Resources, Reviews and Links

These resources deal with significant aspects of piano music, piano recordings, and specific historical performers, and are provided as a service to pianists, researchers, and general music lovers. These are publications and websites that represent the work of various dedicated scholars and enthusiasts worldwide. Any opinions expressed belong to the respective authors and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the International Piano Archives at Maryland or the University of Maryland. IPAM welcomes information concerning similar additional resources for possible inclusion here.

Resources

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• Piano Solo | Muse Press, LLC 
  • A wide variety of unique piano scores, including otherwise-unavailable transcriptions and paraphrases by Godowsky, Hamelin, Weissenberg, Lewenthal, Leslie Howard, Vincenzo Maltempo and others, as well as piano works of Ronn Yedidia and several Japanese composers.
• Too Many Records by Donald Manildi
  • An essay by IPAM Curator Donald Manildi, originally published in International Record Review, titled "Too Many Records." It explores the joys and tribulations of collecting piano recordings: "With over a century of recorded sound behind us, I can easily set forth my view that we indeed have too many, as well as too few, recordings. Let me explain...."
• Lev Oborin by Sofia Hentova. English translation by Margarita Glebov
  • Published in the USSR in 1964,  describes the career of one of the most significant Soviet pianists who was the teacher of Ashkenazy, Voskresensky and many others. The book, written by a former pupil of Oborin, also provides much detail about pianistic training at the Gnesin School in Moscow and about the interpretation of Chopin's music by various Soviet pianists including Flier, Gilels, Ginzburg and others. (PDF)
• A brief biography of Soviet pianist Isaac Mikhnovsky (1914-1978) by Yevgeny I. Mikhnovsky, translation by Margarita Glebov. 
  • Belonging to the same generation as Richter and Gilels but much less widely known, Mikhnovsky - a pupil of Oborin and Igumnov - was a formidable interpreter of Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt and other composers. Mikhnovsky also wrote numerous piano transcriptions and paraphrases that are now being published in Russia.
• Letter from Leopold Godowsky to his wife, April 21, 1901
  • A remarkable, previously-unpublished 7000-word letter from Leopold Godowsky to his wife, dated  This is one of the most extraordinary letters from a great pianist of the past that has survived. It gives us rare glimpses of Godowsky in his personal and professional life at the height of his fame. (PDF)

Links

• Claudio Arrau 'ArrauHouse'
  • An excellent source of information about the life, career, and recorded legacy (both commercial and non-commercial) of pianist Claudio Arrau may be found at 
• Alexis Weissenberg Archive
  • Pianist Alexis Weissenberg is represented by an ongoing website featuring numerous photographs, interesting discographical information, and details of Weissenberg's work as a composer  
• Concert repertoire of Leopold Godowsky
  • A comprehensive list of the impressively vast concert repertoire of Leopold Godowsky, culled from nearly 700 programs in IPAM's Godowsky Collection, dating from 1882 to 1930
• Sergei Bortkiewicz
  • A valuable website devoted to the life and works of the late-Romantic composer Sergei Bortkiewicz. His extensive catalog of piano music, currently enjoying a welcome revival, reflects the best keyboard traditions of Chopin, Rachmaninoff, and Scriabin. 
• Left-hand Piano music
  • Pianists searching for works written for the left hand alone should consult the meticulous listing of published scores by over 700 composers
• Liszt Alkan Busoni Godowsky Duchâble discographies
  • Danish collector/enthusiast Claus Nyvang Kristensen has prepared a very useful website dealing with various esoteric piano works, including detailed discographies of Liszt's Transcendental Etudes, the Chopin-Godowsky Studies, major works of Busoni and Sorabji, and much else.
• Jorge Bolet (1914-1990) discography
  • The recordings and career of the great Cuban-American pianist Jorge Bolet (1914-1990) are represented on the web as follows: a thorough, up-to-date discography prepared by Farhan Malik and Michael Glover 
• Jorge Bolet
  • Extensive coverage of Bolet's life and career.
• Alkan Society
  • A good source of information concerning the fascinating 19th-century French composer/pianist Charles-Valentin Alkan . This UK organization's websitecontains all issues of their newsletter as well as details of Alkan performances and recordings, and additional references.
• The Sorabji Archive
  • Two invaluable resources dealing with composer-pianist-critic Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji are: www.sorabji-archive.co.uk and Sorabji Resource Site, containing vast amount of material on all aspects of this fascinating, misanthropic musician's life and music, while the former makes available all of Sorabji's compositions and his critical writings.
• The Joyce Hatto Scandal
  • The now-infamous series of some 100 Hatto CDs, produced by Ms. Hatto's husband William Barrington-Coupe on the Concert Artist label, was discovered to consist almost entirely of other pianists' recordings. Research in progress by pianophile Farhan Malik has conclusively identified the actual pianists whose work was issued under Hatto's name on over half of these CDs. Audio WAV-file evidence online.
• Nicolas Medtner is the subject of an excellent website containing an exhaustive catalog of his works, a thorough discography, publication information, and much else. 
• Index of Vladimir de Pachmann
  • A large collection of materials related to the pianist Vladimir de Pachmann (1848-1933), which includes many published articles and a thorough discography and rollography.
• The Vladimir Horowitz Website
  • Now maintained by collector/enthusiast Bernie Horowitz (no relation), contains detailed, up-to-date information about Horowitz's commercial and non-commercial recordings as well as comprehensive data on his concert programs and various aspects of his career.

 Recordings

• Margarita Glebov
  • Recently published and critically acclaimed recordings by Russian American pianist Margarita Glebov featuring first recordings of works by Lyapunov, Levitzki, Gabrilowitsch, Friedman, and many others.

Reviews 

• The Pianist's Dictionary (Hinson/Roberts), second edition (Indiana University Press, 2020). 
  • This newly-published standard reference book is badly flawed by dozens of errors, omissions, inconsistencies, and similar problems. As a service (and warning) to users of the Dictionary, here is an extensive tabulation of the most serious of those mistakes. 
• Maurice Hinson's The Pianist's Dictionary, second edition (Music Library Association Notes, June 2021).
• Books about Vladimir de Pachmann 
  • Vladimir de Pachmann: A Piano Virtuoso's Life and Art by Mark Mitchell (Indiana University Press 2002)
  • Chopin’s Prophet:  The Life of Vladimir de Pachmann by Edward Blickstein and Gregor Benko (Scarecrow Press, 2013), reviewed on muse.jhu.edu 
  • Chopin’s Prophet:  The Life of Vladimir de Pachmann by Edward Blickstein and Gregor Benko (Scarecrow Press, 2013), reviewed on Goodreads
    • Note: under the threat of legal action, IU Press withdrew the Mitchell book in 2007.
• Maurice Hinson's Guide to the Pianist's Repertoire, fourth edition, Indiana University Press, 2014
•  The Pianist's Craft: Mastering the Works of Great Composers, edited by Richard Paul Anderson (Scarecrow Press, 2012).
• Moriz Rosenthal in Word and Music by Allan Evans and Mark Mitchell (Indiana University Press, 2006).
• Maurice Hinson's A Pianist's Dictionary (Indiana University Press, 2004).
• David Dubal's The Art of the Piano (Amadeus Press, third edition, 2004).
• Emil von Sauer: Liszt’s Forgotten Protégé by Anita Crocus (Luminaire Press, 2022)
• Josef Hofmann: The Piano's Forgotten Giant, by Elizabeth Carr (Rowman and Littlefield, 2023)
  • A version of this review will appear in the June 2024 issue of Music Library Association Notes