World of the Pianist","title":"Piano Notes"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"MUS023030","confidence_band":"high","label":"Piano & Keyboards","score":0.8462,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"JNF036010","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Classical","score":0.7492,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"JNF036090","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Instruments","score":0.7381,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"MUS023030","confidence_band":"high","label":"Piano & Keyboards","score":0.8462,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"JNF036010","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Classical","score":0.7492,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"JNF036090","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Instruments","score":0.7381,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"MUS000000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Music","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"MUS006000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Classical","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"MUS023030","confidence_band":"high","label":"Piano & Keyboards","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Piano & Keyboards","score":0.8462,"slug":"piano-keyboards"},{"label":"Classical","score":0.7492,"slug":"classical"},{"label":"Instruments","score":0.7381,"slug":"instruments"}],"reader_fit":["For readers curious about how piano playing works","For readers interested in the piano’s role in Western music"],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Stuart Isacoff"],"book_id":"9780307279330","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780307279330.jpg?v=16ceb3c4657cf2ba","score":0.811,"title":"A Natural History of the Piano","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780307279330"},{"authors":["David Dubal"],"book_id":"9781574670882","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781574670882.jpg?v=78267e6b910b9526","score":0.7745,"title":"The Art of the Piano","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781574670882"},{"authors":["Carl Humphries"],"book_id":"9780879307271","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780879307271.jpg?v=3a78b8c891ee2d1a","score":0.769,"title":"The Piano Handbook","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780879307271"},{"authors":["Charles Cooke"],"book_id":"9781616082307","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781616082307.jpg?v=c58a6fbea2dc60ac","score":0.7683,"title":"Playing the Piano for Pleasure","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781616082307"},{"authors":["Richard Troeger"],"book_id":"9781574670844","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781574670844.jpg?v=5ee631da87c63887","score":0.7283,"title":"Playing Bach on the Keyboard","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781574670844"},{"authors":["Thomas Mark","Roberta Gary","Thom Miles"],"book_id":"9781579992064","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781579992064.jpg?v=c92e364d7f621abb","score":0.7042,"title":"What Every Pianist Needs to Know About the Body","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781579992064"},{"authors":["Jan Swafford"],"book_id":"9780062433572","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780062433572.jpg?v=51d1b566cba03135","score":0.7019,"title":"Mozart","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780062433572"},{"authors":["Sophy Roberts"],"book_id":"9780802149299","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780802149299.jpg?v=b80cda0c8e5b4799","score":0.6941,"title":"Lost Pianos of Siberia","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780802149299"}],"topics":[{"evidence_refs":["keyword:classical music"],"label":"Music","score":0.0456,"slug":"music"}],"what_you_get":["Themes: Piano technique and sound, The piano’s influence on Western music, Piano playing in the age of recordings.","Pacing: reflective, voice-and-character forward.","Themes: Music."]},"llm_signals":{"confidence":0.91,"pacing":"reflective","reader_fit":["For readers curious about how piano playing works","For readers interested in the piano’s role in Western music"],"themes":["Piano technique and sound","The piano’s influence on Western music","Piano playing in the age of recordings"],"tropes":[]},"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":true,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":206,"goodreads_ratings_count":641,"goodreads_reviews_count":59,"quality_score":0.914}}