Tocco e gesto nella tecnica pianistica, fra passato, presente e futuro

Abstract

Relying on the examination of two volumes devoted to the piano, both published in 2018 by Wißner-Verlag in Augsburg, this contribution aims to trace the history and development of the instrument by looking into the relationship between different piano schools, between theory and praxis, between ‘knowing’ and ‘doing’, and its conceptual reworking in relation to the didactics of piano technique, between the search for sound and the use of gestures that are capable of producing a certain sound, phrasing, or color. From this point of view, the volumes discussed here provide a crucial and, in many ways, innovative contribution, with special regard to timbre and sonority, to the notion of ‘circularity’ in piano performance, to touch and keystroke, thus offering the reader new, fruitful food for thought.