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Grand Obsession : A Piano Odyssey by Perri Knize (2008, Hardcover)
AlibrisBooks (477009)
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About this product
Product Identifiers
PublisherScribner
ISBN-100743276388
ISBN-139780743276382
eBay Product ID (ePID)57224989
Product Key Features
Book TitleGrand Obsession : a Piano Odyssey
Number of Pages384 Pages
LanguageEnglish
Publication Year2008
TopicComposers & Musicians, General, Musical Instruments / Piano & Keyboard, Musical Instruments / General
GenreMusic, Biography & Autobiography
AuthorPerri Knize
FormatHardcover
Dimensions
Item Height9.1 in
Item Weight19.2 Oz
Item Length9 in
Item Width6 in
Additional Product Features
Intended AudienceTrade
LCCN2007-048098
Reviews"Reading this book, you want to go out...and learn the piano, or at least visit a shop and stroke one."--The New York Times Book Review, "[Written] in a wonderfully evocative, lushly romantic style...music lovers will resonate to...[Knize's]...pursuit of a gorgeous sound."--Publishers Weekly, "Knize has crafted a poetic tribute to the piano...Warmly recommended for all collections."--Library Journal, "I was hooked from the first page....this book travels beyond the sphere of mere music."--The Buffalo News, "For me,Grand Obsessionwas intimately powerful: It changed the way I look at the world."--The Missoula Independent
Synopsis"A fascinating, lyrical memoir about one woman's obsessive search for the perfect piano-and about finding and pursuing passion at any age" How can a particular piano be so seductive that someone would turn her life upside down to answer its call? How does music change human consciousness and transport us to rapture? What makes it beautiful? In this elegantly written and heartfelt account, Perri Knize explores these questions with a music lover's ardor, a poet's inspiration, and a reporter's thirst for knowledge. The daughter of a professional musician, Knize was raised in a home saturated in classical music, but years have passed since she last played the instrument that mesmerized her most: the piano. Surprised by a sudden, belated realization that she is meant to devote her life to the instrument, she finds a teacher and soon decides to buy a piano of her own. What begins as a search for a modestly priced upright leads Knize through dozens of piano stores all over the country, and eventually ends in a New York City showroom where she falls madly in love with the sound of a rare and pricey German grand. "At the touch of the keys, I am swept away by powerful waves of sound," Knize writes. "The middle section is smoky and mysterious, as if rising from the larynx of a great contralto. The treble is bell-like and sparkling, full of color, a shimmering northern lights. A soul seems to reside in the belly of this piano, and it reaches out to touch mine, igniting a spark of desire that quickly catches fire." The seduction is complete. But the piano far exceeds Knize's budget. After a long and painful dalliance, she refinances her house to purchase the instrument that hastransfixed her. The dealer ships it to her home in Montana, and she counts the days until its arrival. When at last she sits down to play, almost delirious with anticipation, the magical sound is gone and the tone is dead and dull. Devastated, she calls in one piano technician after another to "fix" it, but no one can. So begins the author's epic quest to restore her piano to its rightful sound, and to understand its elusive power. This journey leads her into an international subculture of piano aficionados -- concert artists, passionate amateurs, dealers, technicians, composers, and builders -- intriguing characters all, whose lives have also been transformed by the spell of a piano. Along the way she plays hundreds of pianos, new and vintage, rare and common, always listening for the bewitching tone she once heard from her own grand, a sound she cannot forget. In New York, she visits the high-strung technician who prepared her piano for the showroom, and learns how a wire tightened just so, or an artfully softened hammer can transform an unremarkable instrument into one that touches listeners to their core. In Germany, she watches the workers who built her piano shape wood, iron, wool, and steel into musical instruments, and learns why each has its own unique voice. In Austria, she hikes the Alps to learn how trees are selected to build pianos, and how they are grown and harvested. With each step of her journey, Knize draws ever-closer to uncovering the reason her piano's sound vanished, how to get it back, and the deeper secret of how music leads us to a direct experience of the nature of reality. Beautifully composed, passionately performed, "Grand Obsession" is itself amusical masterpiece., A fascinating, beautifully written story, Grand Obsession chronicles one womans obsessive search for the perfect piano. Filled with little-known facts about the instrument and its mystique, this work is as enlightening as it is engaging., A fascinating, beautifully written story, "Grand Obsession" chronicles one womans obsessive search for the perfect piano. Filled with little-known facts about the instrument and its mystique, this work is as enlightening as it is engaging.
LC Classification NumberML417.K675
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Ratings and Reviews
Most relevant reviews
- Nov 07, 2017
Very nice book to read
If you are a piano enthusiast, read this book. I liked very much the way the author described her odyssey when looking for the right sound. And how it got restored to its original quality.Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
