AM I TOO LOUD?

by Gerald Moore ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 6, 1962

The answer to the question is an emphatic ""No""! Piano accompanist Gerald Moore, as a charming, chatty, anecdotal autobiographer, is just right...Before moving to England with his parents and brother, the young native Canadian was something of an adenoidal misfit who practised only under protest. His Nunc Dimittis came, however, when he was one day told: ""Play that page once more and breathe through your nose"". He soon became an Eton-suited prodigy, known as ""the remarkable English boy pianist"" as he accompanied Boris Hambourg. It was with John Coates, who insisted that accompaniment be a ""vital singing force"" that Moore began to develop that separate but equal technique that sets him apart from his ""adequate"" and/or ""discreet"" colleagues. Between these early years and the present, Gerald Moore has played with the best: Pablo Casals he characterizes as ""complete master of his instrument""...""the composer's alter ego""; Kathleen Ferrier ""spell-binding""...""regal""...""supremely sure of herself and her vocal technique""...Elisabeth Schwarzkopf- ""perfect musicianship"", Yehudi Menuhin ""at one moment inspired, the next lackadaisical"", and, of course, many, many more of the century's finest musical talents. He solos with articulate virtuosity on the subjects of page turners, air conditioning, the saxophone, non-playing music critics, and the anonymity and lowliness of the accompanist in America. A book which will charm even the tone-deaf.

Pub Date: Aug. 6, 1962

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1962

Categories: NONFICTION