She once had a promising career as a concert pianist, but Montparker (A Pianist's Landscape
) decided to scale back on performing and to free herself from the pressures and anxieties of a touring musician's life. Although the piano is still the focus of her existence, and she still gives recitals from time to time, she is now able to pursue other activities; in these engaging personal essays, which she calls stories, she muses on some of these interests, such as her writing and painting, her garden, the birds in her backyard, her diaries and her travels. Montparker also reminisces about her childhood in Brooklyn; some of the many friends she has made over the years, including a charming elderly gentleman who managed to pass along to her his deceased wife's Steinway piano without making it look like a gift; her disastrous first marriage; and the happiness she has found with a second husband who shares her interests. Music plays the central role in her stories, however. She writes beautifully about the pianos she has owned and played (or not played, as in the tale of the gaudy blue piano of the title, which she refused to use for a recital at Steinway Hall), the perils of giving concerts in small towns, the revitalizing power of music after the tragedy of September 11 and her affection for all her students. Montparker's essays are slight, but they speak delightfully of the contentment of a musician who has never regretted her decision to trade a taxing career for full enjoyment of life's other pleasures. (Apr.)
