Underpinned by author John Rink’s internationally acclaimed scholarship and experience as a musician, this book addresses fascinating topics in the field of musical performance studies concerning the history, analysis and psychology of music, as well as artistic research. It offers manifold practical insights into musical performance, ranging from detailed technical features to overall shape.

The volume has four main parts, focusing on performance and performance studies, historical performance, analysis and performance, and artistic research. Case studies of romantic piano pieces appear throughout, including Liszt’s ’Vallée d’Obermann’, Brahms’s Fantasien Op. 116, and select preludes and concertos by Rachmaninoff and Chopin. The book also includes discussions of recordings by such artists as Alfred Brendel, Artur Rubinstein and Nikita Magaloff along with some outstanding performances in the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in 2015.

Rink explores issues surrounding the identity and artistic voice of the performer by elucidating the sense-making and decision-making process underlying musical performance of all kinds. He also offers broad insights into musical ontology, epistemology and semantics, in addition to demonstrating some of the methodologies now used to study performance. As a whole, the book highlights the powerful effects that experiencing music in performance can have on those who take part in it, in any capacity.