Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #239693 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Review
'Audacious ... exhilarating ... brilliant' Gramophone 'Thoughtful and passionate' The Times 'An exceptionally good read. Emotionally real. The kind of book you pick up and don't put down' Musical Opinion 'Devastating ... Intellectually engaged ... a remarkably well-wrought narrative' Guardian

The Guardian
Examines in devastating detail the inner life of a concert pianist… it transforms its material into a remarkably well-made narrative.

The Gramophone
The ring of truth will stop the most blasé reader in his tracks. Brilliant and enlivening.

Customer Reviews

Good book for musicians
The Concert Pianist chronicles the mid-life crisis of a famous pianist. The writing is mostly good and very descriptive. In places it is really beautiful, particularly in its descriptions of music and the emotions it creates. The descriptions of sound here are the best I've found, really capturing the brilliance of a great classical piece in words. The emotional descriptions are also good.

However, it is rather heavy going in places, perhaps because of its largely introspective subject matter. The arrival and role of a stunningly attractive, young, intelligent and sympathetic agent stretches credibility rather too far and detracts from the overall integrity of the story.

The central character, Philip, is believable enough and the descriptions of what it takes to be a top class musician are interesting. Some of the other characters are interesting and credible, and the parts describing the tragedy which haunts Philip's life are quite moving.

Musicians and performers will particularly appreciate the musical elements of the story. However those with little knowledge of or interest in classical music may find the pages devoted to descriptions of pieces very dull.

Not just for pianists
For me, The Concert Pianist is about a man reflecting on the potential of a life not lived. His life has led him down a path that has been rewarding professionally but as he struggles to see off rivals, cope with a tragedy and his own mortality, he reflects on what he may have experienced if he had taken a different road.

I found it a moving story and found the sex more joyful than gratuitous - as he reconnects with his world- although I did find some of the painstaking descriptions of complicated musical passages so laborious, that I skipped quite a few.

But overall, this book stayed with me after I had closed it - and I like that!

Good writer gets spoiled by pop psychology and publisher's demand for sex
This book is well written. The author's writing is always clear and direct. His musical descriptions are interesting, particularly for those who love the classical piano.

The opening chapters, describing the fairly horrific life of the concert pianist are a splendid read and make those of us who play the piano for enjoyment glad that we never took it too seriously. They also make us grateful to those who did and, as Mr Williams points out, sacrificed so many other pleasures of life.

Unfortunately the book then descends into woman's magazine psychology. Parenthood, Mr Williams, suits the majority of people but it is not a panacea. There are many people who go through life without children and still lead happy, fulfilled and interesting lives.

The end of the book then contains gratuitous scenes of sex - quite unnecessary to the character of the tale and the style of the book. Pity.

Thanks for the first half, anyway!


Roger Derek Williams