Pianists--their lives, performances, and recordings--are detailed in this two-volume set. Each biographical essay emphasizes musical background and training, special influences on development, significant performances, and more. Performance is analyzed and emphasis given to style and repertoire. For those pianists who recorded, there are selective discographies and reviews of outstanding recordings. The authors attended many performances and often supply a personal dimension to the discussions. This readable work, containing extensive documented coverage of 100 artists, will be appreciated by scholar, student, and music buff alike.

As a sourcebook, this work contains biographical data; style analyses (culled from reviews, recordings, articles, and essays); pedagogical history and methods, when applicable; lists of selected references and reviews; and a representative discography. The result is an objective, thorough presentation of the lives and performances of 100 notable pianists. The list initially derived from correspondence with pianists and pedagogues in music conservatories and colleges throughout the United States and after eight years of research in both libraries and concert halls. The text reads easily (and is fascinating), but the vast amount of information and the careful scientific analysis make it a scholarly work of the highest order, useful to graduate students as well as the general public.