Piano Lessons
A Memoir
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
The award-winning, much-loved memoir of renowned author and musician Anna Goldsworthy about her first steps towards a life in music.
In this remarkable story, Anna Goldsworthy recalls her journey from childhood piano lessons with a local jazz muso to a successful career as a concert pianist. As she discovers passion and ambition, and confronts doubt and disappointment, she learns about much more than technique.
Piano Lessons captures the hopes and uncertainties of youth, the fear and exhilaration of performing, and the complex bonds between teacher and student. An unforgettable cast of characters joins her: her family; her friends and rivals; and her teacher, Mrs Sivan, who inspires and challenges her in equal measure, and who transforms what seems an impossible dream into something real and sustaining.
This is a story of the getting of wisdom, tender and bittersweet.
'I loved this book. Anna Goldsworthy's memoir left me awed, inspired and humbled.' --Alice Pung
'Marvellous. Enlightenment and joy on every page' --Helen Garner
'An expertly spun narrative, told with wry, self-effacing charm, elegant economy and the genuine love of a student for her teacher' The Australian
'A brilliant memoir ... Goldsworthy is a fine writer.' Big Issue
Winner of Newcomer of the Year in the 2010 Australian Book Industry Awards
Shortlisted for the Melbourne Prize for Best Writing
Shortlisted for the Colin Roderick Award
Shortlisted in the NSW Premier's Literary Awards
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Australian pianist Goldsworthy was nine years old when she began instruction with the renowned Russian pianist Eleonora Sivan, now relocated to Adelaide. Their pupil-master relationship grew and deepened over the next decade, rendered here in serene, clear, elegant prose, as Goldsworthy, the child of two doctors and musicians, blossomed into a stunning stage force and a vessel of Sivan's deeply intuitive music instruction. Over her meticulous stages of instruction, Sivan took on each composer in turn Bach was like God, she noted, offering "peace, of course, and bells," while Mozart was like Midas, "every sound he touches turns into song" and Goldsworthy tidily arranges her memoir according to their embarking on these composers' works, from Shostakovich to Liszt. At first Sivan did not believe that Goldsworthy had the "emotional freedom" to be a concert pianist. However, the youth proved her wrong by incorporating her teacher's radiant artistry and coming to feel the joy of playing. Moreover, after earning top prizes and attaining her dream of playing a Beethoven concerto with a full orchestra, Goldsworthy returned the gift of music by teaching, as per Sivan's ministrations, and composing to her teacher this rich, heartfelt tribute.
