Leopold Godowsky (1870-1938) was one of the most celebrated pianists from the great age of the piano virtuoso that stretched from the middle of the 19th Century to the deaths of Vladimir Horowitz and Sviatoslav Richter. His transcriptions and arrangements, often elaborate and ornamental, have survived the changing winds of fashion, but it is only recently that his own original music has begun to receive the attention it deserves. This volume features Godowsky’s 46 miniatures for four-hands where the student in five-finger position plays the “primo” and the teacher plays an interesting and sometimes challenging accompaniment in the “secondo”. Beautifully written, Rachmaninoff used these miniatures with his own students. Complete with scholarly commentary and detailed analysis, this handsome book should be part of any piano teacher’s library.
