Art music, orchestral and formal music Books
Boosey & Hawkes Inc Cello Counterpoint Version for Solo Cello and
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£11.69
Southern Music Company Adagio and Allegro
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£8.50
Southern Music Company The Old Boatman
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£6.64
Boosey & Hawkes Inc In Broken Images After the Antiphonal Music of
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£24.75
Schott Music Ltd Irish Folk Tunes For Descant Recorder: 63
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£15.75
Austrian Academy of Sciences Press Joseph Haydn - Samtliche Flotenuhren: Mechanische
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£18.00
First Piano Book Ein Lehrgang fr den
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£16.37
Wilhelm Hansen 13 Pieces Op. 76 No.2 Etude
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£10.44
Ricordi BMG The Technique of Contemporary Orchestration
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£21.80
Oxford University Press Antonín Dvoáks New World Symphony Paperback
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewA fascinating journey into the historical and racial context surrounding an extraordinary composer and musical work that not only provides a window into the intent behind the composition but also insight into its musical complexities and the resulting reflection of who we were... and who we are, as a nation. I found it an informative and engaging read while conveying a sense of the power and impact that a single composer or a single work of music can have on our society. * Aaron Dworkin, Professor of Arts Leadership & Entrepreneurship, School of Music, Theatre & Dance, University of Michigan *Can you talk about the New World Symphony without talking about race, cultural appropriation, and the challenges of defining 'American' classical music? Douglas Shadle's book, equally valuable for newcomers and for those who think they already know all about Dvorak's most popular work, views the genesis and reception of the piece through a new, clear lens that brings into focus some of the challenging questions that it continues to raise and that remain, in this field, too little discussed. * Anne Midgette, former classical music critic of The Washington Post *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments About the Companion Website Abbreviations Prologue: The Big Problem Chapter 1: The Welcome Arrival Chapter 2: The Symphonic Premiere Chapter 3: The Aesthetic Conflict Chapter 4: The National Question Chapter 5: The Brewing Storm Chapter 6: The Fiery Debate Chapter 7: The Racial Challenge Chapter 8: The Spiritual Aftermath Epilogue: The New World Appendix: The Musical Tornado Suggested Reading Index
£16.99
Oxford University Press Mariachi Music in America
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£85.62
Pushkin Press The Sound of Utopia
Book SynopsisWhen Stalin came to power, making music in Russia became dangerous. Composers now had to create work that served the socialist state, and all artistic production was scrutinized for potential subversion. In The Sound of Utopia, Michel Krielaars vividly depicts Soviet musicians and composers struggling to create art in a climate of risk, suspicion and fear. Some successfully toed the ideological line, diluting their work in the process; others ended up facing the Gulag or even death. While some, like Sergei Prokofiev, achieved lasting fame, others were consigned to oblivion, their work still hard to find. As Krielaars traces the twists and turns of these artists' fortunes, he paints a fascinating and disturbing portrait of the absurdity of Soviet musical life - and of the people who crafted sublime melodies under the darkest circumstances.
£20.00
Penguin Books Ltd Maestros Masterpieces and Madness
Book SynopsisInflated egos. Corporate insanity. Slave labour. Sexual excess. Dazzling genius. Welcome to the world of classical recording. Maestros, Masterpieces and Madness is a sparkling exposé of the strange truth and sheer brilliance behind the classical music recording industry. Leading music critic Norman Lebrecht charts its rise since the great Caruso's first gramophone bestseller of 1902 and predicts the industry's imminent doom in the face of schmaltzy crossover albums and new technology. From the imperious Karajan to the perfectionist Toscanini and charismatic Bernstein, the leading figures are all here, depicted in witty, incisive pen portraits. Including Lebrecht's own selections of 100 recorded masterpieces and twenty that should never have been made, this is a compelling story of flamboyant maestros, lifelong alliances, disastrous personality clashes and entrepreneurial masterstrokes.
£14.39
Oxford University Press Inc Oxford Handbook of Musical Repatriation Hardback
Book SynopsisThe Oxford Handbook of Musical Repatriation is a significant edited volume that critically explores issues surrounding musical repatriation, chiefly of recordings from audiovisual archives. The Handbook provides a dynamic and richly layered collection of stories and critical questions for anyone engaged or interested in repatriation or archival work. Repatriation often is overtly guided by an ethical mandate to return something to where it belongs, by such means as working to provide reconnection and Indigenous control and access to cultural materials. Essential as these mandates can be, this remarkable volume reveals dimensions to repatriation beyond those which can be understood as simple acts of giving back or returning an archive to its homeland. Musical repatriation can entail subjective negotiations involving living subjects, intangible elements of cultural heritage, and complex histories, situated in intersecting webs of power relations and manifold other contexts. The forty-eig
£114.00
Oxford University Press TEXT ACT Essays on Music and Performance
Book SynopsisThis collection of essays and reviews offers an evaluation of the early music movement, in an attempt to transform the debate about "early music" and "authenticity".Trade ReviewSuperlative value...presents virtually all Taruskin's major writing on performance criticism. * Early Music *He is the most devastatingly acute of the growing band of critics and philosophers who question the whole idea of authentic performance practice. * Music Magazine *A splendid and heartening book. * Music Magazine *...the most devastingly acute of the growing band of critics and philosophers who question the whole idea of authentic performance practice. Taruskin has been engaged in a war of words, every blow and counter-blow of which is recorded in this entertaining and wonderfully stimulating book. I found this a splendid and heartening book. * BBC Books *Another one from Taruskin, 'the most devastatingly acute of the growing band of critics and philosophers who question the whole idea of authentic practice. A splendid and heartening book' * BBC Music Magazine *
£40.37
Oxford University Press Inc Shostakovich
Book SynopsisFor this authoritative post-cold-war biography of Shostakovich''s illustrious but turbulent career under Soviet rule, Laurel E. Fay has gone back to primary documents: Shostakovich''s many letters, concert programs and reviews, newspaper articles, and diaries of his contemporaries. An indefatigable worker, he wrote his arresting music despite deprivations during the Nazi invasion and constant surveillance under Stalin''s regime. Shostakovich''s life is a fascinating example of the paradoxes of living as an artist under totalitarian rule. In August 1942, his Seventh Symphony, written as a protest against fascism, was performed in Nazi-besieged Leningrad by the city''s surviving musicians, and was triumphantly broadcast to the German troops, who had been bombarded beforehand to silence them. Alone among his artistic peers, he survived successive Stalinist cultural purges and won the Stalin Prize five times, yet in 1948 he was dismissed from his conservatory teaching positions, and many Trade Review"The rest of us can nevertheless be grateful for [Fay's] humble and herculean efforts, thanks to which Shostakovich can no longer be discussed in terms of black or white; her work has begun to make it possible to focus on the lasting inner life of the music and to think of the music's creator in fuller human terms."--The Boston Sunday Globe"The combined effects of scholarly incompetence, deliberate obfuscation, and the imposition of political agendas have made it nearly impossible to get a clear picture of the life of Shostokovich, one of the most fascinating figures in the cultural life of the twentieth century. Laurel Fay, the most patient of scholars, has done an amazing job of getting the material sorted out so as to be able to tell the compelling story of this troubled life. She is calm, bound by no political parti pris, and when even she has been defeated in her research she is not afraid to say 'I don't know'. Long awaited, this is an immensely important book and hugely welcome."--Michael Steinberg, author of The Symphony: A Listener's Guide and The Concerto: A Listener's Guide (OUP)."Fay's Shostokovich is not only the best biography in English or in any other West European language, it offers readers a factual accuracy and balanced perspective unmatched in post-Soviet era publications by Shostakovich specialists in the composer's homeland. Undaunted by the lurid debates surrounding Shostakovich's purported lifelong dissidence and the covert meaning of his music, Fay has produced exactly what we need at this stage in Shostokovich scholarship; a reliable and basic life and works--clear-eyed, straightforward, copiously researched, sympathetic, objective, and uncluttered by Cold-War and post-Cold-War myths."--Malcolm Hamrick Brown, Professor Emeritus of Music, Indiana University, and Founding Editor, Russian Music Studies
£19.12
Cambridge University Press Grazyna Bacewicz The First Lady of Polish Music
Book SynopsisThis Element explores the life and work of Grazyna Bacewicz (1909-1969), as a composer, violinist, pianist and author. She lived a remarkable life in Poland, navigating the complex world of Polish communist society and Soviet dominance after the Second World War, and brought Polish music to wider European attention. The Element describes the historical context of her life, her major achievements, and the language and development of her compositions, which attracted notable interest in Polish musical life. She wrote a wide range of pieces, making a significant contribution to the string repertoire, with important String Quartets and violin works. In her sixty years she achieved impressive triumphs as a women composer, served the Polish Composers Union and often judged major international competitions.Table of ContentsIntroduction; 1. Early maturity to 1945; 2. After the war: 1945–1954; 3. Finale: 1955–1969; Conclusion; Selected bibliography.
£20.58
Boydell & Brewer Ltd Music in Vienna: 1700, 1800, 1900
Book SynopsisThe image of Vienna as a musical city is a familiar one. This book explores the history of music in Vienna, focussing on three different epochs, 1700, 1800 and 1900. The image of Vienna as a musical city is a familiar one. Vienna has long been associated with many of the most significant composers in Western music - from Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, through the Strauss family, Brahms, Bruckner and Wolf, to Mahler, Lehár, Schoenberg and Webern. Today, venerable institutions like the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Staatsoper and the Vienna Boys' Choir, together with the shared pride of residents and visitors in its musical inheritance, ensure that the image of a musical city is undimmed. This book explores the history of music in Vienna, focussing on three different epochs, 1700, 1800 and 1900, an approach which allows the very different relationships between music and society that existed in each of these periods to be distinguished. Patronage, social function and audience are key considerations, set within wider political and cultural developments. The volume is populated by emperors, princes, performers, publishers and writers as well as composers, and deals with institutional and commercial characteristics alongside representative individual works. Music in Vienna focusses on the political and social role of music, broadening our understanding of the city as a musical capital. It will appeal to a wide readership, including music historians and political, cultural and social historians, as well as the interested general reader. DAVID WYN JONES is Professor of Music at Cardiff University.Trade ReviewAs a sourcebook on cultural background and on such figures as patrons, publishers and performers who flit through the background of the lives of the great Vienna-based composers, this study is invaluable. * BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE *David Wyn Jones's stupendous study manages to have the reader learn anew many facets of the seemingly standard musical fare of classical music in Vienna...rich material that is presented in such a persuasive and superbly written manner that the work will reward the reader with a new and comprehensive perspective. * JOURNAL OF AUSTRIAN STUDIES *David Wyn Jones's triumphant volume tells the story of musical Vienna...the thoroughness of his research has resulted in vivid and compelling portraits of Vienna...and Jones proves an impeccably informed and wry chronicler of the fortunes of the City of Music. * GRAMOPHONE *A detailed scholarly work...making it essential reading for students and scholars of Western music history but also for a wide audience interested in cultural and political history. * NOTES: THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF THE MUSIC LIBRARY ASSOCIATION *David Wyn Jones created an essentially new genre with his eminently readable, yet strictly scholarly book. * KLIÓ *David Wyn Jones explores the culture of that vibrant musical city in three very different contexts. 1700 is the period which will catch most of us out, but even the more familiar 1800 of Beethoven and the 1900 of Mahler yield fascinating insights. * BIRMINGHAM POST *This is the first book to examine Vienna's various political, historical, and economic challenges, and how these issues affected the city's musical heritage. Jones acknowledges the insufficiency of the customary labels of the periods, and he provides some additional brief guideposts and signifiers to give the reader a clearer picture of the changes in the city of Vienna from the 18th century onward. * CHOICE *[Jones's book] is absolutely packed with interesting information. We see the development of all aspects of Viennese society through the prism of musical life. The fascinating, hidden history of women in Viennese music is discussed - a revelation in itself; the development of music making through Imperial private concerts to public concerts sponsored through the aristocracy and then by the middle class. . . . The stories are endlessly fascinating, thoroughly researched and well worth the read. -- Andrew Lorenz * Stringendo *
£23.74
Oxford University Press Inc Classical and Romantic Performing Practice
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£45.59
Harvard University, Asia Center The Korean Singer of Tales
Book SynopsisP'ansori, the traditional oral narrative of Korea, is sung by a highly trained soloist to the accompaniment of complex drumming. In the first book-length treatment in English of this art form, Pihl traces its history from roots in shamanism and folktales through its 19th-century heyday and discusses its evolution in the 20th century.Trade ReviewThis book is a welcome addition to the slowly growing number of monographs on Korean culture. "P'ansori," a form of Korean vocal narrative, is an ancient tradition which has received considerable attention recently this book is an excellent monograph on an aspect of Korean musical culture and is to be recommended to anyone who is interested in East Asian culture and music. -- James H. Grayson * Asian Affairs *
£17.06
Hal Leonard Corporation Spiritual Pair Diptych for Organ Organ Solo
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£12.34
Scarecrow Press Beethovens Immortal Beloved Solving the Mystery
Book SynopsisIn this thoroughly and rigorously researched book, Edward Walden carefully and meticulously presents his case that the mysterious woman known as Beethoven's 'Immortal Beloved' was Bettina Brentano, an artistic and talented musician in her own right.Trade ReviewOver the past twenty years, Walden has delved into the question of the identity of the Immortal Beloved. Finding flaws in theories about the main candidates, Antonie Brentano and Josephine Brunswick, he focused on Bettina Brentano. * The Beethoven Journal *Beethoven’s Immortal Beloved: Solving the Mystery is admirably and extensively footnoted, and Walden carefully lays out his case with both clarity and an incisive logical method. * Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association *This finely researched book is indeed essential reading for Beethoven scholars and amateurs aficionados alike. For readers more inclined to curl up with a good mystery, Walden’s book provides a bit of that, too! * Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association *
£60.30
Rowman & Littlefield The Music of William Schuman, Vincent
Book SynopsisWilliam Schuman, Vincent Persichetti, and Peter Mennin were three of the most significant American composers of the 20th century, yet their music has largely disappeared from view since their respective deaths. Because they each spent the majority of their careers working at the Juilliard School and Lincoln Center, their music is often viewed as "interchangeable." In The Music of William Schuman, Vincent Persichetti, and Peter Mennin: Voices of Stone and Steel, Walter Simmons provides a thorough examination of the lives and work of these artists, clarifying their considerable individuality both as composers and as human beings. The book begins with a comprehensive introduction summarizing the conventional view of the history of American music, while noting the marginalization of traditionalist composers—those who preferred to work with the musical forms and developmental principles on which the body of Western classical music is based. In the chapters that follow, each composer is presented through a brief overview and a biographical essay, followed by a general description of his style. Extensively researched and including detailed discussions and insights, the sections include lists of the composer's "most representative, fully realized works" and then provide systematic overviews of most or all of their compositions, giving the reader a general understanding of the artist and his work. The overviews contain a description of each composition, information concerning first performance and first recording, excerpts from reviews as well as Simmons' own critical assessment of each, and a statement of its place within the composer's output as a whole. A selected bibliography and essential discography follows at the end of each chapter.Trade ReviewThe most immediately striking characteristics of this volume are its comprehensiveness, thoroughness, and scholarship. Simmons seems to have read everything ever written by and about these composers. He has researched everything concerning each work from its genesis to the score to the premiere and the reactions, pro and con, of the public and the critics, repeat performances and reactions to them, recordings, critical reactions to them, and their current availability, all carefully documented in the end notes, and generally maintaining a scholarly distance and objectivity. He gives a detailed and penetrating analysis of each with a cogent evaluation of its merits at the end. I was repeatedly impressed with his obvious professional integrity, with one phrase jumping off the page at me, when he wrote: '. . . for reasons unknown to me' rather than its common form without the final two words; after all, someone might know the reason. The breadth and depth of his information are impressive. The chapter may not constitute the definitive study of the composer but it is surely the definitive summary of him, his work, and his importance. Simmons' writing is succinct, precise, and incisive; every sentence is packed with information with next to no excessive verbiage, and often in felicitously excessive phrasing. Each work is described blow-by-blow from beginning to end. He quotes heavily from critics as well as summarizing their evaluations. He describes objectively but also evaluates astutely himself both the works and the critics' writings about them, aiming for a synthesis viewpoint. His style is straightforward, eminently readable, and pleasant; no pomposity comes with his scholarship and erudition. * Cvnc: An Online Arts Journal In North Carolina *Each chapter in Simmons’s new book offers a detailed biographical sketch, a description of individual stylistic features of each composer, an assessment of the important and representative works that identifies both strengths and weaknesses, and a depiction of the larger social and cultural context out of which the music arose. There are many and extensive quotations from critical opinions (often at some variance with each other) and hundreds of citations in the notes for each chapter, as well as bibliographies and discographies for each composer—and even a compact disc with works by all three of them....Simmons’s extraordinary ability to advocate for these composers yet see them whole, with all their virtues, difficulties, and failings, is a triumph of sensitivity and a lifetime spent in thoughtful listening, research, and adjudication. He loves these men and their music yet makes careful, nuanced discriminations about them, raises questions about their accomplishments (sometimes unanswerable), and gives full credit to the intricate and unfathomable workings of personality and circumstance that bring forth artistic creation. Together with the many detailed and perceptive analyses of individual works (strictly verbal—there are no music examples) it is this celestial balance of judgment and mercy, knowledge and enigma, light and dark, that makes Voices of Stone and Steel indispensable for anyone studying or simply curious about the achievement of these three distinguished and emblematic “modern traditionalist” American composers. * American Record Guide *In his epochal study Voices in the Wilderness (2008), musicologist Walter Simmons charts the careers and assesses the achievement of six American “Neo-Romantic” composers…. Perhaps the important unstated thesis in Voices in Stone and Steel—a thoroughly readable, fascinating, and necessary book—is the de-vivifying effect of professionalization on all creative and visionary endeavors in the American world since World War II. What would Schuman, Persichetti, and Mennin have achieved composition-wise had they been as independent, both in their careers and their worldviews, as the great eccentrics who pioneered a genuine American art-music, such as Charles Ives, Carl Ruggles, and Henry Cowell? Or what, simply, might the three men have achieved had they lived in a more human age than the Age of Ideologies? * The University Bookman *Describing music with words is something every critic struggles with. Despite denying in his introduction that it can be done, Simons is a master at it. His analyses are consistently revealing, never too esoteric for the untrained reader (no scores, mere hints at harmonic analysis), nor too simplistic for the knowledgeable one. He advises us to listen as we read, yet-if one knows the music at all-it comes alive with only his descriptions. He devotes three dense pages to Schuman's Third Symphony, and every phrase, every note sounds and breathes. A well-loved symphony becomes all the more meaningful on next hearing. . . . One fervently hopes that Simmons' series will continue, and that he will champion neglected composers across the entire spectrum of American music. * Fanfare Magazine *This book. . . has been a labour of love for the author. Walter Simmons starts from the premise that the high watermark of American symphonic music in the years following the Second World War passed relatively unnoticed and undocumented, and that the vast contributions to American musical literature of three major figures during that period have largely been eclipsed by their other important, but less enduring, lifetime achievements… In this most interesting and absorbing book Simmons emerges as a persuasive advocate for those, myself included, who feel that the past few decades have witnessed unprecedented growth in American musical culture, the effects of which are only now starting to be assimilated. -- Bret Johnson * Tempo *Through careful analysis of their music and insightful appraisal of their achievements, interspersed with enough biographical information to humanize his subjects, Simmons makes a solid case for their work and provides an enjoyable read in the process. . . . Overall the balance between biography and analysis is well judged. Simmons shows us enough of his subjects' feet of clay to remind us that composers are people, too, in a book that is primarily about absolute music. . . . With enticing recent recordings readily available. . . . there surely exists a new audience for this period of American music-an audience with open ears and fewer preconceptions. For them Simmons' book will be a godsend. * Fanfare Magazine *A valuable book....What is of great value here is: first, the brilliant summaries of the style and substance of the considerable musical output of these composers; second, the many detailed descriptive analyses of individual compositions; third, historical reports of the critical and popular reactions to these musical works when first performed; fifth, information about the recording history of many of these works; and, finally, Simmons' highly informed evaluations of the strengths and weakness of the many works he writes about. . . . Highly recommended. * Classical Net *At a time when these composers were all active, Stanley Cavell observed in a famous essay called “Music Discomposed” that “the task of the modern artist . . . is to find something he can be sincere and serious in; something he can mean” (“Music Discomposed,” in Must We Mean What We Say? [New York: Scribner, 1969], p. 212). Schuman, Persichetti, and Mennin succeeded admirably in this task. Simmons's book is a wonderful invitation to these composers and helps reclaim their reputations for a contemporary audience. * The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism *There is sufficient material here on all three composers to form an insightful view of their lives and work – both administrative and musical – and one would have to seek far and wide for greater insights into the legacies of all three men, who – together with Copland, Bernstein, Harris, Piston, Thomson and Ives – constituted the bulk of important American music in the 20th-century up to, say, 1960, by which time their most valuable works had appeared. * Musical Opinion *This new contribution is most welcome. . . .There is still much to be gained from these musical examinations. . . .Voices of Stone and Steel is . . . a valuable entryway into a varied, compelling, and satisfying body of music. * American Music *There is much in this book that will be of distinctive value to either laymen or scholars, and indeed any work that tries to walk the line in this way will be certain to frustrate both groups to some extent. Regardless, Simmons’ work is crucially important to filling out the canon of American music history, and he has produced a well-conceived and thoughtfully organized reference that will hopefully provoke further scholarly research. * Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association *In The Music of William Schuman, Vincent Persichetti, and Peter Mennin: Voices of Stone and Steel the insightful critic and musicologist Walter Simmons has taken on the cause of three remarkable but neglected mid-20th-century American composers—William Schuman, Peter Mennin and Vincent Persichetti. This ambitious book provides a detailed study of their music, along with incisive summaries of their lives and careers; it also reveals the personal and professional links between the three men and places their various accomplishments in context of their era. In careful, clear prose, the author presents deft, scholarly analyses of most of his subjects' works, ranging through the genres-from symphonies to songs. He assumes the role of counsel for the defense, but doesn't hesitate to note the occasions when his composers fell down on the job. As Edmund Wilson once did with literature, here Simmons provokes a desire in the reader to hear the music about which he writes so compellingly. I can think of only one adjective that adequately describes this important book: magnificent. -- Phillip Ramey, Composer, Former Annotator and Program Editor of the New York Philharmonic, author of the award-winning biography Irving Fine: An American
£49.50
Hal Leonard Corporation Reading Franz Liszt: Revealing the Poetry behind
Book SynopsisA look beyond the virtuosity of Romanticism’s piano superstar.Pianist Paul Roberts recasts Franz Liszt as a composer of poetic feeling rather than just a purveyor of technical brilliance. Reading Franz Liszt: Revealing the Poetry behind the Piano Music immerses readers in Liszt’s world through a vivid exploration of his most beloved pieces and the literature that inspired them—from Petrarch’s love poetry to the sensibilities of Byron, Sénancour, Goethe, and others. The origins of artistic inspiration can be obscure. However, for Franz Liszt, literary quotations in his scores provide fascinating insights into the sources of his creative imagination, revealing a breadth of reading that inspired some of the greatest piano music of all time.A knowledge of the writers whom Liszt revered and often quoted at length enriches an understanding and appreciation of his music. Roberts shows how Liszt in his pioneering piano works created a new concept of musical expression comparable to the emotional and dramatic power of the opera and novel. This book leads us into the essence of Liszt’s poetic world, revealing the relevance of his literary inspiration for today’s listeners as well as for performers coming to terms with its expressive demands.Table of ContentsList of FiguresAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Making a SoundChapter 1: Life, Literature, and MusicChapter 2: The Pianist as ActorChapter 3: The music of desire — Petrarch SonnetsChapter 4: The question of Goethe’s Faust — Sonata in B minorChapter 5: Music as metaphor — Sonata in B minorChapter 6: The Romantic Image — ‘Vallée d’Obermann'Chapter 7: The aura of Byron — Années de pèlerinage—SuisseChapter 8: Mental theatre — Années de pèlerinage—SuisseChapter 9: Music and Poetry — Dante SonataAppendix: Lamartine; Two Episodes from Lenau’s Faust; The Two St. Francis Legends; Thomas Wyatt’s translation of Petrarch’s sonnet “Pace non trovo”; A note on “Mazeppa" and an AfterthoughtSelect BibliographyAbout the Author
£27.00
Hal Leonard Corporation Alma Rose: Vienna to Auschwitz
Book SynopsisAlma Ros©'s tragic story from her birth and youth in the exalted musical circles of Vienna (her father was leader of the Vienna Philharmonic her uncle was Gustav Mahler) to her death at Auschwitz first came to public attention through the 1980 film ÊPlaying for TimeÊ. As leader of the only women's orchestra in the Nazi camps by force of her will and spirit she molded a terrified group of young musicians into an ensemble that became their sole hope of survival. And although Alma herself died of a sudden illness shortly before the liberation of the camps she saved the lives of some four dozen members of the orchestra. In telling her full story for the first time Richard Newman and Karen Kirtley honor her and the valiant prisoner-musicians for whom music meant life.
£18.99
Lexington Books Sergei Rachmaninoff
Book SynopsisValeria Z. Nollan's biography of perhaps the finest pianist of the twentieth century plunges readers into Rachmaninoff's complex inner world. Sergei Rachmaninoff: Cross Rhythms of the Soul is the first biography of Rachmaninoff in English that presents him in the fullness of his Russian identity. As someone whose own life in Russian emigration ran in parallel ways to Rachmaninoff's ownand whose meetings with the composer's grandson in Switzerland informed her workNollan brings important cultural insights into her observations of the activities of this generation of creative artists. She also traces the intricacies of Rachmaninoff's relations with the women closest to himwhose imprints are palpable in his compositionsand introduces a mystery woman whose existence challenges our established narrative of his life.
£31.50
Manchester University Press The Schubert Song Companion
Book SynopsisThis reference book provides an encyclopaedic guide to every song by Schubert for solo voice and piano, 600 in all, including different versions, unfinished songs and variants.
£26.99
Vintage Publishing The Love and Wars of Lina Prokofiev The Story of
Book SynopsisAs heard on Radio 4 Book of the WeekLina Prokofiev was alone in her Moscow apartment one night when the telephone rang. The caller insisted that she come downstairs to collect a parcel, but when she reached the courtyard she was arrested for treason. First enraptured by the young pianist and rising star, Serge Prokofiev, during a courtship in Brooklyn, then abandoned by him in Moscow, Lina survived one of the darkest periods in Soviet history enduring eight years in the Gulag after she received that fateful telephone call. Unfolding with the intrigue of a spy novel, The Love and Wars of Lina Prokofiev traces the largely untold story of a remarkable woman who gave up her career, her country and her freedom for the brilliant man she married.Trade ReviewUnforgettable as a testimony of personal devotion -- John Carey * Sunday Times *Morrison tells a good story, without excess or indulgence, and with touching empathy for his heroine * Guardian *Immensely readable and entertaining -- Amanda Foreman * New Statesman *Morrison writes excellently... As much a story of personal tragedy and disappointment as it is a compelling study of how art and tyranny interact -- Stuart Kelly * Scotsman *Meticulously researched -- Richard Morrison * The Times *Morrison, who had access to the family and significant archival collections, has produced a gripping story of a young woman’s rise into the highest social and musical circles, her marriage to Prokofiev (whose principal affection was for his music, not his family), and their globe-trotting tours and swelling celebrity. But as the Stalin-led Soviet Union commenced its multiple atrocities and outrages, the Prokofievs’ world shrank, their travels were limited and their futures were tightly circumscribed. Research, compassion and outrage combine in a story both riveting and wrenching. * Kirkus Reviews *In the hagiographic hall of fame that is the Russian artist’s wife — Sophia Tolstoy, Anna Dostoevsky, Nadezhda Mandelstam, all muses who stood watch while their men created things of genius, and then who jealously guarded the legacy — Lina Prokofiev is odd woman out. Her story almost cannot be believed, until Simon Morrison gained access to the documents (and the family’s trust) in order to tell it. Biography does not get more important than this. -- Caryl Emerson
£14.39
Penguin Books Ltd The Penguin Guide to the 1000 Finest Classical
Book SynopsisIvan March is a well-known lecturer and broadcaster, he has contributed to a number of record-reviewing magazines. He now reviews solely for Gramophone. Edward Greenfield, until his retirement in 1993, was for forty years on the staff of the Guardian, succeeding Neville Cardus as Music Critic in 1975. Robert Layton is an author, translator and critic, specializing in the music of northern Europe. Paul Czajkoski has been a fanatical record collector from almost the age he could walk to a record shop.Trade ReviewThe best, the biggest and the most comprehensive [Praise for The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music 2010] * Independent *
£16.19
Cambridge University Press Experimental Music
Book SynopsisComposer Michael Nyman's classic 1974 account of the postwar experimental tradition in music.Trade Review'Nyman's book remains a privileged window into that strange world, and its republication will be a boon to a new generation.' BBC Music Magazine'… a welcome reissue of the book … Above all, Experimental Music is a useful source book for a period of radicalism in musical practice in which the rule was to break the rules.' Music TeacherTable of ContentsForeword Brian Eno; Preface to the second edition; 1. Towards (a definition of) experimental music; 2. Backgrounds; 3. Inauguration 1950–60: Feldman, Brown, Wolff, Cage; 4. Seeing, hearing: Fluxus; 5. Electronic systems; 6. Indeterminacy 1960–70: Ichiyanagai, Ashley, Wolff, Cardew, Scratch Orchestra; 7. Minimal music, determinacy and the new tonality; Discography Robert Worby.
£21.84
Oxford University Press Songs of Fanny Hensel
Book SynopsisFanny Hensel is arguably the most gifted female composer of the nineteenth century, but her music has long been overlooked. The Songs of Fanny Hensel is a groundbreaking collection of new scholarship on Hensel's highly original contributions to the genre of song, the art form that she said "suits her best."Trade ReviewIn its quality, range, and sophistication, The Songs of Fanny Hensel marks a new level of maturity in Hensel studies. * Marcia Citron, Music & Letters *The Songs of Fanny Hensel stands as a landmark achievement in Hensel studies in its own right, but also demonstrates just how much of Hensel's 450+ works are yet to be explored. * Angela Mace Christian, Journal of Musicological Research *A celebration of Fanny Hensel's contribution to early nineteenth-century Lieder has come nearly two centuries too late for her, but none too soon for us. This marvelous collection breaks through to the richness and astonishing originality of Hensel's songs, many of which still await publication. Songs of the forest, of the evening, of travel, of love both lived and lost express the breadth of Hensel's poetic range. Her preternatural capacity for capturing words in music, her uncommon tonal adventures, her unusual modes of closure-all these attributes emerge within the context of superb textual, historical, and musical analyses. The Songs of Fanny Hensel welcomes this composer into the classroom and the concert hall, and it secures her rightful place at the heart of the great Romantic Lieder tradition. * Janet Schmalfeldt, Professor Emeritus of Music, Tufts University *A superb collection of essays from some of the world's leading experts on song. Fanny Hensel's Lieder finally receive the first-class scholarship they so richly deserve. * Matt BaileyShea, University of Rochester *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Chapter 1: Introduction Stephen Rodgers Part I: Nature and Travel Chapter 2: The Wilderness at Home: Woods-Romanticism in Fanny Hensel's Eichendorff Songs Amanda Lalonde Chapter 3: Waldszenen and Abendbilder: Fanny Hensel, Nikolaus Lenau, and the Nature of Melancholy Scott Burnham Chapter 4: Songs of Travel: Fanny Hensel's Wanderings Susan Wollenberg Part II: Settings of English Verse Chapter 5: Women's Private Cosmopolitanism in Literary Translation and Song: Fanny Hensel's Drei Lieder nach Heinrich Heine von Mary Alexander Jennifer Ronyak Chapter 6: "In this elusive language": A Byron Song by Fanny Hensel Susan Youens Part III: Tonal Ingenuity Chapter 7: "You too may change": Tonal Pairing of the Tonic and Subdominant in Two Songs by Fanny Hensel Tyler Osborne Chapter 8: Plagal Cadences in Fanny Hensel's Songs Stephen Rodgers Part IV: Responses to Poetic Form Chapter 9: Working with Words: Revisions of Declamation in Fanny Hensel's Song Autographs Harald Krebs Chapter 10: Modulating Couplets in Fanny Hensel's Songs Yonatan Malin Part V: Beyond Song/Beyond Hensel Chapter 11: Reading Poetry Through Music: Fanny Hensel and Others Jürgen Thym Chapter 12: Fanny Hensel's Lieder (ohne Worte) and the Boundaries of Song: The Curious Case of the Lied in D flat major, Op. 8, No. 3 R. Larry Todd Bibliography
£87.30
Oxford University Press Saving Abstraction Morton Feldman the de Menils and the Rothko Chapel
Book SynopsisIn this book, author Ryan Dohoney tells the story of the 1972 premier of Morton Feldman's music for the Rothko Chapel in Houston, reconstructing the network of artists and patrons who contributed to the premier, and documenting the ways that they questioned the emotional translation of art into religious stimulation.Table of ContentsList of Illustrations List of Musical Examples Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction Chapter 1: Pursuing Anxiety Chapter 2: The de Menils's Reality Chapter 3: Shaken into Seeing and Hearing Chapter 4: Abstract Ecumenism Epilogue Bibliography
£38.99
Little, Brown Book Group The Real Mahler
Book SynopsisGustav Mahler may have become a popular composer, but he remains widely misunderstood both as a man and musician. This biography re-examines his life and work and the circumstances leading to his death in 1911.
£21.54
Oxford University Press Melody of Time Music and Temporality in the Romantic Era
Book SynopsisMusic has been seen since the Romantic era as the quintessentially temporal art, possessing a unique capacity to invoke the human experience of time. The Melody of Time explores the multiple ways in which music may provide insight into the problematics of time, spanning the dynamic century between Beethoven and Elgar.Trade ReviewAt once a deeply engaged historical studyTable of ContentsAcknowledgements ; Introduction ; 1. Time and Transcendence in Beethoven's late Piano Sonatas ; 2. Music, Time and Philosophy ; 3. Memory and Nostalgia in Schubert's Instrumental Music ; 4. Temporality in Russian Music and the Ideology of History ; 5. La sonate cyclique and the Structures of Time ; 6. Elgar's The Music Makers and the Spirit of Time ; Bibliography ; Index
£55.80
Oxford University Press Music as Discourse Semiotic Adventures In Romantic Music Oxford Studies In Music Theory
Trade ReviewKofi Agawu is widely known as one of the pioneers of musical semiotics. Now, in Music as Discourse, he offers a focused study that shows semiotics in action, engaging with a familiar and cherished repertory in a way that provides valuable insights to both scholar and student. * Patrick McCreless, Professor of Music Theory, Yale University *At a moment when referential and structural interpretations of music threaten divorce, Agawu's fresh initiative supports synthesis and debate. These are splendid new analyses of important works. * David Lidov, Department of Music, York University, Toronto *Excitement, radicalism, challenge: these qualities have seldom been associated with advanced courses in analysis. This book, with its lapidary clarity, its surprising insights, and its emphasis on musical meaning, is going to change all that. * Raymond Monelle, Honorary Professor of Music, University of Edinburgh, Scotland *Confirms [the author's] status as one of the foremost semiotic analysts of our time. . . rarely can a treatise that ponders on matters so weighty have had such a light, intensely readable, touch. * Tempo *An excellent example of . . . analysis as a kind of 'performance'. * Notes *Remarkable . . . inspiring . . . a reminder of how playful and rewarding music analysis can be. . . . One finishes Agawu's book with new methods to probe music's unfathomable meanings, new ways to refashion the tools we already know, a conviction that the real value of analysis lies in the doing of it rather than the 'truth' it uncovers, and a desire to get down to work. * Theoria *The painstaking clarity of the analyses will surely be imitated by a generation of bright students. . . radical and challenging . . . easy to absorb yet infinitely sophisticated. . .This elegant and rich book needs to be lived with and digested. Of how many analytical manuals can one say that? * Music and Letters *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; PART I ; Theory ; 1. Music as Language ; 2. Criteria for Analysis I ; 3. Criteria for Analysis II ; 4. Bridges to Free Composition ; 5. Paradigmatic Analysis ; PART II ; Analyses ; 6. Liszt, Orpheus (1853-1854) ; 7. Brahms, Intermezzo in E Minor, op. 119, no. 2 (1893), and Symphony no. 1/ii (1872-1879) ; 8. Mahler, Symphony no. 9/i (1908-1909) ; 9. Beethoven, String Quartet, op. 130/i (1825-1826), and Stravinsky, Symphonies of Wind Instruments (1920) ; Epilogue ; Bibliography ; Index
£34.39
Oxford University Press Out of Time Music and the Making of Modernity
Book SynopsisOut of Time explores a bold idea: that western art music of the last four hundred years is better understood through the idea of musical modernity than by the usual periodizations of music history.Trade ReviewIncluding many musical examples and a wealth of references to literature on modernity and music, this refreshing exploration of "modern music" goes backward and forward, and surrounds music in the present. * B. L. Eden, CHOICE *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; Mapping musical modernity ; 1. Being Late ; Looking back ; Brokenness ; Remembering ; 2. Being Early ; Pushing forwards ; The temporality of desire ; Sounding utopia ; 3. The Precarious Present ; Simultaneity ; Boredom ; Historicism as modernism ; 4. Being Everywhere ; The space of music ; Labyrinths ; Technologies of the musical body ; 5. Being Elsewhere ; Music as transport ; The metaphysics of restlessness ; Re-enchantment ; 6. Placing the Self ; Being nowhere ; Hypersubjectivity ; Staging the self ; 7. Like a Language ; Disclosure ; Discourse ; Music as self-critique ; 8. Le corps sonore ; The return of the repressed ; Bodies of sound ; The grammar of dreams ; Bibliography
£45.90
Oxford University Press Music for a Mixed Taste Style Genre and Meaning in Telemanns Instrumental Works
Book SynopsisThis first full-length study of Telemann's concertos, sonatas, and suites focuses on his imaginative mixing of styles and genres. Special attention is also devoted to the extra musical meanings and humor of his programmatic overture-suites, his unprecedented self-publishing enterprise, and the social resonances of his Polish-style works.Trade ReviewIf any music-lovers, performers, or scholars still doubt the beauty and richness of Telemann's music or the importance of his industrious life for the course of music history, let them now read this new study by Steven Zohn, which is extraordinarily well researched, meticulously argued, and original in both content and approach. In one bound, Zohn sets new standards not only for literature in English on Telemann, but also for Telemann scholarship worldwide. * Michael Talbot, Emeritus Professor of Music, University of Liverpool *Steven Zohn's excellent and engaging study should put to rest, once and for all, any view that Telemann was a habitual composer of wallpaper music. Zohn gives us a comprehensive, nuanced, and discerning picture of the Telemann whose music Bach and Handel so greatly admired. * Michael Marissen, Professor of Music, Swarthmore College, and author of The Social and Religious Designs of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos *Zohn takes Telemann well beyond Bach's shadow, revealing not only Telemann's original voice and uncanny fluency in any number of national styles, but also transforming our basic conceptions about music in eighteenth-century Germany. An invaluable contribution. * Wendy Heller, Professor of Music, Princeton University *If any music-lovers, performers, or scholars still doubt the beauty and richness of Telemann's music or the importance of his industrious life for the course of music history, let them now read this new study by Steven Zohn, which is extraordinarily well researched, meticulously argued, and original in both content and approach. In one bound, Zohn sets new standards not only for literature in English on Telemann, but also for Telemann scholarship worldwide. * Michael Talbot, Emeritus Professor of Music, University of Liverpool *Zohn takes Telemann well beyond Bach's shadow, revealing not only Telemann's original voice and uncanny fluency in any number of national styles, but also transforming our basic conceptions about music in eighteenth-century Germany. An invaluable contribution. * Wendy Heller, Professor of Music, Princeton University *Steven Zohn's excellent and engaging study should put to rest, once and for all, any view that Telemann was a habitual composer of wallpaper music. Zohn gives us a comprehensive, nuanced, and discerning picture of the Telemann whose music Bach and Handel so greatly admired. * Michael Marissen, Professor of Music, Swarthmore College, and author of The Social and Religious Designs of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos *Table of ContentsList of Abbreviations ; List of Music Examples ; List of Tables ; List of Figures ; Prologue: Styles and Sources ; Part I: The Overture-Suites ; One: Acquiring a Mixed Taste: Telemann as "Great Partisan of French Music" ; Two: Telemann's Mimetic Art: The Characteristic Overture-Suites ; Part II: The Concertos ; Three: Never from the Heart? Telemann's Concertos ; Four: Bach's Debt Repaid with Interest: A Cast Study of Transformative Imitation ; Part III: The Sonatas ; Five: "Something for Everyone's Taste": Telemann's Sonatas to 1725 ; Six: Telemann and the Sonata auf Concertenart ; Part IV: The Hamburg Publications ; Seven: Telemann in the Marketplace: The Composer as Self-Publisher ; Eight: Telemann fur Kenner und Liebhaber: The Music of the Hamburg Publications ; Nine: Telemann's Polish Style and the "True Barbaric Beauty" of the Musical Other ; Afterword ; Glossay ; Notes ; Bibliography ; Index of Telemann's Compositions ; General Index
£44.00
Oxford University Press Charles Munch
Book SynopsisIn Charles Munch, D. Kern Holoman provides the first full biography of this giant of twentieth-century music, tracing his dramatic survival in occupied Paris, his triumphant arrival at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and his later years, when he was a leading cultural figure in the United States, a man known and admired by Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy.Trade ReviewA fascinating read. Holoman's passion for and knowledge of his subject is quite compelling. In contemporary discussions of the great conductors of that era, Munch tends to be relatively overlooked. Holoman makes a persuasive historical case for Munch's importance, both to musical life in France and to the evolution of the Boston Symphony. Along the way, he also provides a detailed look at what life was like for conductors (and orchestras) in the middle part of the twentieth century. * Aaron Sherber, Music Director and Conductor, Martha Graham Dance Company *A joy to read: well-conceived, well-executed, well-written. Holoman's combination of musical and literary skill brings twentieth-century culture to life throughout, on both sides of the Atlantic. 'Ah, qu'il était beau!' and he still is, in Holoman's vivid biography. * Thomas Kelly, Harvard University *Charles Munch * the musical icon. When you played a concert with Charles Munch or attended one of his performances as a listener, it was not just a concert. It was an event. He never used the same palette twice. As a player, you had to give 110% of yourself, or be left out of the music. This book is an excellent portrayal of this musical phenomenon!Vic Firth *The qualities that marked D. Kern Holoman's biography of Berlioz and his epic The Société des Concerts du Conservatoire * the grand sweep combined with the minute attention to detail, the narrative flair, the breadth of human sympathy, the evocation of the musician's existence, which, as himself a conductor and organiser of concerts, he understands so wellshine out in this new book. Charles Munch's life, spanning three continents and two world wars, raises fascinating issuespersonal, social, political, as well as musical. Reading it, we learn both about the teeming, intricate world of mid-twentieth-century music and about the struggles and achievements of one of its best-loved and most committed practitioners. Holoman has a remarkable story to tell and he tells it superbly.David Cairns *Among its other virtues, D. Kern Holoman's warmly sympathetic new biography sheds necessary light on an already forgotten chapter from the history of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Few readers of this book will be prepared to discover what was expected of a Boston Symphony music director as of 1949, when Charles Munch took over from Serge Koussevitzky * Munch was to stay put in Boston; guest conductors were a rarity. And there was new music on virtually every subscription concert. A lot has changed since then.Joseph Horowitz, author of Classical Music in America: A History *A book such as this has been needed for quite a while...Very strongly recommended: it is a masterly study. * Musical Opinion *Beautifully written and arranged in every respect...Accessible to a wide audience...Recommended. * Choice *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1 Strasbourg, Paris, Leipzig : September 1891 - October 1932 ; 2 Paris : November 1932 - May 1938 ; 3 The Societe des Concerts : June 1938 - May 1945 ; 4 Leaving France : June 1945 - September 1949 ; 5 Winning Boston : October 1949 - June 1951 ; 6 Boston after Koussevitzky : July 1951 - July 1956 ; 7 The Iron Curtain and Beyond : August 1956 - August 1958 ; 8 Shifting Perspectives in Boston : September 1958 - April 1962 ; 9 Paris, Again : May 1962 - August 1966 ; 10 The Orchestre de Paris : September 1966 - November 1968 ; 11 An Eternal Smile ; Notes ; Bibliography ; Index
£29.92
Oxford University Press Verdi
Book SynopsisIn this third edition of the classic Verdi, renowned authority Julian Budden offers a comprehensive overview of Verdi the man and the artist, tracing his ascent from humble beginnings to the status of a cultural patriarch of the new Italy.Table of ContentsIllustrations ; Key to Sigla ; PART I THE LIFE ; 1. Early Life at Busseto ; 2. Success and Failure in Milan ; 3. The Journeyman ; 4. Florence, London and Paris ; 5. Return to Busseto ; 6. Viva V.E.R.D.I. ; 7. The New Order ; 8. The Dark Decade ; 9. Indian Summer ; 10. The Last Years ; 11. Verdi as Man and Artist ; PART II THE MUSIC ; 12. The Background ; 13. From Oberto to Ernani ; Oberto, Conte di San Bonifacio, Un giorno di regno, Nabucco, I Lombardi alla prima crociata, Ernani ; 14. The Prison Years ; I due Foscari, Giovanna d'Arco, Alzira, Attila, Macbeth, I masnadieri, Jerusalem, Il corsaro, La battaglia di Legnano, Luisa Miller ; 15. The High Noon ; Stiffelio, Rigoletto, Il trovatore, La traviata ; 16. Towards Grand Opera ; Les vepres siciliennes, Simon Boccanegra, Aroldo, Un ballo in maschera, La forza del destino, Don Carlos, Aida ; 17. The Final Masterpieces ; Otello, Falstaff ; 18. Miscellaneous Operatic Compositions ; 19. Chamber Compositions ; 20. Choral and Religious Works ; Appendices ; A. Calendar ; B. List of Works ; C. Personalia ; D. Select Bibliography ; E. Glossary of Nineteenth-Century Operatic Terms ; Index
£32.29
Oxford University Press Critical Nexus ToneSystem Mode and Notation in Early Medieval Music AMS Studies in Music
Book SynopsisThrough a detailed examination of the major musical treatises from the sixth through the twelfth centuries, this text establishes a central dichotomy between classical harmonic theory and the practices of the Christian church.Trade ReviewThe Critical Nexus is a milestone in every respect, which appeals to specialists and novices alike. It deserves to be ranked among the classic studies on the subject and will be of lasting value to anybody interested in the formation of music thought in the Middle Ages. * Fontes Artis Musicae *The Critical Nexus will become required reading for musicologists, music theorists, and medievalists interested in the reception of ancient texts. * Speculum *A meticulously researched survey of early medieval theory and its application to plainsong, it will form the starting point for future research in the field. * James Grier, Professor of Music History, University of Western Ontario *A comprehensive study, fine-tuning our understanding of the challenges faced by medieval theorists as they adopted terminology and concepts from Antiquity to make sense of the music of their own time - the chant repertory of the Christian church. Professor Atkinson brings a unique perspective to this history of tone-system, mode, and notation through his command of Greek and Latin text sources, combined with his forage into the chant repertory itself. The scholarly community will prize this contribution for years to come. * Dolores Pesce, Professor of Music, Washington University in St. Louis *In this meticulous examination of the texts on music that were the most widely read from the ninth to the eleventh century, Charles Atkinson reveals how medieval theorist musicians reinterpreted the tone systems of ancient Greece and the writings of Latin grammarians to explain and notate the new practice of plainchant. His elegant and remarkably lucid argument is the crowning achievement of decades of scholarship: it not only explains early medieval tonality but resolves the longstanding problem of the derivation of the earliest Carolingian notations. It truly transforms our understanding of medieval music. Every musician and medievalist will benefit from reading it. * Barbara Haggh-Huglo, Professor of Music, University of Maryland, College Park *This important book is of a kind to stimulate one's thoughts about the inherent nature of medieval chant and to provoke discussions about contested issues; above all, however, it presents in al its wealth of detail the evidence for the remarkable story of the earliest developments in the history of Western art music. * Music & Letters *All readers, regardless of their level of specialization, will find their understanding both broadened and deepened. To be sure, this is a work that merits to become a classic, that deserves to be read and reread, studied and discussed among students and scholars time and again, and is therefore highly recommended to all musicologists and libraries. * Notes *Table of ContentsNote on Abbreviations and Nomenclature for Ptich ; Prologue ; 1. The Heritage of Antiquity ; Part I. The Eighth and Ninth Centuries ; 2. The Reception of Ancient Texts in the Carolingian Era ; 3. The Heritage of the Church ; Part II. The Synthesis of Ancient Greek Theory and Medieval Practice ; 4. Hucbald of St. Amand and Regino of Prum ; 5. Alia musica ; 6 Pseudo-Bernelinus, Bern of Reichnau, Pseudo-Odo, and Guido d'Arezzo ; Epilogue ; Bibliography ; Index of Chants and Manuscripts ; General Index
£32.79
Oxford University Press Marc Blitzstein His Life His Work His World
Book SynopsisAward-winning music historian Howard Pollack's biography of Marc Blitzstein deftly captures the fascinating life and career of an American composer who was openly gay and Marxist at a time when neither was acceptable to the American public.Trade ReviewThose interested in twentieth-century music, American music, musical theater, LGBTQ history, Jewish composers, music informed by considerations of politics including race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality, and leftist musicians and artists are in Pollacks debt for this magnificent, richly detailed study. It will, I trust, prompt many more performances, critical editions of scores, and greater analytical engagement with Blitzsteins music, generating fresh views on a remarkable composer and person. * Journal of the American Musicological Society *This comprehensive book about the life and music of the sadly neglected composer Marc Blitzstein is, as well, an invaluable guide to the workings of American arts during the composer's lifetime. * Edward Albee, playwright *Marc Blitzstein was a friend, from the moment we first met in 1946 until he died eighteen years later. Now he lives again in Howard Pollack's pages. As a composer he was one of a kind, with his whistleable tunes encased in wise formality, and his bodily presence, so happy and so sad. * Ned Rorem, composer / author *A timely and invaluable study of a composer we need to know more about. I marvel at Howard Pollack's capacity * as with his biographies of Copland and Gershwinto digest and synthesize a wealth of information, copiously gathered.Joseph Horowitz, author of Classical Music in America: A History *A strong biography." PlaybillA brilliantly researched new biography. * Jewish Daily Forward *Beautifully written, drawing on new interviews with friends and family of the composer, and making extensive use of new archival and secondary sources, Marc Blitzstein presents the most complete biography of this important American artist. * Newreads *Now, Pollack has made Blitzstein happen, just as he succeeded in his comprehensive studies of Gershwin and Copland. * Jewish Herald Voice *[An] exceptionally researched, detailed, and important study of this fascinating, complex, and still relatively unknown composer who well deserves a book of this quality. * Notes *In this comprehensive, sensitive, and beautifully written biography, Howard Pollack scrutinizes every part of Blitzstein's complex personal as well as public life, sustaining his well-deserved reputation as our foremost biographer of American classical composers. * Judith Tick, Matthews Distinguished University Professor, College of Arts, Media, and Design, Northeastern University *Pollack has already told us everything we need to know about Copland and Gershwin. Now he scrutinises Blitzstein in the context of his entire cultural and political scene in fascinating and impeccably researched detail. * Peter Dickinson, Emeritus Professor of Keele and London Universities *A thorough biography. * DC Theatre Scene *Now, Pollack has made Blitzstein happen, just as he succeeded in his comprehensive studies of Gershwin and Copland". * Jewish Herald Voice 26 "Beautifully written, drawing on new interviews with friends and family of the composer, and making extensive use of new archival and secondary sources, Marc Blitzstein presents the most complete biography of this important American artist. " Newreads *The fluidity of prose, moving between established fact and new interviews and critical ideas, is remarkable, making for a book that is rivaled only by Pollack's biography of Aaron Copland...A momentous achievement indeed...Highly recommended. * Choice *An eventful and rewarding voyage of immersion into the life and work of an important American composer. * New Music Connoisseur *Especially valuable... * Dance Chronicle *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; Chapter 1: The Boy from Philadelphia ; Chapter 2: Journeyman Years ; Chapter 3: Early Works (1924-1929) ; Chapter 4: Life with Eva, I (1929-1931) ; Chapter 5: From is 5 (1929) to the Piano Concerto (1931) ; Chapter 6: Life with Eva, II (1932-1936) ; Chapter 7: Critical Writings (1931-1940) ; Chapter 8: From the Serenade (1932) to The Chesapeake Bay Retriever (1936) ; Chapter 9: The Cradle Will Rock, I (1936-1937) ; Chapter 10: The Cradle Will Rock, II ; Chapter 11: From The Spanish Earth (1937) to Danton's Death (1939) ; Chapter 12: No for an Answer (1937-1940) ; Chapter 13: From Valley Town (1940) to Labor for Victory (1942) ; Chapter 14: To London and Back (1942-1945) ; Chapter 15: From Freedom Morning (1943) to the Airborne Symphony (1946) ; Chapter 16: From Goloopchik (1945) to The Guests (1949) ; Chapter 17: Regina, I (1946-1949) ; Chapter 18: Regina, II ; Chapter 19: The Threepenny Opera (1950-1954) and Other Adaptations ; Chapter 20: Reuben Reuben (1949-1955) and This is the Garden (1956-1957) ; Chapter 21: More Music for Shakespeare (1950-1958) ; Chapter 22: Juno (1957-59) ; Chapter 23: Final Years, I (1959-1961) ; Chapter 24: Final Years, II (1961-1964) ; Chapter 25: The Unfinished Operas ; Conclusion ; Abbreviations ; Notes ; Index
£29.92
Oxford University Press Mozart His Character His Work 162 Galaxy Books
Trade Review"Not simply an illuminating and informative book but a lively and fascinating one....The clearest, most vivid, and most credible picture known to this reviewer of this most 'universal' of musical geniuses."--Roger Sessions, The New York Times Book Review
£20.24
Oxford University Press, USA Pianos and Politics in China MiddleClass Ambitions and the Struggle Over Western Music
Book SynopsisDuring the Cultural Revolution the piano, the musical embodiment of Western culture, became the object of intense hostility. This book examines the evolution of China's ever-changing disposition towards European music and Western influences generally.Trade Review'deserves to become a classic ... masterful and engrossing book' Gary Zabel, Musical Times
£96.75
Oxford University Press Lutheranism AntiJudaism and Bachs St. John Passion With an Annotated Literal Translation of the Libretto
Book SynopsisDesigned for general readers and scholars, this study explores the Lutheran commentary in Bach's St. John Passion and suggests that fostering hostility to Jews is not its subject or purpose. Also included are a literal, annotated translation of the libretto and an appendix discussing anti-Judaism and Bach's other works.Trade ReviewThe most important and lasting item to have emerged from this Passion season ... may turn out to be a little book of great complexity by Michael Marissen. ... [It] provides a model of how to deal with a piece of music grown controversial: not through avoidance, not through bowdlerization, but by supplying the richest and most provocative context in which to understand and interpret the work. * James R. Oestreich, The New York Times *The value of having the libretto, German and English, printed after the essay part of the book, quite apart from the supplementary and supporting material, is considerable * Jewish Culture and History *Particularly deserving of praise is the fine translation of the Passion text from German * Religious Studies Review *
£30.59
Oxford University Press Composers at Work The Craft of Musical Composition 14501600
Book SynopsisUsing sketches and other documentary evidence, this study is an investigation of composition in Renaissance music. It sets out the indispensable background to an inquiry and into the fundamental processes of Renaissance composition.Trade Reviewthe most comprehensive and enlightening study of Renaissance musical compostion yet written ... This excellent book is important not only for its general theory but for its illumination of the everyday * Anthony Pryer, TLS 29/10/99 *
£33.14
Oxford University Press The Twisted Muse Musicians and Their Music in the Third Reich
Book SynopsisUnder a totalitarian regime, can art and artists be innocent? This questions and its implications are explored in Michael Kater's broad survey of musicians, and the music they composed and performed during the Third Reich.Trade ReviewThe merit of the book lies in its detailed factual picture of the background for music and musicians in those troubled times. * Ralph F. Wells, Richard Strauss Society *A very readable and intriguing book for those interested in the impact of Nazism on cultural life in Germany. * Ralph F. Wells, Richard Strauss Society *Mr. Kater...has extracted masses of information from far-flung sources, including public and private archives in Germany and elsewhere, and has drawn level-headed, intelligent conclusions from his research....The broadest and clearest study of classical music in Hitler's Germany that has appeared to date....Mr. Kater's treatment of the complicated--and hotly debated--case of the conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler is thorough and convincing....A great deal more is packed into [this book], including fresh looks at the Wagner family's complicity with the Nazis and the cases of Paul Hindemith...and Herbert von Karajan....Anyone interested in the depressing but fascinating subject of art and politics will find this book exceptionally worthwhile. * The Wall Street Journal *Kater...has done prodigious primary research, much of it in hitherto unexamined files, to emerge with a mountain of fresh material....Anyone seriously interested in the interface of art and a peculiarly threatening political culture will find [this book] endlessly fascinating. * Publishers Weekly *[Gives] more analytical attention to the entire [Nazi] era's secrets. Kater...has combed newspaper archives, studied economic statistics, interviewed surviving composers and meticulously correlated information from denazification proceedings. His account...is the most throrough and nuanced now available of Nazi musical alliances, allegiances and ambiguities....Brings us to a more complicated understanding without tolerating latent defenses of old friends or 'Vissi d'Arte' alibis. * New York Times Book Review *Fills a conspicuous lacuna in 20th-century musicology. Kater...presents a detailed, disturbing, but always compelling account....There is a great deal here to engage scholars and professional musicians as well as general readers interested in the study of music and ideology. Highly recommended for all libraries. * Library Journal *The best source of information about conductors and other musicians in the Third Reich is now Mr. Kater's book, dense with facts, many of them newly unearthed. * New York Times *[An] impressive new book...far and away the finest and canniest treatment of the Nazi musical nightmare to date, presents an excellent case study of two conductors who were judged not ideologically but aesthetically. * The New Yorker *This absorbing study provides a painful reminder of the degree to which musicians were prepared to compromise their artistic integrity in order to appease the political hierarchy during the Third Reich. * Music Magazine *This work, with its emphasis on the social and political nature of music and the political attitude of musicians during the Nazi regime, is the first of its kind. It will be of interest to scholars and general readers eager to understand Nazi Germany, to music lovers and to anyone interested in the interchange of music and politics, and culture and ideology. * Avid-Magazine *...a well informed study of the state of serious or classical music....Kater is extemely knowledgable about the varieties of political allegiances deployed by the musical fraternity....[His] almost-encyclopedic study of these musicians' activities in the Third Reich reveals a great deal more than was hitherto documented about the least desirable sides of these men's characters. * Vancouver Sun *The most authoritative account to date of music and musicians in the Third Reich. * American Historical Review *This book bears many of the hallmarks of Kater's earlier work on jazz: resourceful research, copious documentation, straightforward writing, and a good working knowledge of music. Perhaps of even greater importance is that this book, like the one on jazz, succeeds brilliantly in conveying a sense of the ambiguities and contradictions of musical life in Nazi Germany...never before has the readiness of large numbers of German musicians, both major and minor, to acquiesce or cooperate actively in the purge of their colleagues, been as thoroughly and persuasively documented...offers fascinating portraits of several of the century's most important musical figures, such as Bruno Walter, Arnold Schonberg, Otto Kelmperer, and Kurt Weill. Kater has performed a valuable service by bringing their stories together in one place, integrating them into a study whose main focus is on what took place inside Germany's borders. * Central European History *In assembling this material, Kater has surely written the definitive study of the musician in the Third Reich (carefully documented with sixty-nine pages of detailed notes). It will prove indispensable for students of the culture of the period. * German History *Table of Contents1: National Socialism, The Third Reich, and the Music Scene 2: Musical Professionalism and Political Compromise 3: Persecuted and Exiled Jewish and Anti-Nazi Musicians 4: Music in the Institutions 5: Dissonance and Deviance
£33.14
Oxford University Press, USA Holy Concord Within Sacred Walls Nuns and Music in Siena 15751700
Book Synopsis'Holy Chord Within Sacred Walls' examines musical culture both inside and outside 17th-century Sienese convents. The nuns produced motets, lamentations, theatrical plays and even an opera. As a result, the convent became an important cultural centre in Siena that enjoyed the support and encouragement of its clergy and lay community.Trade ReviewColleen Reardon's study of nuns and music in late sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Siena is a welcome addition to the burgeoning body of scholarship illuminating the lives of early modern religious women ... the book powerfully evokes convent life, rounding out its accounts of music-making together with occasionally surprising and piquant details of the daily matters that concerned female monastics. * Music & Letters *The book's structure allows Reardon to produce both engaging narrative and thick description, deftly combining archival reporting, musicological observation, and insightful interpretation with an energetic and good-humoured style. * Music & Letters *Holy Concord within Sacred Walls is an adept and fascinating account of many facets of early modern life, both within and without the cloister, refracted through the prism of musicology. * Music & Letters *The great strength of her book is its contextual richness, and its importance lies too in the way in which she reveals that convent music played an intrinsic part not only in monastic but also in secular existence, and how it came to be a prized expression of civic culture in early modern Siena. * Music & Letters *Reardon's robust, contextualized view of convent life subtly deconstructs ... simplistic views.... Historically acute. * Anthony Pryer, Times Literary Supplement *
£166.50
Oxford University Press Shostakovich A Life
Book SynopsisThis is an authoritative English-language biography of Dmitriy Shostakovich (1906-75), the internationally acclaimed composer who was the foremost musical "voice" of Soviet Russia. It includes never-before-published details on the composer's life, works, and times. A detailed worklist, a glossary of names, an extensive bibliography, and pictures are also supplied.Trade ReviewLaurel E. Fay's painstakingly researched Shostakovich: A Life has given us the long-awaited authoritative biography, taking full advantage of the post-Soviet Opening-up of archives to provide the best assemblage of factual information on Shostakovich's life and work in any language."--David Fanning, Music and Letters Laurel E. Fay's painstakingly researched Shostakovich: A Life has given us the long-awaited authoritative biography, taking full advantage of the post-Soviet Opening-up of archives to provide the best assemblage of factual information on Shostakovich's life and work in any language."--David Fanning, Music and Letters "Rather than continue a debate in which "the true-believing Communist citizen-composer is inverted into an equally unconvincing caricature of a lifelong closet dissident," Fay sets out to describe the composer based on the existing factual record of is life. It is a remarkably straightforward, non-sensationalized treatment of the composer's life and work. As such, it is a sorely needed contribution to a field that has been overheated with controversy. One may now approach his oeuvre and see it for what it is: an embittered, poignant and ultimately compelling musical diary of our time."-The Nation "The rest of us can nevertheless be grateful for [Fay's] humble and herculean efforts, thanks to which Shostakovich can no longer be discussed in terms of black or white; her work has begun to make it possible to focus on the lasting inner life of the music and to think of the music's creator in fuller human terms."--The Boston Sunday Globe "The combined effects of scholarly incompetence, deliberate obfuscation, and the imposition of political agendas have made it nearly impossible to get a clear picture of the life of Shostokovich, one of the most fascinating figures in the cultural life of the twentieth century. Laurel Fay, the most patient of scholars, has done an amazing job of getting the material sorted out so as to be able to tell the compelling story of this troubled life. She is calm, bound by no political parti pris, and when even she has been defeated in her research she is not afraid to say 'I don't know'. Long awaited, this is an immensely important book and hugely welcome."--Michael Steinberg, author of The Symphony: A Listener's Guide and The Concerto: A Listener's Guide (OUP). "Fay's Shostokovich is not only the best biography in English or in any other West European language, it offers readers a factual accuracy and balanced perspective unmatched in post-Soviet era publications by Shostakovich specialists in the composer's homeland. Undaunted by the lurid debates surrounding Shostakovich's purported lifelong dissidence and the covert meaning of his music, Fay has produced exactly what we need at this stage in Shostokovich scholarship; a reliable and basic life and works--clear-eyed, straightforward, copiously researched, sympathetic, objective, and uncluttered by Cold-War and post-Cold-War myths."--Malcolm Hamrick Brown, Professor Emeritus of Music, Indiana University, and Founding Editor, Russian Music Studies
£35.99
