Rational Principles of Piano Technique: Piano Technique

I have so far found the exercises in Rational Principles of Piano Technique to be very helpful and I especially recommend Cortot's 2 volumes for Chopin Etudes Op.10 and Op.25I am aware of the controversy surrounding Cortot's allegiance during the occupation of France, However one reviewers statement "....By the way, Cortot, during the Nazi invasion was a pigeon stool for the Nazi's and ratted out many musicians who were thus sent to the camps..." is unsubstantiated.... following is an excerpt from Music and the Holocaust on Cortot.http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/musicians-in-exile/french-resistance/cortot-alfred/Alfred CortotAmongst the thorniest of issues surrounding the role of music and musicians during the French occupation is the question of Alfred Cortot: was he a collaborator or a resistance fighter?Cortot already enjoyed an international career as a pianist and conductor before the start of the war; he also taught at the Conservatoire and founded a music school. On the one hand, Cortot simply continued his work during the Occupation, acting as a defender of France with a keen protective instinct for her musical heritage. From September 1939, with France fearing an attack from Germany, he cancelled all his engagements and put himself at the disposal of the Beaux Arts (Fine Arts) administration. He started an initiative to comfort and provide a distraction for soldiers on the front line through music, taking charge of the umbrella organisation L’Action Artistique aux Armées (Arts Activities for the Army) in November. Fearing the signing of the Armistice, he fled south, taking advantage of the confusion in Vichy to set up another branch of the arts organisation Beaux Arts. However, he was forced to quit ten days after Pétain took over as head of Free France, and turned instead to writing reports about cultural propaganda, music and the defence of the French canon. In September 1940 he was named director of the Service d’Initiative Artistique (The Arts Initiative Service), through which he set up concerts of choral music and radio programmes about folk songs on Radio-Jeunesse.From March 1941, however, the picture becomes more muddied. Cortot was charged by Pétain's government with suggesting a general musical reform, and he decided to place the majority of musical activities under the control of Vichy, giving Pétain authority in musical decisions. He also became increasingly involved in government musical politics and worked more closely with Pétain himself. In May 1942, he was named president of the Comité d’organisation professionelle de la musique (The committee for the professional organisation of music), nicknamed Comité Cortot, where he worked in direct collaboration with Laval’s cabinet. He was also involved with the creation of the Chantiers de Jeunesse (Youth Camps).Cortot's politics became even more evident through his piano playing. In December 1941 he took part in the Propaganda Staffel (Propaganda Squad) festival in Paris, and in 1942 played with Wilhelm Kempff for the exposition of Nazi artist Arno Breker. He also met Breker with Laval at the house of Paul Morand, a collaborator, in the company of the education minister for the Vichy regime, Abel Bonnard. Cortot made such an impression that Morand had a statue made of Cortot’s bust. In June 1942 Cortot went to Berlin, where he played with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Wilhelm Furtwängler before touring the rest of Germany. This made him the first artist to perform for a German audience since the signing of the Armistice. When he returned, the group Collaboration held a ‘welcome-home’ party for him. In light of this, at the liberation, he was suspended from his function as president of Comité Cortot, and on 2nd September 1944, was arrested.Despite all this, Cortot was released due to the involvement of Claude Delvincourt, director of the Paris Conservatoire, who argued that Cortot had been preserving French culture. Cortot himself argued:I’ve given 50 years of my life to the helping the French cause [...] when I was asked to become involved with the interests of my comrades, I felt I couldn’t refuse. [...] I represented the interests of the French government less than the interests of France. [...] I have never been involved in politics.Indeed, in February 1943 Cortot had argued that musicians should not take part in the Service du travail obligatoire (Compulsory work service) introduced by Hitler, as it might compromise their future musical career. He had also called for musical prisoners to be able to join German orchestras. In May 1943 he had even succeeded in liberating twenty musician prisoners. His work extended to fighting in favour of Jewish musicians, such as the Polish soprano Marya Freund: after she was arrested in 1944 and moved to Drancy, Cortot helped to get her transferred to a hospital where she survived and escaped. Cortot was also not French, but Swiss, and claimed never to have felt the same nationalistic sentiment towards France that caused many other French musicians to flee the Nazis and emigrate to the US. He was married (although estranged) to a woman of Jewish origin, and was friends with Jewish intellectuals such as Leon Blum, the first Jewish Prime Minister of France.Following his trial, organisations such as the orchestra of the Societé des Concerts du Conservatoire (The conservatoire concert society) refused to work with him again, and Cortot moved to Switzerland in 1947 to escape some of the ill feeling. However, from 1949 he was able to play in France once more, beginning with a concert in Paris; the demand for tickets was so great that 3,000 people were turned away. This is symptomatic of how, despite his sometimes dubious dealings during the Occupation, Cortot has generally been accepted by the French on friendly terms. But a number of Cortot's personal documents have recently come to light, and what they are able to reveal about his allegiances during WWII may yet cause public opinion to change.By Daisy Fancourt

I can appreciate the fact, that mastering these lessons can tremendously enhance my piano technique.However , it seems to me, you need to be somewhat of a finger contortionist, and maybe a bit of a masochist to get through this thing .I probably should go back to square one, with Hanon and Czerny first .

Lots of interesting ideas, exercises and tips in this book. Stimulating and you will find lots to use. Glad to see this in print.

I ordered this book to give it a shot after hearing about it from a Paul Barton tutorial on the Chopin Etudes. This is by far the most useful book I have ever used when it comes to improving my piano playing. After taking on Cortot's challenge of doing daily practice in a new key for 6 months, I noticed that all my pieces were easier to play after even just a few days! And I have only done the first daily warmup and Series A from the first chapter.I see this being the most useful technique I have ever taken on, but not without it's downsides, as this is a heavy "no pain no gain" approach. After doing the muscle strength exercises, I have noticed my hands have become much more veiny and muscular, which also translates to better form, more precise note articulation, and better hand/finger independence.I highly recommend this book to the late intermediate and early-advanced player, as if done improperly with bad form, I see that this can be detrimental, so only attempt this if you have had previous instruction on form and technique, or if you are already advanced and seeking to go through a phoenix-esque rebirth of your technique and form.

Alfred Cortot was my teacher's teacher, so I have employed elements of the Cortot method for a long time. However, I never actually had this book until now. I feel that generally the method can be highly effective in providing a technique that produces excellent legato touch as well as independence of fingers and the integration of arm, wrist and finger motion. It is the fluid nature of the technique that gives the player command over touch to produce good singing tone. Since reading books about hand and wrist anatomy as it relates to piano playing, I also think the technique can help reduce injury as it seeks to develop flexibility from the arm down and, at the same time, reduce finger motion by suppleness and assistance from the wrist. On the negative side, I don't think the exercises in the book are complete in themselves. They, I think, cannot displace traditional use of scales and arpeggios as well as extensive concentration on technical passages in pieces themselves. However, in using the Cortot approach to these traditional exercises one can learn to produce a beautiful fluid tone free of the skips, bumps and thumps often associated their production. In closing I will add that my teacher, Gerard LeCoat, could produce the most beautiful singing tone I have ever heard. I have treasured my work with him.

If I had a teacher that could show me the correct form to practice these exercises I’d be ok.Or, if there were videos that showed the proper performance, that would be ok. But as an ambitious beginner, I am really struggling to follow the complex descriptions in this book that really need to be demonstrated visually. If anyone knows of any videos I’d love to hear about it. There are precious few on YouTube, even when searched for in French which is the language the book was written in originally.

There are many piano methods, but Alfred Cortot (et cie.) through this and his work editions of Chopin Etudes taught me to completely re-think efficiency in technique and fluidity of motions in order to create a singing tone with the most perfect possible legato and facility. I challenge you to try his practice plan as laid out in the preface! Discipline is required, but it creates a bulletproof technique if done carefully.

Cortot was one of the few piano technique book authors who understood that repetition is harmful to the player. His explanations are clear. I highly reccomend this book.

Excellent book for exercises you need to perform for better playing.

if you want to play play the piano BUY THIS BOOK IT IS AMAZING

Ya habia usado en el pasado los Principios Racionales de Cortot. Se trata de un libro imprescindible para pianistas, para mejorar la técnica y recuperar movilidad si has estado tiempo sin tocar.

Un clásico que hay que tener, aunque a veces se han discutido algunas de sus enseñanzas. En todo caso creo que es muy necesario.

An easy to approach, useful finger exercise book!