Product Description
This collection provides 50 arrangements from Bach's works arranged specifically for the classical guitarist, including more than 35 pieces never before arranged for guitar. An accompanying CD includes complete performances of all pieces. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Poor quality, Bad transcriptions!!!
I thought I was getting some very decent transcriptions, but instead they're jam packed w/ poor transcriptions w/ incomplete renditions.Anyone serious about the classical guitar, DO NOT GET THIS BOOK.It's not worth the money, shipping or your time!

Wonderful work.
This book wastes no time; open the cover and you'll see a table of contents of all the pieces contained therein. After that is sheet music with corresponding tablature. The pieces are short, but wonderful to play. If you're a novice player like me, this book will provide many opportunities to improve your dexterity and speed. The CD provided was of inestimable help in discerning the rhythm in a few places.

You can't go wrong with this book. Whether you're performing these pieces as a whole, or adding them to a repertoire, this book is perfect. Highly recommended. ... Read more

Product Description
Most classical guitar folios feature compositions by the lesser-known "guitar" composers. This collection, however, exclusively features music by the world's most renowned composers. The works of Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frederick Handel represent the culmination of the Baroque era. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart stands at the summit of the Classical era. Ludwig van Beethoven straddles the Classical and Romantic eras, and Johannes Brahms is the giant of the Romantic era. For educational purposes, the pieces have been organized in order of difficulty within each composer's section. In addition, complete performances of all pieces can be heard on the accompanying CD. Enjoy! Includes: Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring * The Harmonious Blacksmith * Ode to Joy * Lullaby * and more. ... Read more

Product Description
A delightfully colorful introduction to classical music, aimed to fire the imagination of young children aged 5-7 years. Readers are asked to think about the different places in which we might hear music, whether it is in a concert hall, or just on television. They are then introduced to a selection of famous composers including Mozart and Beethoven, and learn about each of the musical instrument families, from woodwind to percussion.

Throughout the book children are referred to the accompanying CD so that they can hear examples as they read.Music on the CD includes Magic Flute (Mozart), Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Williams), Carnival of the Animals (Saint-Saëns), The Planets (Holst), Petrushka (Stravinsky) and Peter and the Wolf (Prokofiev). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Great even for very young children
This book was an instant hit with my soon to be 3-year old son. He fell in love with the beautiful pictures. The text about the instruments and composers was easy for him to follow. He kept asking me to read the book over and over again and he named the instruments. Surprisingly, he was very interested in the composers. Needless to say, the CD that's included with the book is an instant hit with him. After a couple of days my son asked for a pencil and paper to "write down music" and announced that he was writing "loud organ music, like Bach". We do something related to this book almost every day - listen to the CD, read a page or two, dance, and talk about and pretend-play different instruments. So far so good!

Music for children
I started using this book as a guide to teaching 2-4 year old children to listen and enjoy music. It is a good basis for lessons and with some creativity has led to excellent lessons. I'm very excited . My hope is that ultimately they will appreciate and enjoy classical music as I do. ... Read more

Product Description
The universally acclaimed and award-winning Oxford History of Western Music by one of the most prominent and provocative musicologists of our time, Richard Taruskin. Now in paperback, the set has been reconstructed to be available for the first time as individual books, each one taking on a critical time period in the history of western music. All five books are also being offered in a shrink wrapped set for a discounted price. Each book in this magnificent set illuminates - through a representative sampling of masterworks - those themes, styles, and currents that give shape and direction to each musical age. The five titles cover Western music from its earliest days to the sixteenth century, the seventeenth and eighteenth century, the nineteenth century, the early twentieth century, and the late twentieth century. Taking a critical perspective, Taruskin sets the details of music, the chronological sweep of figures, works, and musical ideas, within the larger context of world affairs and cultural history. He combines an emphasis on structure and form with a discussion of relevant theoretical concepts in each age, to illustrate how the music itself works, and how contemporaries heard and understood it. He also describes how the context of each stylistic period - key cultural, historical, social, economic, and scientific events - influenced and directed compositional choices. Moreover, the five books are filled with helpful illustrations that enhance the historical context of musical composition, as well as musical examples, black-and-white pictures throughout, suggestions for further reading, and indexes. Laced with brilliant observations, memorable musical analysis, and a panoramic sense of the interactions between history, culture, politics, art, literature, religion, and music, these books will be essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand this rich and diverse tradition.Amazon.com Review
The history of "history"--our changing perspectives on the act of narrating and trying to "recapture" the past--encompasses the most profound seismic shifts in modern consciousness.Once seemingly commonsensical, the science-aspiring ambition of historiography to recount the past "as it actually was" (to borrow Leopold von Ranke's famously misunderstood phase) now betrays anachronistic naivete, if not a dangerous arrogance masquerading as objectivity. And the business of cultural history provides a particularly fascinating--and contentious--index to the larger issues at stake. The very urgency of the debate over "how" to tell the story (and indeed what the story is) continues to intensify in proportion to the uncertainty of our times.

Considering its official title (bearing an impressive imprimatur from Oxford University Press, the vanguard of scholarly reference works), Richard Taruskin's grand opus might appear at first glance to eschew the more-heated arenas of debate involving cultural history. Quite the contrary: Taruskin throws down the gauntlet at once and passionately joins in the fray. In the process, he strips the story of music's development in the West (i.e., Europe and America) of its deceptively innocuous trappings and received ideas, thrusting it into the spotlight of contemporary critical inquiry. The result, virtually a priori, is a highly controversial reexamination of a narrative that will cause even the most open-minded music lover to do a number of double-takes. What's extraordinary about Taruskin's achievement is how immensely engrossing, insightful, provocative, fresh, and downright brilliant the "history of Western music" becomes in his weaving of it.

But whyyet another sweeping history when the New Grove Dictionary of Music has been recently overhauled (in an edition to which Taruskin prolifically contributed), and when long-standing classic texts such as Paul Henry Lang's Music in Western Civilization continue to be reissued? The heart of the matter lies in the very ambition behind this new history. First, some of the fun factoids: at nearly 4,000 pages (along with an additional resource volume containing master index, chronologies, and bibliography), The Oxford History of Western Music weighs nearly 20 pounds and took a decade to write. In other words, this isn't history-by-committee. Its perspective from the point of view of one massively learned individual is at once the work's chief strength and its Achilles heel. Taruskin's powerful voice echoes the kind of "old-fashioned" synthesis, with its attempt at an "overarching trajectory," of such pioneering cultural historians asJacob Burckhardt or perhaps even the epic sweep of Gibbon'sThe Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire—-an antidote to the curse of ivory-tower specialization. But, more crucially, Taruskin arms that voice with the toolkit of contemporary historiography to pursue a critical rethinking of how Western music turned out as it did, and where it is today. His singular viewpoint anchors Taruskin's attempt to show that "the literate tradition of Western music is coherent at least insofar as it has a completed shape."

It's important to realize, as Taruskin early acknowledges, that his work is meant not as a stock-taking "survey" but as a history. That is, it involves an unfolding both of that larger coherence and of many smaller narratives that are its tributaries: not of the artwork (or composer) alone, but those of its production, its social and political context, and its (often-changing) reception as integral components of musical "meaning." Taruskin's aim is to filter out the distorting perspectives of "historicism" (the myth of purposeful, goal-oriented evolution through history) and aestheticism (which considers the artwork as a "pure," timeless entity). Along the way, this means smashing rows upon rows of icons and legends (not surprisingly, the bulk of these stemming from the 19th-century Germanic tradition, but also comprising a good deal of 20th-century received ideas about Stravinsky, Soviet composers such as Shostakovich, and various postwar "elitisms").

Inevitably, Taruskin doesn't prove immune to resorting to some legends of his own. In an extraordinary overview of Wagner, for example, he persuasively debunks the routine citation of Tristan und Isolde as pointing toward the coming "collapse of tonality," demonstrating how such thinking is the epitome of "the historicist tendency to write history backward with an eye toward giving the present a justification." Yet he's also capable of reducing the Wagner of the Ring to an obsession with a "cult of strength" in what is an otherwise deeply insightful discussion of "the Wagner problem."In terms of the larger stakes of this history, Taruskin's strongly argued debating points (and debunkings) at times veer in more eccentric directions,especially when it comes to such pivotal figures as Stravinsky, who gets a particularly intense thrashing. And regardless of Taruskin's theoretical stances, the reader must be alert to alarming occasional lapses of "mere" fact (how, one wonders, could an editorial team of over 40 not notice the claim that Carmina burana is scored for eight soloists in their fact checks, or fail to ensure that the endnotes match actual citations in the text?) Other tics, such as the author's fondness for scare quotes, may leap out depending on one's particular allergies.

Despite its imperfections, Taruskin's work is undeniably a stunning and stimulating achievement. It's impossible to describe adequately the sheer artfulness of his method, wherebyhe can distill a multiple series of investigations into a few wonderfully insightful sentences. Ever the master contrapuntalist, Taruskin weaves his various levels of discourse into a meaningful whole. There is true virtuosity in his ability to toggle from social history to in-the-trenches musicological analysis, zeroing in with his uncanny intuition to the most rewardingly illustrative points. His method of the exemplifying metonym--using just a few examples to wring out maximum insight, like the linear perspective of Renaissance artists--becomes a tour de force in his examination of figures such as Du Fay, D. Scarlatti, J.S. Bach, Beethoven, Schoenberg, or Britten. Taruskin's scope moreover is as radically reorienting as the Big Bang theory when it comes to the relative proportions he accords the narrative of Western music. Beginning with the advent of "literate" musical culture in Carolingian times, he devotes a great deal of attention to what was long thrown together as the "pre-Bach" era. Even more radically, around 40% of the total text is devoted to music of the 20th century (two of the five volumes of the history proper). Within this span, amid all its mind-boggling diversity, a number of centripetal themes emerge: the interdependence of "absolute" and "program" music, the interplay of oral and folk with literate musical cultures, the power of myth, and the possibility for musical "meaning." Taruskin's journey is endlessly fascinating, and his work makes an enormous contribution to the field. For all the controversy it's destined to generate, it will become impossible to ignore. Perhaps its surest mark of success is the sense of urgent importance and connectedness with which this history invests the cultural matter of music. Wherever you dip in, Taruskin invites an open conversation that leaves plenty of new, revealing perceptions in its wake, but probably more questions that when you started. Indeed, there's a sense that Taruskin would consider his work to have failed if the reader were only to nod in assent to all he has to say.--Thomas May ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Great book, but BEWARE Kindle buyers!
I purchased this for Kindle, thinking that it was the full set of 5 volumes - both because of the title and the price (at B&N each volume is $40, so $139 for all five seemed right).

BUT when it downloaded to my kindle it turned out to be ONLY VOLUME TWO. I then saw that the graphic for the cover shows volume two.

Amazon granted me a refund, but I found the order page very misleading, and the price doesn't make sense for a single volume.

There's clearly an error in here somewhere - OUP and AMAZON, Please sort it out!

A Must Buy for any Serious Music Student
I initially purchased only the volume on early music for a history seminar in my graduate program and was thoroughly impressed into the detail that Taruskin provides.He presents music within the context of history itself.I enjoyed the writing style and decided to pick up the rest of the books as one complete set.

illuminating analysis
I have been enthralled with Taruskin's work over the past four months.Anyone interested in the history of literate music in western culture will find the book fascinating, with a few conditions:you'll need some experience listening to the music, you need to be able to read music, and you'll need access to a keyboard to understand the author's analysis of harmony (among other things, this work is a history of harmonic practice).Professional musicians and musicologists will understand more of the technical subleties than me--sometimes Taruskin asks us to follow his argument `score in hand'--which unfortunately, as some poet said, I have not got!I have nearly five decades of experience listening to music dating from around 1700 to the present, a limited ability to play the piano, and one course in harmony from 35 years ago.I'm probably at the bottom end of the range of the author's target audience in terms of technical ability, but I still enjoyed the book.

Since the last volume ends with the notion of ending in the middle of things, I took that as permission to begin reading with the pivotal volume on the 19th century.This turned out to be good decision, as I was familiar with nearly all of the works discussed, and as person who dearly loves Beethoven, Brahms and instrumental music, my personal musical world-view was firmly in the author's critical crosshairs.Thus challenged, but persuaded by his arguments and the force of his example (his analysis of the careers and music of the contemporaries Wagner and Verdi is fabulous),I then read with pleasure volume 2 (with an excellent analysis of the relationship of Bach's world view to his music), then 4 (with an illuminating analysis of the harmonic practice of Debussy, Stravinsky and Bartok), then 5 (I think Taruskin agrees with me that John Adams' music is boring, but for once is too polite to say so), and finally the first volume.As I was not familiar with any of the works in the first volume, this one was a struggle, but much worth it, as I've now added quite a few wonderful pieces to my CD collection.

I bought these volumes after reading Taruskin's essays in the "Danger of Music".In that book, the author is argumentative, prone to score points on this opponents rather than enlighten his readers, and occasionally even gossipy.In this history, by contrast, he is resolutely judicious, fair, and illuminating in the best academic tradition.He'd likely maintain that he's just being a critic in the former work, but I like his professorial historian persona better.In his history, Taruskin brings the music of the past to life in its context, but he remains conscious of his 21st century vantage point.He treats composers like the humans they are, no matter how exceptional their music gifts.With his ironic self-awareness, the author is purposefully not Romantic in his outlook.He's even funny now and again.If you are willing to break away from the traditional Germanic view of `pure' music that I grew up with--mostly through reading the backs of record covers--you will learn much from this work and even listen with fresh ears.The book is well written, with only a few runaway sentences requiring a second reading.I noticed a mere handful of typographical errors.

wonderful
Music is written in historical and social context, and that's what the Taruskin does. Not only that, but the technical analysis is wonderful. I especially enjoyed volume 4, and the analysis of Tchaik, R Strauss, and Stravinsky. (check out the "omnibus progression" explanation). it's all good though,. The quotes are pithy and to the points Taruskin makes.

I liked the prose VERY much. I find Grout to be very difficult to plow through, and often incoherent in its sequential organization, a very difficult textbook. This new edition is most welcome, a stunning feat of scholarship, musicianship, and prose. it's thrilling, and the college library where i teach is being plundered, one volume at a time. (No, I'm not stealing the books, just monopolizing them)

Extraordinary work.
Music history with a distinctive point of view, as is true of everything Taruskin writes.It's a work in the magisterial tradition, exhibiting a humanity and a command of material that goes far beyond anything I've ever encountered.

It's also a delight to read; charmingly written and clearly argued.If you love music and love thinking about music, you should have this on your shelf. ... Read more

Product Description
Post-Ottoman Turkey: Classical European Music and Opera documents the vision that Turkey?s the charismatic leader, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, had for his young Republic. He believed that for a people to thrive, culture and the arts are an absolute necessity for growth and development. Beginning with a new alphabet, culminating with an embrace of European art, Atatürk presided over an enlightenment made more inspiring by his rescue of great Jewish minds driven from their homes by the Nazis and his use of their talents in the service of Turkey. In this exchange there were only winners. Dr. Reisman?s use of press clippings, archival documents and photos are fascinating and they help bring the period to life. One compelling lesson learned from this story is that with vision, determination, and leadership, people can accomplish anything. Post-Ottoman Turkey: Classical European Music and Opera is unique and could not be timelier given the political events unfolding in Turkey today. *Book also available for order in hardcover by contacting BookSurge Customer Service. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A must-have for any wanting a fuller understanding of music in the world today
Every culture has its fine music, and Turkey is no different. "Post-Ottoman Turkey: Classical Music & Opera" brings readers a taste of modern Turkey's fine culture in its classically influenced music. Modern day Turkey has the unique position of being both an Islamic and European nation, which shares influences from both of its cultures. A study of the art of music in one of the most intriguing places in the planet, "Post-Ottoman Turkey" is a must-have for any wanting a fuller understanding of music in the world today.

History of Classical Music and Opera in Turkish Republic
I read Arnold Reisman's new book titled `Post-Ottoman Turkey: Classical European Music and Opera' with great interest. He had written a very concise history of the development of classical music and Opera in Turkey. His research is focused mainly on the cultural transition from Ottoman era to contemporary. He also focused on people invited or escaped from Hitler's Germany to a safe country: Turkey. This is only a part of Atatürk's revolution.Reisman, indeed pointed an important insight to Turkish revolution on musical arts and how it reached to contemporary level in a very short time. I advise Reisman's book to everyone interested in history of Music. Nejat AKAR


... Read more

Product Description
Book 2 includes: Ave Maria (Bach/Gounod) * Slavonic Dance (Dvorák) * Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven) * Waltz of the Flowers (Tchaikovsky) and many more. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (1)

The best introduction so far!
This book is by far the best introduction to Jazz available. The text is clear and entertaining and the books on the "further reading" section are pretty well picked. ... Read more

Product Description

For hundreds of thousands of loyal listeners throughout the United States, Jim Svejda's weekly radio program The Record Shelf is not to be missed. Now, this amusing and irreverent guide captures the special flavor of Svejda's unique program. Without fear or favor, he recommends his choices of CDs and cassettes for hundreds of compositions from the standard, and not-so-standard, fare. You'll enjoy reading this wryly humorous and candid collection time and time again.

Customer Reviews (16)

Overcoming Brit bias, the best guide for Americans whose hearts beat stronger
For years now, this is my first stop for classical cd buying.It is almost always a fun informative read.He has a wonderful ear for performances, hearing not just the notes, or the sound but how it all combines to reveal the music.He will recommend historic performances in sometimes bad sound if they are the best, i.e. Furtwangler's Bruckner.But he also usually gives a more up to date recommendation too.(Will it all be redone to accomodate SACD and XRCD recordings?)

I consult the Penguin Guide and have my subscription to Gramophone Magazine. Their reviewers are, by and large, good to excellent too.But, by and large, the reviewers are British and of a certain class that finds American music over the top, i.e. Berstein's Mahler.We North and South Americans tend to find their restraint, well ..., boring.Further, Penguin and Gramophone seem to promote their Brits in music because they are Brits.Doing so encourages more music for the British. Good for them.Not so good for us as our orchestras and players are often ignored.Less music for us.Fun fact from the book, in the 50s more Americans went to symphony halls than pro-baseball games.

The biggest problem I have with the book is that it is now 10 years out of date.I would love to have a new edition.Pleeeeease?

Way too biased, but somewhat entertaining
I think Svejda is a great salesman, but beyond that there is little, if nothing, that shows me that he knows much about music beyond his own narrow personal favorites which are questionable at best.

Give him credit for being a great con man though

love-but proceed w/ caution
It's rare to come across a music guide and end up enjoying it like a literary work. The fact that he is also as obsessed as I am with Mozart's music above all other composers is another point in his favor.Most recommendations have been true, I've disagreed with a few.But he's always entertaining.And what i most love is his passion for classical music.Long live the Svejda! But proceed with caution if you want a guide couched in dry, polite, bloodless prose.

A hilarious romp and a labor of love
Before you read anything else, if you're one of the following, do NOT buy this book (elevated blood pressure and a desire to strangle Jim will inevitably follow):
* A die-hard audiophile (preferring a superbly recorded version of a mediocre performance to a lousy recording of a great performance),
* Someone who only listens to early music (something Jim infers most of us don't do), and
* An afficianado of recordings by Harnoncourt, Leonhardt, von Karajan or Robert Shaw.

With this caveat on the table, I'll say without reservation that this is a must-have book for any music enthusiast.Even if it were not packed with excellent recommendations for your music library, Jim's often merciless humor alone is worth the price and will supply hours of belly laughs.

I find myself giggling even when Jim is lambasting one of my favorite recordings and admitting to myself that perhaps he might have a point (however small).

I'm looking forward to the next edition...

His recommendations are often poorly recorded
I enjoy listening to Mr. Svejda on KUSC and enjoy his enthusiasm, immense knowledge, and many opinions. Almost without exception, I can refer to this book after hearing even an obscure piece for the first time and find a thoughtful discussion of it and its composer.

My complaint with his reviews is his lack of concern for recording quality to which he openly admits. He has a tin ear when it comes to good recording engineering. Even the recordings he describes as well recorded are often duds in terms of sound quality. For me, there is little enjoyment hearing a fine performance that sounds as if it were recorded in a freight elevator through a fluffy blanket.

Those like me who, while not minding less than audiophile grade recordings of the musical giants who preceeeded high fidelity, find little excuse for the inexcusably poor recording quality of so much classical work by contemporary artists and ensembles, should take his recommendations with a grain of salt. Several times, I've bought cds recommended in this book only to be dismally disappointed by a poorly executed recording. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
Selections from all periods of classical guitar literature for the beginning or intermediate player , in both standard notation and tablature. Includes a full-length CD of performances by the author to guide you through your studies. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (27)

50 Easy Guitar Solos
I found this selection of pieces very helpful and especially liked the accompanying CD that can be used for comparison. Would like to see something similar but with contemporary pieces.

Not for beginners!
This book would be a great to supplement your ongoing lessons. It has songs that are well planned to help you gain (especially) fingering skills. The book does assume, however, that you are not a very beginner trying to learn on your own.I am going to set this aside for later use.

Great for a beginner
The songs are easy and sound fine.This is much better than sticking to scales wishing you could play an actual piece.

Two really annoying things are that 1) the pages don't state the track number on the CD so you can't easily hear what the piece sounds like (the tracks on the CD are not in the same order as the pages of the book) and, 2) the first couple pages would have been better spent giving a simple treatment of finger picking.

Great Book!
I think this is a great book for beginners, or anyone not accomplished in classical guitar. It is well arranged, and the cd with the tracks is a great learning tool. I have been playing all types of music for 20 years, and I like to play simple and complex pieces on the guitar. Sometimes simple is fun!

Easily the best book of solos for the beginner to early intermediate
This is not a method book. It is not for intermediate to advanced students. Rather, this is a book of surprisingly beautiful sounding yet simple arrangements for the beginning to very early intermediate classical guitarist. Everyone will have a different idea of what 'easy' is, so let's be clear about this. If you're a *beginning* classical guitarist with less than a year of lessons under the belt and the ability to play only in first position (and perhaps just dabbling with second or so), unable to do barre chords yet (or not at all well), you may want some VERY easy solo material to supplement your main lesson (or method) book (like while working through the first third or half of Noad 1). After all, scales and exercises can be boring and you may want to try solo pieces. The problem is that at this point most supplementary solo books are too difficult, even if they're not particularly advanced. Willard's 50 Easy Classical Guitar Solos fits this niche perfectly. The very attractive-sounding arrangements, all in standard tuning, clearly arranged in order of difficulty, and with virtually no barres until near the end of the book, are designed to be fingered with great ease, which is important for the new guitarist who is still struggling with basics like hitting the right strings and frets. The first couple pieces are almost too easy, but pleasant enough, and after you're up to speed you'll probably want to skip those, but there's still plenty in the book to entertain and challenge the beginner. Even the early intermediate student who wants some easy pieces to warm up on or memorize will probably find 2/3 or more of this book of value. There is a nice variety of pieces in terms of musical period, composer, key, tempo and so on, as well. The inclusion of tabs and a CD is a bonus, although the tracks are slightly out of order compared to the book. Overall, I would say that for the right level of student, this book is a true pleasure to play, and worth every penny. ... Read more

Product Description
Large note edition compendium of the world's most loved music. True to the spirit of the great composers, this volume fills the needs of students and teachers. Over 100 works including SchubertÂ’s Moment Musicale, ChopinÂ’s Minute Waltz, and BeethovenÂ’s Rondo a Cappriccio. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (21)

Piano Classics
You didn't say anything about the fact that the music doesn't follow itself in a page by page order in this book.There are several songs where you have to skip a page in order to find the rest of the song!!! Hmmmm.!! Am glad it is usually only one page!J. Vinson

Great value in classical music
I played through this book as a pre-teen/teen.Intermediate to Advanced difficulty.Great value, great music.Plenty of Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, Mozart and all my favorites as well as some selections from lesser known composers.I was able as a teen to play with reasonable accuracy many of the songs by sightreading; there are some more virtuoso pieces- Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu and a few Bach Fugues (I've always found fugues difficult).Very enjoyable selection.

Great selection, Great value
You can't argue with the selection of this book. It has a variety of levels, from pretty simple (like Peter and the Wolf) to Rachmaninov, Lyszt, and Chopin. It focuses on some of the best know pieces originally for piano. A great start to a music library!

Highly Recommended
I recommend this with volume 2 as a starter book for all my Grade 2 and up piano students. This contains pieces from Baroque through Modern composers, in most levels of difficulty, from what I would consider advanced beginner through advanced pianist. The composers are selected from France, England, Germany, Italy, Russia, the USA and other countries so there is plenty of variety and always something new to explore. The printing is large and clear and the pieces are well-chosen and representative of the composers' works. The paper is heavy enough to withstand extensive note-taking and there's enough space on the page to be able to write notes. The students who bought this book in 2001 are still playing from it, a recommendation in itself.

This is money well-spent.

(This was supposed to be 5 stars but for some reason Amazon isn't letting me do it.)

A must for your collection
I've had this book for probably 6 years and still play it everyday. I love these pieces. I was a piano minor in college and I used these as recital pieces many times. I would call them moderate difficulty. A great variety of songs from Rag to classical. I really have enjoyed this book through the years. ... Read more

Product Description

"... demystifies more than 2000 names of composers, conductors and performers, titles of works and musical terms in some two dozen languages." -- Publishers Weekly

"... Fradkin's guide will save people from both error and affectation." -- Rettig on Reference

"What a great idea for a book." -- Denver Post

"Multifaceted and well organized... A wide range of useful tips will help attentive readers avoid common pronunciation gaffes and build on the sound advice offered... This is a book for the linguistically sensitive and musically inclined to keep handy." -- Choice

"Classical announcers and musicians will welcome this guide." -- American Reference Books Annual

Is it [rick-kard] or [rih-khard] Wagner?

Radio announcers have very few resources for learning to pronounce foreign words and names associated with classical music. In this innovative guide, Robert Fradkin provides the pronunciation of over 2000 personal names, titles of works, and musical terms.

The Well-Tempered Announcer is an ideal text for radio and television classes and the ultimate aid in the broadcasting booth.

Customer Reviews (1)

Staple for work in Public Radio
The Well-Tempered Announcer gives experienced announcers a refresher course in pronunciation and word derivation.The inexperienced announcer will cherish this volume as a whetstone to sharpen newly aquired vocal variety and vocal tact. ... Read more

Product Description
This fine book engages you with the personalities of its 40 subjects & includes juicy tidbits about salaries, backstage spats, & rotating bed partners.In addition to the text, there are numerous photos & drawings throughout the book.Contents: (main headings only)? The castrati? Angelica Catalani? A digression on travel, the Industrial Revolution & related matters? Giuditta Pasta, Maria Malibran, Henrietta Sontag, & Guilia Grisi (Bel Canto)? Giovanni-Battista Rubini, Mario, & Luigi Lablache? A digression on money? Nicolo Paganini? Franz Liszt? Jenny Lind? Joseph Joachim? Anton Rubinstein? Adelina Patti? Jean & Edouard de Reszke? Ignaz Paderewski? Pablo de Sarasate, Eugene Tsaye, Jan Kubelik, & Fritz Kreisler? Nelli Melba? Enrico Caruso? A digression on tenors? Josef Hofmann? Sergei Rachmaninoff? John McCormack? Feodor Chaliapin? Arturo Toscanini? Jascha Heifetz? Kirsten Flagstad & Lauritz Melchoir? Arthur Rubinstein? Vladimir Horowitz? Maria Callas? A digression on health & ills? Leonard Bernstein, Herbert von Karajan, & Georg Solti? Luciano Pavarotti & Placido Domingo? Bibliography? Index ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A wonderful volume full of interesting stories and great pictures
We miss Harold Schonberg to this day.His lively and insightful writing about music and musicians has not been duplicated or replaced by anyone.That isn't to say there are not good writers on music, there certainly are, but none fill that niche for the general reader that Schonberg filled.It was impossible to read an article by him and not come away with something new to think about or some wonderful anecdote to share.

Fortunately, his book "The Great Pianists" is still in print and should be read by every music lover regardless if they can play the keyboards or not.Why this book is out of print is beyond me.He does pretty much what he did with "The Great Pianists", he provides articles on great virtuosi, their times, and the other artists of their day.This book is always charming, the writing is delightful, and the articles provide the patented Schonbergian light-touch-teaching.You would have to be a widely read almost beyond understanding to not pick up anything new in this book.

You will learn about great violinists, singers, and even the very greatest pianists.There are lots of pictures and drawings to help you put faces to the names.If for nothing else, by reading this book carefully you will always have some interesting story to share at a dinner after a concert or at a party with your musical friends.

Since you can pick up used copies of this book so cheaply, I urge you to get a copy and enjoy it.You will get more from it than most other books and more than from anything on TV. ... Read more

Product Description
This fabulous fake book includes nearly every famous classical theme ever written! It's a virtual encyclopedia of classical music, in one complete volume. Features: over 165 classical composers; over 600 classical themes in their original keys; lyrics in their original language; a timeline of major classical composers; categorical listings; more. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

May be one of the best tunebooks ever
If you play music, and if you grew up in a culture with European influence, then this book is a joy.

Everyone knows these tunes -- listeners are already familiar with the melodies -- but it's rare to hear them played in an interesting way. You have leeway in interpretation, in spirt. The melodies have proven themselves over decades -- they work. And it's all public-domain material now too.

It's true that a compact, perfect-bound paperbook is not the easiest format for extended sight-reading. But you already know the tunes. The beauty of this book is that it clarifies your memory, provides the background, gives a firm definition. It's a fakebook, not a concert album -- a recipe, not a set of instructions. And it's easy to carry along.

Even if you were stuck on a desert island _without_ an instrument, this would still be a very valuable book to have.

Published for eagles
You have all heard the expression "read the fine print". This whole book is fine print.If your visual acuity is not comparable to that of our feathered friends or rated at 20/10 or better you will need two assistants.One to hold the magnifying glass and another to hold the tightly bound book open. It would be fine for regular reading but NOT sheet music!!! I would have gladly paid the extra bucks to have the material printed in a reasonably sized format such as 8 x ll with a spiral binding. I would give it NO stars and three black holes in this regard.It got 2 stars because the selections and arrangements are good. ...

Good book to save your time for looking the favorite song
I love this book.It allowed me to play some classical song that i loved and it's hard to find.They are all in one little book.However, 'cause it's " a little book" so it's hard to read.They should make itclearer for readers.I"m looking forward the new edition for addingmore songs.Good book for saving time to find stuffs you like. ... Read more

Product Description
A delightful collection of more than 20 popular dances and airs of the Renaissance period, arranged for the harp by Deborah Friou.Includes pieces by well-known composers of the time, including Byrd, Dowland, Morely, and others.All can be played on folk harp. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Medieval Songbook
This is another reliable book of harp pieces in the begginner to intermediate range by Deborah Friou.There is a wide variety here and most of these peices are readily playable on lever harp, and arranged in a very accessible manner for the modern musician.
... Read more

Product Description
This volume includes 67 selections from the great works for symphony orchestra, chamber music, oratorio and art song. New transcriptions have been made for intermediate- to advanced-level piano solo. Includes: Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C Minor * Debussy: Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun * Mozart: Symphony No. 40 in G Minor * Pachelbel: Canon in D * Schumann: Piano Concerto in A Minor * Johann Strauss, Jr.: By the Beautiful Blue Danube * and more. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent selection, very well arranged
This is a great selection of pieces. The arrangements are also very well done, and suitable for more advanced piano players. ... Read more

Product Description
50 pieces from the Renaissance, Baroque, Classical and Romantic eras arranged, edited and fingered by Joseph Harris. Includes notes about the composers and each period, and performance suggestions. All pieces are in standard notation and tablature. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

good starter book
this book contains some great beginner level songs.nothing you learn in this book is going to blow anyone away, but it is hard enough that those who have never done any type of classical guitar should probably run through it.i'm an accomplished electric player who hasn't done a lot in the classical/fingerpicking realm, and i think it is definitely beneficial.

one downside is that you have to search all over the internet to try and find the music who what you are playing so you can hear if you are playing it right.some links or a CD would've been nice.

here is a real opinion, not sure where the other ones came from?? maybe the book company no doubt
first off about 80% of the songs are one page, thats right one page, which means you get the skeleton version of 80% of the songs, plus most of the songs are lame and boring, i wanted to find some great stuff that i would hear on Pepe Romero's Guitar Solos, but no it's just a bunch of generic guitar songs with no depth.I know my classical guitar music from pepe romero to segovia, so i'm not just ranting and raving here.Does anyone know where i can get tab for songs like: mallorca, op. 202 (barcarola)??

Nice guitar book
My brother loves this gift. Good to find a guitar book that has standard and tablature!

Good Introduction to Classical Guitar
I'm a self-taught guitarist who has played for 20 years and have mostly played lead guitar in pop/rock/blues bands as hobby.A few years ago I bought a nice classical guitar and decided to learn some pieces when I came across this book.

Since then I have played almost every song in this book.There are a lot of short pieces that beginners will be able to play easily and some more challenging pieces for intermediate players.

I highly recommend this book to anyone wishing to learn some classical guitar who doesn't read music (tablature is provided).

Great book
Best for an intermediate player even though includes tab.I like this book, it is a good book for an advanced beginner or intermediate player but has plenty of challenges.My only wish is that it could include a CD so I could hear how the music is supposed to sound.However, since these songs are classics most student probably have a cd or two with many of these songs.

I am glad I purchased this book.Its also priced right. ... Read more