China am Klavier

At a summer festival in southern France, a young Chinese pianist (inspired by Yuja Wang) plays Scarlatti, Brahms and Chopin. Overwhelmed by her artistry, one music critic honors her as the greatest pianist of our time. Another critic, ironic and distant, criticizes the same interpreter for playing without soul, consisting only of tricks and imitation. The two journalists argue via blog and e-mail. They have known each other for a long time, and their aesthetic dispute is linked to a personal conflict. More a clash of egos than of cultures? Even though their increasingly heated exchange of words suggests as much, in this book one discovers above all reflections on Western music: Why does it enjoy such great prestige in the Far East? Is Europe in the process of being robbed of its soul? Or will it perhaps find it again under the fingers of a Chinese pianist? The novel was published in 2011 under the title 'Piano chinois' by Éditions Zoé and has already been translated into Japanese and Polish. 'China at the Piano' is the first German translation. In 'Piano Chinois' Barilier reflects on the facets of Euro-Asian cultural exchange and illuminates the dividing line between subjectivity and objectivity (insofar as it can be discerned) on the playing field of music criticism. ... Apart from music criticism, he brings many star pianists of the last decades into play and tries to get to the bottom of the secrets of a master interpretation'. (NZZ).