Paul Elie Reads from Reinventing Bach
When Paul Elie agreed to read a selection from his new book, Reinventing Bach (Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, 2012), for a video exclusive to GRAND PIANO PASSION™, I jumped at the chance. We would meet at the spacious Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn, a book-lovers’ mecca known for its literary events and one of Elie’s first stops on his national book tour.
The appropriate book passage for the video was not obvious; this book mixes together many ingredients, and to highlight one passage in particular is to miss the taste of the whole. Paul recommended a passage describing pianists, a nod to this online magazine’s focus on classical piano music.
While we filmed the video, the Greenlight’s door creaked open as prospective readers arrived for the Reinventing Bach event. Despite these occasional aural distractions (especially for a group of pianists attuned to listening), I am very happy to present this music aficionado and scholar reading from his new book.
Reinventing Bach is available at the Seminary Co-op Bookstore, as well as Amazon.
Paul Elie is the author of The Life You Save May Be Your Own (FSG, 2003), which was awarded the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction, among other prizes, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in biography. Born in 1965 and educated at Fordham and Columbia universities, he worked for many years as a senior editor at Farrar, Straus and Giroux and taught in Columbia’s graduate writing program. He is now a senior fellow with Georgetown University, based in the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs.
Our series exploring, from multiple perspectives, pieces commonly studied by adult piano students.
