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9781643135809

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Highly personal, beautifully written, hugely inspiring. -- Jerrold Levinson, professor Emeritus, University of Maryland, author of Musical Concerns A bright, honest, and refreshing reminder that the most worthy pursuits in life are not those that come easily, but those that come from painstaking craftmanship and devotion. Anyone who has ever pursued a passion will find joy in this story. -- Audrey Wright, Associate Concertmaster, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra A superb biographical vignette. Alternately scholarly and effusive. An eccentric, adoring tribute to Bach. -- Kirkus Reviews Moller's encounter with Bach's music faces him off with an entity as stubborn and searching as he is. In this confrontation, the piano becomes a tool of spiritual and physical struggle, a glorious contraption that elicits from its player philosophical reflections not just on music but on work, art, love, teaching, learning, God, humanity, life and death. Moller packs these and other big ideas into wisecracks and freewheelingly erudite comparisons and cultural references. He reveals much of himself while struggling with Bach's fugues at the keyboard and away from it: stretches of frustration lead to epiphanies; musical setbacks and successes interlock in counterpoint both comic and profound. The intelligence and beauty of Bach's works can never be fully explained, but Moller illuminates and inspires with his unique appreciation. We experience anew how this music can transform those unafraid of its intimate, yet far-reaching challenges. -- David Gaynor Yearsley, author of Back and the Meaning of Counterpoint and Bach's Feet Intellectual rigor yielding pure musical art. Will move anyone seeking to grasp the power of music in human existence. -- Booklist, starred review

Moller's encounter with Bach's music faces him off with an entity as stubborn and searching as he is. In this confrontation, the piano becomes a tool of spiritual and physical struggle, a glorious contraption that elicits from its player philosophical reflections not just on music but on work, art, love, teaching, learning, God, humanity, life and death. Moller packs these and other big ideas into wisecracks and freewheelingly erudite comparisons and cultural references. He reveals much of himself while struggling with Bach's fugues at the keyboard and away from it: stretches of frustration lead to epiphanies; musical setbacks and successes interlock in counterpoint both comic and profound. The intelligence and beauty of Bach's works can never be fully explained, but Moller illuminates and inspires with his unique appreciation. We experience anew how this music can transform those unafraid of its intimate, yet far-reaching challenges. -- David Gaynor Yearsley, author of Back and the Meaning of Counterpoint and Bach's Feet

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Dan Moller is professor of philosophy at the University of Maryland.  

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