Boundaries, Space and Register in Beethoven’s Piano Music

With rigor and insight, Miller shows Beethoven probing sonic boundaries in his works while conveying a sense of the whole. He traces a provocative through-line in Beethoven, one that ultimately points beyond the earthly toward the celestial. * William Kinderman, Distinguished Professor, UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music * Meticulously objective but never aridly impersonal, exhaustively researched yet vividly communicative in style, Malcolm Miller's book sets a new baseline for the technical exploration and expressive interpretation of this endlessly fascinating music. * Arnold Whittall, Emeritus Professor of Music Theory and Analysis, King's College London * Modern pianos are regulated evenly from top to bottom. On fortepianos - with parallel strings - we can clearly distinguish between the registers; top, middle and bass. They each have their unmistakable timbre. Throughout his life Beethoven followed the evolution of instruments, he personally knew the best piano makers. For him the instrument's singing tone was more important than its volume and brilliance. Much of Beethoven's piano music is metaphysical and indeed cosmic. The highest sphere of the keyboard represents the Heavens or the skies, in the lowest range we have the Earth and the Underworld. In this new book Malcolm Miller examines the ideas of register and space in Beethoven's complete solo piano works. It is a most valuable contribution to our understanding of this great master, highly recommended to students, scholars and Beethoven enthusiasts. * Sir András Schiff *