About This Book
Liszt's B minor Sonata is now regarded as his finest work for piano, and one of the pinnacles of Romantic piano music. This handbook opens with a survey of Liszt's early attempts at sonata composition - which include some well-known pieces that, hitherto, have been unrecognised as sonata forms - and clears away some of the persistent myths regarding programme music in Liszt's output. In the central chapters, built around an analysis of the B minor Sonata, Kenneth Hamilton discusses various interpretative approaches, arguing that the contradictory writings on the subject stem from the deliberate formal ambiguity of the piece itself - one reason for its perennial fascination, perhaps. The book concludes with a chapter on the performance practice and the performing history of the work, which should be of particular interest to pianists.
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Forms and formulae
- 3 Understanding the Sonata in B minor
- 4 Text and texture
- 5 Performances and pianos
- Notes
- Select bibliography
- Index