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"Bach, English and French Suites; Music Scores"
by
Johann Sebastian Bach
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Subjects: Music; Songbooks; Classical; Musical Instruments - Piano
Publisher: Koenemann Inc
Binding: Paperback
Expected publication date: October 1999
ISBN: 9639155616
URL: READ MORE ABOUT IT HERE
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"Bach, Inventions and Little Preludes; Music Scores"
by
Johann Sebastian Bach
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Subjects: Music; Songbooks; Classical; Musical Instruments - Piano
Publisher: Koenemann Inc
Binding: Paperback
Expected publication date: October 1999
ISBN: 9639155624
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"Bach, Piano Exercises I-IV; Music Scores"
by
Johann Sebastian Bach
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Subjects: Music; Songbooks; Classical; Musical Instruments - Piano
Publisher: Koenemann Inc
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Expected publication date: October 1999
ISBN: 9639155608
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"Bach, Wohitemperiertes Klavier I-II; Music Scores"
by
Johann Sebastian Bach
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Subjects: Music; Songbooks; Classical; Musical Instruments - Piano
Publisher: Koenemann Inc
Binding: Paperback
Expected publication date: October 1999
ISBN: 9639155594
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"Beautiful Mornin : The Broadway Musical in the 1940s"
by
Ethan Mordden
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Subjects: Musicals; New York (State); New York; History and
criticism; Broadway (New York); Theater Music; Theater;
Performing Arts; Broadway & Musical Revue; Theater -
General; Music
Publisher: Oxford Univ Pr (Trade)
Binding: Hardcover
Expected publication date: October 1999
ISBN: 0195128516
URL: READ MORE ABOUT IT HERE
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"Black Chord"
by
David Corio, Vivien Goldman, Isaac Hayes
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Subjects: Afro-Americans; Music; Pictorial works; Popular music;
Social aspects; Black Musicians And Their Music;
Ethnomusicology; World Beat; General
Publisher: Universe Pub
Binding: Hardcover
Expected publication date: October 1999
ISBN: 078930337X
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"Bright Moments : The Life and Legacy of Rahsaan Roland Kirk"
by
John Kruth
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Subjects: Biography/Autobiography; Composers & Musicians; Biography &
Autobiography; Composers & Musicians - Jazz; People of
Color; Jazz; Music
Publisher: Intl Book Marketing
Binding: Hardcover
Expected publication date: October 1999
ISBN: 1566491053
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"Callas"
by
Sainderichin, Andre Tubuef
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Subjects: Music; Opera; History & Criticism; Entertainment &
Performing Arts; Biography & Autobiography
Publisher: Universe Pub
Binding: Hardcover
Expected publication date: October 1999
ISBN: 0789303817
URL: READ MORE ABOUT IT HERE
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"Chopin, Sonatas"
by
Frederic Chopin
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Subjects: Music; Songbooks; Classical; Musical Instruments - Piano
Publisher: Koenemann Inc
Binding: Paperback
Expected publication date: October 1999
ISBN: 9639059374
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"Cinderella & Company" by Manuela Hoelterhoff List: $14.00 -- Our Price: $11.20 -- You Save: $2.80 (20%) Subjects: Performing Arts/Dance; Performing Arts; Music; Opera; History & Criticism; General Publisher: Vintage Books Binding: Paperback Expected publication date: October 1999 ISBN: 0375707123 URL: READ MORE ------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The Encyclopedia of Classical Music"
by
Robert Ainsley
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Subjects: Music; Classical; Reference
Publisher: Carlton Books
Binding: Paperback
Expected publication date: October 1999
ISBN: 1858686288
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"Etudes Piano"
by
Claude Debussy
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Subjects: Music; Songbooks; Classical; Musical Instruments - Piano
Publisher: Konemann
Binding: Paperback
Expected publication date: October 1999
ISBN: 9639059579
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"Harrison Birtwistle in Recent Years"
by
Michael Hall
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Subjects: Music; History & Criticism - By Composer; Classical
Publisher: Robson Book Ltd
Binding: Paperback
Expected publication date: October 1999
ISBN: 1861051794
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"How to Read Music"
by
Terry Burrows
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Subjects: Music; Musical Instruments - Techniques; Reference; Musical
Instruments - General
Publisher: Griffin Trade Paperback
Binding: Paperback
Expected publication date: October 1999
ISBN: 0312241593
URL: READ MORE ABOUT IT HERE
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"It Ain't No Sin to Be Glad You're Alive : The Promise of Bruce
Springsteen"
by
Eric Alterman
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Subjects: Springsteen, Bruce; Rock musicians; United States;
Biography; Biography / Autobiography; Popular; Composers &
Musicians - Rock; Historical - U.S.; Music; Composers &
Musicians; Biography & Autobiography
Publisher: Little Brown & Company
1 EdBinding: Hardcover
Expected publication date: October 1999
ISBN: 0316038857
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"John Lennon: Whatever Gets You Through the Night"
by
Paul Du Noyer
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Subjects: Music; Rock; Discography & Buyer's Guides; Composers &
Musicians; Biography & Autobiography
Publisher: Thunder's Mouth Pr
Binding: Paperback
Expected publication date: October 1999
ISBN: 1560252103
URL: READ MORE ABOUT IT HERE
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"The Life of Charles Ives (Musical Lives)"
by
Stuart Feder
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Subjects: Music; Biography / Autobiography; General; Composers &
Musicians - Classical Composers
Publisher: Cambridge Univ Pr (Pap Txt)
0 Edition
Binding: Paperback
Expected publication date: October 1999
ISBN: 0521599318
URL: READ MORE ABOUT IT HERE
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"Listen to This : Leading Musicians Recommend Their Favorite Artists
and Recordings"
by
Alan Reder, John Baxter
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Subjects: Popular music; Discography; Musicians; Biography; Music;
Reference; General; Popular
Publisher: Hyperion (P)
Binding: Paperback
Expected publication date: October 1999
ISBN: 0786882603
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"Lullabies for Little Hearts (Bible for Little Hearts)"
by
Carol Smith, Elena Kucharik
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Subjects: Music; Children's Baby - Religion - Christianity; Juvenile
Fiction; Bedtime Stories; Religious - Christian; Religion -
Bible - General; Juvenile Nonfiction
Publisher: Tyndale House Pub
Binding: Paperback
Expected publication date: October 1999
ISBN: 0842338772
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"Masters of Music : Opera"
by
Alessandro Taverna, Alessandra Taverna
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Subjects: Music; Children's 12-Up - Music; Juvenile Nonfiction; Music
- Classical; Music - History
Publisher: Barrons Juveniles
Binding: Hardcover
Expected publication date: October 1999
ISBN: 0764151347
URL: READ MORE ABOUT IT HERE
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AcoustiCDigest.com with new books from Amazon.com Delivering Classical Music Books and
Scores
Editor, Thomas May
"Richard Strauss: Man, Musician, Enigma"
by Michael Kennedy
READ MORE ABOUT IT HERE
Michael Kennedy here undertakes to penetrate Strauss's
contradictions and see the man whole. Through his impressive
access to diaries, letters, and living relatives, he posits
an underlying consistency of attitude that made "art the
reality in [Strauss's] life." The central enigma about the
composer that fascinates Kennedy is the "disparity between
man and musician," the paradox that this fundamentally aloof
and reserved person, dedicated to bourgeois stability, could
produce music of such overpowering passion. While steering
clear of an overbearingly Freudian analysis, Kennedy reveals
the crucial significance of Strauss's mother's nervous
instability and the centrality of the work ethic inherited
from his father. The result was to make music "Strauss's
means of escape ... and in much of his music he wore a
mask." Yet for all his aloofness, Strauss "let [the mask]
slip"--another aspect of the enigma surrounding him--in such
compositions as "Don Quixote" ("the most profound" of his
orchestral works) or the pervasively autobiographical
"Capriccio," which Kennedy counts as Strauss's greatest
achievement for the lyrical stage. He is particularly
persuasive in his high estimation of the post-"Rosenkavalier"
output and the undiminished quest for artistic innovation
that they continued to exemplify--above all in Strauss's
development of a fluently conversational style in his
operas. Kennedy similarly demystifies much of the received
opinion that has developed around the composer, particularly
in the level-headed portrait of his wife, Pauline. The
fundamental happiness of their lifelong relationship emerges
as a context indispensable to Strauss's creative focus.
Kennedy devotes a significant portion of the book to the
composer's position as president of the Reich Music Chamber
and subsequent fall from grace both with the Nazis and in
world opinion. In his view, Strauss becomes a "tragic
figure, symbolizing the struggle to preserve beauty and
style in Western European culture" against emerging
barbarism. This biography largely succeeds in pointing to a
greatness that "has not yet been fully understood and
discovered."
"Richard Strauss and His World"
edited by Bryan Gilliam
READ MORE ABOUT IT HERE
When these essays were first published in 1992, Timothy
L. Jackson's thoughts on the "Four Last Songs" got the most
attention. Jackson argues, quite persuasively, that the four
songs were originally five, with the orchestral song "Ruhe,
meine Seele!" to be heard before "Im Abendrot." Elsewhere,
Leon Botstein contributes the "keynote address," taking up
the odd disjunction of Richard Strauss's life versus his
music. He demolishes the idea of Strauss having stylistic
shifts. Michael Steinberg takes on Strauss's behavior during
the Nazi era. Like Kirsten Flagstad, Karl Boehm, and
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Strauss will always be linked to his
politics. James Hepokoski offers a look at "Macbeth,"
Strauss's first tone poem. In general, the lesser-known
works such as "Intermezzo" and the "Burleske" for piano and
orchestra come up more than you would expect, with
correspondingly less on "Don Juan" or "Ariadne auf Naxos."
Two chapters offer selections from the composer's
correspondence, nicely translated by Susan Gillespie. The
essays are quite fine individually; taken together they
offer nothing less than a wholesale reevaluation of the
composer. Focusing on the "middle period" after "Elektra,"
editor Gilliam asks for a separation of style from
historical era, and it is the key to a much deeper
understanding of the music.
"Opera: Desire, Disease, Death"
by Linda Hutcheon and Michael Hutcheon
READ MORE ABOUT IT HERE
Opera has never been short on pain and suffering. The
diseases that actually appear onstage, however, depend
greatly on cultural context. In this provocative academic
study, the authors ponder the significance behind the
ailments that beset operatic characters. Their division of
specialties--she is a literary critic, he is an MD--gives
them a built-in perspective on their subject. The Hutcheons
do not claim to be musical experts: they quote from scholars
to bolster their arguments, which focus on librettos and
source material. Operatic diseases are largely those with
overtones of moral, not just physical, infection. Tuberculosis
was a 19th-century favorite, associated with feverish
passion and the self-consuming flame of artistic creativity.
The authors contrast tubercular heroines before and after
the discovery of the illness's cause, which altered the
perception of TB from a disease of temperament ("La
Traviata") to one of poverty and overcrowding ("La Boheme").
They also consider syphilis, cholera, and another
"pathology," smoking. As the last example hints, the book's
true theme is not disease, exactly. These conditions and
habits--all linked in some way to emphatic sexuality--
indicated a morally dubious life and marked a character for
doom. The authors' thesis encourages the reader to look
behind the assumptions in these works. In an epilogue, the
Hutcheons discuss plays--there are not yet any operas--
dealing with AIDS. These works suggest a 21st-century model:
affirmative, sometimes angry, refusing to exoticize or
condemn their diseased heroes.
"Text and Act: Essays on Music and Performance"
by Richard Taruskin
READ MORE ABOUT IT HERE
It is as an essayist and critic (if not a professional
gadfly) that Richard Taruskin has made a real impact on
American musical culture. Indeed, in early-music circles,
and even in the marketing of period-instrument performances
by record labels, the word "authentic" has been abandoned
almost entirely--and this is due largely to Taruskin's
impassioned arguments (and his ability to get them published
in places like the New York Times). "Text and Act" is a
collection of Taruskin's most important (or, at least, most
inflammatory) essays and articles on the subject of
authenticity in the performance of 18th-and 19th-century
music. These are the pieces that got him a reputation for
being a flame-thrower; many fans of what is now called HIP
(historically informed performance) have gotten the idea
that Taruskin is the enemy of everything HIP stands for.
They should have a look at this book: they'll see that he
actually applauds many of the HIP movement's achievements.
What he skewers mercilessly are the pretensions and a few of
the assumptions on which HIP was originally based and that
it used to market itself. Readers will also see why Taruskin
has deeply infuriated so many people. He regularly makes
inflammatory statements at the outset of an essay and then
backpedals in the middle. Nevertheless, Taruskin's main
points are persuasive. They may even seem obvious, but all
too many musicians seem to have forgotten them. "Authenticity"
in the sense of a faithful re-creation of the composer's
intentions and preferred conditions of performance is simply
not an achievable goal. We can't know the composer's real
intentions (he or she is almost certainly dead), and
re-creating original performance conditions is unfeasible,
if not impossible. So for anyone who wants to understand the
early-music revival of the late 20th century and the debates
surrounding it, this book is indispensable.
"My First 79 Years"
by Isaac Stern, with Chaim Potok
READ MORE ABOUT IT HERE
The conductor George Szell once told Isaac Stern that if he
spent less time doing other things and more time practicing
he could be "the greatest violinist in the world." Since
those "other things" included saving Carnegie Hall from the
wrecker's ball, generously sponsoring young artists like
Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman, and touring the world as an
ambassador of American classical performance, music lovers
can only be grateful that Stern settled for being one of the
world's great violinists. His appealing memoir reveals a
well-rounded man with a gusto for life beyond the concert
hall that made his passion for music all the more fulfilling.
Born on the Russian-Polish border in 1920, Stern grew up in
San Francisco and by age 6 already displayed a precocious
musical gift. His assessment of his abilities is
refreshingly free of false modesty, while his enthusiastic
appreciation for such fellow artists as Pablo Casals,
Leonard Bernstein, and Rudolf Serkin keeps him from seeming
like an egomaniac. Perhaps because of the contributions of
coauthor Chaim Potok (author of "The Chosen" and other
novels), the prose here is smoother and less self-conscious
than in many performers' memoirs. It limns a vigorous, busy
life dedicated to the idea that music has the power to break
down barriers between people and nations.
Summer might be the time to get back to practicing your favorite instrument. Pianists in particular will find solid practical advice in the legendary Abby Whiteside's reprinted essays and fascinating insights in Leon Plantinga's colorful, exhaustive study of the Beethoven concertos. Whatever your instrument, the latter is saturated with historical and contextual information, and it will enrich your enjoyment of the newly released complete CD set of Beethoven piano concertos as interpreted by Alfred Brendel and Simon Rattle. If the "early music" phenomenon still leaves you puzzled--or indifferent--Bernard Sherman's "Inside Early Music" is a must-read, bringing important personalities and debates to life in a series of vivid interviews. And for a unique overview of opera and its rituals, let Denis Forman be your humorously irreverent but passionate guide.
"Abby Whiteside on Piano Playing"
by Abby Whiteside
REVIEW
Two of piano pedagogue Abby Whiteside's most influential
essays, "Indispensables of Piano Playing," from 1955, and
"Mastering the Chopin Etudes," from 1969, are reprinted in
this volume, along with several shorter pieces. Whiteside's
iconoclastic but firmly held beliefs are still provocative:
"The pianist cannot control tone quality," "The importance
of a prescribed fingering is practically nil," and "Time
spent on scales is not used to best advantage" are among
them. But Whiteside backs up her ideas persuasively, and
even pianists who cannot go along with her all the way will
likely find themselves altering aspects of their techniques.
Whiteside bases all pianism on motions of the upper arms and
de-emphasizes anything to do with the fingers. She sees the
forearm and fingers only as extensions of the upper arm,
which is responsible for speed and accuracy. Another of her
main principles, the idea of basic rhythm, is well
characterized by musical examples. Undoubtedly, there are
some ideas in these essays that made complete sense only
from the source herself, but there is much here of benefit
to pianists of all levels.
"Beethoven's Concertos: History, Style, Performance"
by Leon Plantinga
REVIEW
Analysis of Beethoven's concertos, at least in the hands
of Leon Plantinga, yields insights into almost every aspect
of the composer's work. Originally Beethoven withheld and
revised his piano concertos for his own use and did not
perform them after they had been published. But by the time
of the Fourth Concerto, Plantinga sees a decided shift to the
concerto as a work meant to stand on its own, as a symphony
does. In discussing the other works, Plantinga makes an
effective comparison of the B-flat Concerto with Haydn's
music rather than (as is conventional) with Mozart's. Even
readers who are not pianists will find helpful, practical
information about when and how a soloist might participate in
the orchestral sections of classical concertos, systems of
tuning in the period, cadenzas, and historical ideas about
tempo. They will also enjoy Plantinga's direct, colorful
writing style: the last movement of the "Emperor" behaves
"more like a large puppy than a reliable steed."
You can find "Beethoven: The 5 Piano Concertos," featuring
Alfred Brendel and Simon Rattle, at
REVIEW
"Inside Early Music: Conversations with Performers"
by Bernard D. Sherman
REVIEW
How far should we go in attempting to re-create the specific
conditions of earlier musical eras (instruments, vocal
techniques, scoring, pitch, etc.), as opposed to using
the most up-to-date media available or making compromises
between the two extremes? This fundamental question--with
the many different ways in which musicians answer it and
the controversies that result--is what makes "Historically
Informed Performance" (HIP) the most interesting and dynamic
field in classical music today. Bernard D. Sherman's
"conversations with performers" illuminate these topics in a
way that most scholars can't, and most music magazines don't
have space for.
Sherman is a superb interviewer: well informed, respectful without being sycophantic. The thoughtful, articulate musicians who share their views with him make this book a delight for early-music neophytes and mavens alike. It should even hold some interest for those who dislike everything "HIP" stands for.
"A Night at the Opera: An Irreverent Guide to the Plots, the
Singers, the Composers, the Recordings"
by Denis Forman
REVIEW
The author--a British television executive and former deputy
chairman of the Royal Opera House--covers most of the likely
offerings of your local repertory company, providing
synopses, musical highlights, critical remarks, and
historical information. Another section offers comments on
everything from the craze for authenticity to the practice
of booing. Forman's opinions sometimes run athwart of
convention: "Falstaff" "has no sex appeal and no heart, and
opera demands both these qualities"; "Tristan und Isolde" is
the creation of "the Wagner that liked to spend time stroking
velvet." His tone, especially in the synopses, is often
evocative of Anna Russell's opera parodies: "It really is
too bad of you Tristan to die on me like this. She passes
out." The prose can be cute, but that fits Forman's approach
of puncturing the inflated atmosphere of opera while
glorying in it. Though he is most entertaining when he's
daring to shout in church, his enthusiasms are as
illuminating as his barbs. It's the book's greatest pleasure
that Forman's passion is matched by his knowledge.
