... fluently written and often humorous... " --Notes ... should be required reading for performers and teachers." --The Eighteenth Century Konrad Wolff characterizes in detail the personal musical language of several great masters of the piano, pursuing different lines of investigation to discover each composer's essential traits. He brings the accumulated wisdom of his long career as a pianist and teacher to this delineation of compositional styles. Both intellect and musicality contribute to his cogent observations, and his literary style is as eloquent as the music he describes.