I have always been thrilled by asking myself questions about the music I studied. So too by reading books, listening to recordings, and discovering other works that might help bring me a more personal idea of what I have been playing. I did this in my conservatory years, and even more so when I quickly became the person giving the classes. Responsibility towards my students was the springboard for applying greater rigour to those investigations, and then in 1994 the idea of a book took shape, one that would be the axis of all those reflections: to understand what relation existed between the playing styles of those great composers and their own aesthetic universes. Between 1994 and 2001, I put in an extraordinary amount of time into researching and writing, yet without knowing that the result of all that would open so many doors and change my life forever. The Historia de la técnica pianística that was first published, in Spanish, in 2001 is still listed reading today in universities and higher education centres in (to my knowledge) twelve countries. This 753-page volume has been continually reprinted since its launch, and for many people in Spanish-speaking countries I am, first of all, the author of that “big orange book”. With this under my arm, I have travelled all over the Ibero-American world, and I hope to be doing so until the very end of my life, each time discovering a little more about the always-wonderful people of each place and the incredible diversity of their cultures.
But much time has passed since then. Between 2015 and 2019, I worked intensively alongside the invaluable Peter Russell Wix to prepare a new version of this book, this time in English: Tone Moves: A History of Piano Technique. This edition was not only a profoundly revised and updated version, incorporating written works from the preceding decades, but also a reflection on the changes I had experienced in relation to the subjects it covers. Now, years later, Tone Moves remains a key milestone in my journey, marking a turning point that shaped much of what followed. The book’s publication in English significantly expanded its reach, connecting me with scholars, musicians, and institutions far beyond the Ibero-American sphere. I am deeply grateful for the interest it has received in so many countries across Europe, the Americas, and Asia—engagements that have further enriched my own perspectives and research. This ongoing dialogue continues to fuel my work, reinforcing the idea that piano technique, far from being a static tradition, is a field in constant transformation, and so must be its study. The official page of Tone Moves is tonemoves.com.
In 2023, a new translation appeared. Tone Moves was published in Italian by LIM (Libreria Musicale Italiana) in a wonderful translation by Francesco Pareti, to whom I am deeply grateful for his dedication to this project and his meticulous attention to detail. This edition is based on the 2019 English version, which I further refined and updated—also thanks to Francesco’s insightful observations. I am especially pleased to see this work available in my mother tongue and hope that more translations will follow in the future. Meanwhile, I am already working on a new revised edition of the English version, as this vast subject continues to evolve—just as my own approach to it does. Tone Moves remains a key milestone in my journey, marking a turning point that shaped much of what followed.