Moscow and its Conservatoire was long, perhaps still is, the heart of Russian pianism. Its graduates range through Rachmaninov, Scriabin, Medtner, Richter, Gilels, Ashkenazy, Pletnev and beyond. Professor Christopher Barnes, a professor of Slavic languages at the University of Toronto, has translated hitherto unavailable essays, critiques and lectures from the leading teaching lights at the Moscow Conservatoire. This is a feast of valuable piano pedagogy.