Hidden Heartache

This anthology on marginalised piano compositions from the last 100 years creates space for due recognition and in-depth study with its generous page layout and excellent typography. The large format and the blue-grey softcover with a small title picture suggest more an art book than a volume of text, and the design inside is also unconventional. Five alternating layouts are used for the ten text contributions, four of which are based on square, symmetrical blocks of text in different sizes. While in the smallest variant the text blocks are placed very close to the gutter, as though the text is spilling out from the centre of the book, the largest variant uses almost the entire width of the page. The fifth layout uses two columns of text, with footnotes positioned close to the top edge of the page. The layouts all serve as strong metaphors for the book’s objective, namely to raise the profile of artists who have hitherto been consigned to the ‘footnotes’ or ‘margins’ of history, or who have sunk into obscurity. Occasional black-and-white portraits of composers – also square – are superimposed to play with the metaphor of the X-ray, invoked by the anthology’s editor as her way into the history of music. The same is true of the slightly translucent paper. Made possible by a cantonal cultural foundation, the book is accompanied by a 100-minute piano recording by the editor, which is also available separately.

Editor
Simone Keller, Zürich (CH)

Authors
Various

Design
Samuel Bänziger, Rosario Florio, Larissa Kasper, St. Gallen (CH)

Printing
Ostschweiz Druck AG, Wittenbach (CH)

Publishers
Jungle Books, St. Gallen (CH); Kulturstiftung des Kantons Thurgau, Frauenfeld (CH)

ISBN
978-3-033-10349-8