Divided into three chapters – covering roughly the 18th, 19th, and 20th century – this history of  extended piano techniques deals with a total of some 17.000 published scores for keyboard instruments in solo, chamber music, orchestral, and concerto settings. Next to final versions, sketches as well as derivatives (e.g. adaptations) were taken into consideration.

Next to broad insights such as the revealingly adventurous 18th century (compared to which the 19th century was – at least in terms of extended techniques – decidedly single-minded), unexpected lines could be drawn that e.g. distinguish the different evolutions of the cluster in piano vs. organ repertoire, connect the rise and fall of glissando playing to technological evolution of the instrument, etc.

All in all, this three centuries long development shows a surprising wealth of musically creative applications of extended piano techniques.