Great Piano Works Explained
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Narrated by:
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Catherine Kautsky
About this listen
The glorious repertoire for solo piano includes many of classical music’s most beloved masterpieces. In these 24 musically rich lectures, you’ll dig deeply into this magnificent tradition, in an in-depth exploration of the art of listening. With Professor Kautsky’s inspired guidance and expert playing, you’ll highlight key works of each composer, and unpack their structure, the musical materials that drive them, and the specific features that affect listeners so strongly, giving you a clear grounding in how to approach and hear this great music.
Within a rich spectrum of piano masterpieces, you’ll explore:
· Mozart’s Sonata in C Minor, K. 457—Hear the influence of opera in this tempestuous sonata, where Mozart transports the listener from joy to sorrow and back again in an ever-changing kaleidoscope of emotions.
· Beethoven’s Sonata Opus 110—In this monumental musical journey, study the majestic first movement, the dramatic Allegro molto, and the Arioso and great fugue that ends the sonata in triumphant affirmation.
· Schumann’s Kreisleriana, Papillons, and Carnaval—Delight in Schumann’s resplendent piano “cycles,” anthology-like works revealing multiple musical “characters” and sonic landscapes.
· Chopin’s Ballade in F Minor—Grasp how Chopin delivers a seemingly epic musical narrative within 12 minutes, moving from lyric tenderness to a passionate, thunderous denouement.
· Debussy’s Claire de Lune and Preludes—Grasp the compositional means behind the beloved, ethereal Claire de Lune, and taste the exoticism, humor, and flights of fancy of Debussy’s incandescent Preludes.
· Charles Ives’ Concord Sonata—Hear how this American innovator incorporates unconventional harmonies, dense textures, and multiple musical quotations in a massive, sprawling artistic statement.
In Great Piano Works Explained, you’ll study masterpieces from a wide selection of the great composers, deepening your skill in hearing and appreciating these timeless creations of the human spirit.
Disclaimer: Please note that this recording may include references to supplemental texts or print references that are not essential to the program and not supplied with your purchase.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
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With Emmy, Grammy, and six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald as Blanche DuBois alongside Carla Gugino as Stella, O’Hara takes a fresh and visceral look at the emotionally charged relationship between these two iconic sisters. Haunted by her past, Blanche seeks refuge with Stella and Stanley (Ariel Shafir) in New Orleans, where she wrestles with the nature of her sister’s husband, her sister’s denial, and her own unraveling mind.
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Classic With Fresh Insight
- By Talia Shafir on 12-04-20
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Song of the Northwoods
- By: Jessica Huang
- Narrated by: Michele Selene Ang, Quincy Dunn-Baker, Emma Kikue, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 48 mins
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After a betrayal at work costs Song Kuan her job, she retreats to her friend Lucy’s idyllic family cabin on a lake in Minnesota to lick her wounds. She devotes herself to recording Ice Cold Cases, a true-crime podcast that she and Lucy cohost with the gleeful energy of obsessed fans—until an anonymous tip about a missing-person case disrupts their equilibrium. Then Lucy disappears, leaving Song alone in an unfriendly and unfamiliar town where locals don’t take kindly to strangers asking questions.
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Asians in MN! I loved it. The vivid sounds of Northern Minnesota totally took me there, and I was hooked into the mystery.
- By Sheila Morris on 04-26-22
By: Jessica Huang
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Coreyography
- By: Corey Feldman
- Narrated by: Corey Feldman
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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In this brave and moving memoir, Corey Feldman is revealing the truth about what his life was like behind the scenes: His is a past that included physical, drug, and sexual abuse, a dysfunctional family from which he was emancipated at age fifteen, three high-profile arrests for drug possession, a nine-month stint in rehab, and a long, slow crawl back to the top of the box office.
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Didn't like the Two Coreys, but liked this.
- By ricketsj on 04-29-14
By: Corey Feldman
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Petty: The Biography
- By: Warren Zanes
- Narrated by: Warren Zanes
- Length: 13 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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No one other than Warren Zanes, rocker and writer and friend, could author a book about Tom Petty that is as honest and evocative of Petty's music and the remarkable rock and roll history he and his band helped to write. Born in Gainesville, Florida, with more than a little hillbilly in his blood, Tom Petty was a Southern shit kicker, a kid without a whole lot of promise. Rock and roll made it otherwise.
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Tom Petty gets some bio love
- By tru britty on 12-15-15
By: Warren Zanes
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The Chris Farley Show
- A Biography in Three Acts
- By: Tom Farley, Tanner Colby
- Narrated by: Therese Plummer, L. J. Ganser, Mark Boyett
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
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The New York Times best-selling biography of an American comedy legend. After three years of sobriety, Chris Farley's life was at its creative peak until a string of professional disappointments chased him back to drugs and alcohol. He fought hard against them, but it was a fight he would lose in December 1997. Farley's fans immediately drew parallels between his death and that of his idol, John Belushi. Without looking deeper, however, many failed to see that Farley was much more than just another Hollywood drug overdose. In this officially authorized oral history, Farley's friends and family remember his work and life.
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Incredibly sad....
- By Marie B on 04-12-15
By: Tom Farley, and others
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In Language of the Spirit, renowned music scholar Jan Swafford argues that we have it all wrong: classical music has something for everyone and is accessible to all. Ranging from Gregorian chant to Handel's Messiah, from Vivaldi's The Four Seasons to the postmodern work of Philip Glass, Swafford is an affable and expert guide to the genre. He traces the history of Western music, introduces listeners to the most important composers and compositions, and explains the underlying structure and logic of their music.
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Huge book - musical reader appreciates best
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Started common, ended uncommon
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Every day of your life is spent surrounded by mysteries that involve what appear to be rather ordinary human behaviors. What makes you happy? Where did your personality come from? Why do you have trouble controlling certain behaviors? Why do you behave differently as an adult than you did as an adolescent?Since the start of recorded history, and probably even before, people have been interested in answering questions about why we behave the way we do.
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I wanted to like this course
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The Iliad of Homer
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For thousands of years, Homer's ancient epic poem the
Iliad has enchanted readers from around the world. When you join Professor Vandiver for this lecture series on the Iliad, you'll come to understand what has enthralled and gripped so many people. Her compelling 12-lecture look at this literary masterpiece -whether it's the work of many authors or the "vision" of a single blind poet - makes it vividly clear why, after almost 3,000 years, the
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Vandiver never disappoints
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What listeners say about Great Piano Works Explained
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Meichiko
- 10-27-22
Highly recommended!!
“Great Piano Worked Explained” is welcome addition to the piano literature that brings familiar works from the standard piano canon to life for music lovers of every level of expertise. Over the years, I’ve read many of Kautsky’s articles and books and attended many of her lecture-recitals, and although I am a pianist who knows the repertoire well, I never fail to learn something stunningly new and exciting every time. It’s inspiring and illuminating to hear these beloved works through the ears and mind of such a perceptive and passionate intellect. Rigorously researched, these presentations draw from the author’s 6-decade engagement with 24 iconic piano works in a highly entertaining, witty, and unpretentious style. Kautsky is a master storyteller who weaves narrative strands from musical and literary analysis, art criticism, politics, sociology, religion into a fascinating tapestry that pictures each work within a context of time and place. Enthusiastically recommended!
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- Amazon Customer
- 02-14-24
Example demonstrations
The overall explanation was interesting, from the 50% of what I understood. If only the professor would speak NORMALLY, instead of acting out exaggeratedly in a theatrical manner, it would have been possible to understand what she wants to say. It’s a pity because when she talks normally, it’s a pleasure to follow her lectures.
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- Anonymous User
- 08-18-24
The book should be called my political views and classical music.
If this would of been my first book reading trying to learn about classical music I think I would of been turned off by it. She builds credibility with the choices she makes on the pieces to talk about. Then she destroys her credibility by shoving her political views down your throat. She was very obnoxious to listen too would of been more enjoyable to listen too had she just talked about music. Thank God this wasn't a actual class I was taking I would of just walked out.
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