Product Description
From the composer's lifetime to the present day, Gustav Mahler's music has provoked extreme responses from the public and from experts. Poised between the Romantic tradition he radically renewed and the austere modernism whose exponents he inspired, Mahler was a consummate public persona and yet an impassioned artist who withdrew to his lakeside hut where he composed his vast symphonies and intimate song cycles. His advocates have produced countless studies of the composer's life and work. But they have focused on analysis internal to the compositions, along with their programmatic contexts.

In this volume, musicologists and historians turn outward to examine the broader political, social, and literary changes reflected in Mahler's music. Peter Franklin takes up questions of gender, Talia Pecker Berio examines the composer's Jewish identity, and Thomas Peattie, Charles S. Maier, and Karen Painter consider, respectively, contemporary theories of memory, the theatricality of Mahler's art and fin-de-siècle politics, and the impinging confrontation with mass society. The private world of Gustav Mahler, in his songs and late works, is explored by leading Austrian musicologist Peter Revers and a German counterpart, Camilla Bork, and by the American Mahler expert Stephen Hefling.

Mahler's symphonies challenged Europeans and Americans to experience music in new ways. Before his decision to move to the United States, the composer knew of the enthusiastic response from America's urban musical audiences. Mahler and His World reproduces reviews of these early performances for the first time, edited by Zoë Lang. The Mahler controversy that polarized Austrians and Germans also unfolds through a series of documents heretofore unavailable in English, edited by Painter and Bettina Varwig, and the terms of the debate are examined by Leon Botstein in the context of the late-twentieth-century Mahler revival. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Mahler reconsidered. With a fine sense of balance.
Published last year (2002) were two significant resources on Gustav Mahler. One of these - a paperback edition of Donald Mitchell's "The Mahler Companion" - has already been appraised by me, and found to be a superb "companion." The other is this Festschrift volume, edited by Karen Painter, the "published" part of the 2002 Bard Music Festival celebrating Mahler.

The Mitchell and Painter books are similar in some respects, in that both contain essays by expert Mahlerians incorporating good historical/musicological research. But there are also differences, making the books complementary. Where the Mitchell book is broad, with chapters covering all of Mahler's works, the Painter book is more tightly focused, with fewer essays on a narrower range of topics. Part of the appeal of this Painter book is the inclusion of reprints of a vast array of historic criticism that provides an understanding of how Mahler was perceived and received during his lifetime.

Painter's book is worth having for Leon Botstein's lead-off essay ("Whose Gustav Mahler?") alone. A virtuosic work, it earns separate commentary later. But first, briefer comments about some of the book's other strong points.

The first section (CONTEXT AND IDEOLOGIES) contains two fascinating essays that are closely related: Charles S. Maier's "Mahler's Theater: The Performative and the Political in Central Europe, 1890-1910" and Karen Painter's "The Aesthetics of Mass Culture: Mahler's Eighth Symphony and Its Legacy." The thrust of the Maier essay leads naturally into the Painter one.

Working backwards, there are two well-known facts regarding Mahler's Eighth Symphony. The first is that his Eighth Symphony doesn't fit into any convenient scheme for allocating his symphonies by style and content; the Eighth Symphony is a "sui generis" work, powerful in its effect but somewhat baffling in terms of its rightful place in his symphonic canon. The second is that the premiere of the work, in Munich in 1910, was a highly-promoted event, one of the most significant and certainly one of the best documented musical events of the 20th century.

Maier sets the cultural stage that made such a work not only possible but perhaps inevitable as well. It is a fact that music and drama became stages for the "politicization of culture" in the late Habsburg Empire of Mahler's time. This was an empire on the imminent verge of collapse; a manifestation of this imminency was that political parties of every stripe seized upon culture (including music) for their individualistic ends.

Mahler was, inevitably, swept up into this politico-cultural maelstrom, both as conductor and as composer. What he performed at the Vienna Court Opera, and when and why, helps to understand both his political leanings (mildly leftist-Socialist) and, at least in part, his possible motivations for composing hia Eighth Symphony: As a gift to the Austrian people so that they could participate, to his way of thinking, in this "political elevation" of "music as mass culture." And participate they did: Not only was the Munich premiere a cultural phenomenon for its (or any) time, but the work, as political culture, was, for a period, co-opted by both the left and the right. Had Mahler not been Jewish, one can only shudder at how National Socialists might have co-opted the work for their own political ends, a fearsome thought left dangling in Painter's essay.

The final section (MAHLER'S GERMAN-LANGUAGE CRITICS) contains many gems translated into English for the first time. Covering his career as composer and conductor, from sources both friendly and hostile, we get a fuller glimpse of how Mahler was assessed in his own time. The reviews (and obituaries as well) come from all four points of the critical compass: favorable and informed, uncritically favorable and thus critically useless, hostile and critically off-target, and hostile but with an informed understanding. This is as evenly balanced as such an anthology could be.

The fourth category brings us full circle, to Botstein's bravura (but challenging) essay. He posits that hostile but informed commentary was the "jumping-off" point for Theodor Adorno's writings on Mahler. To borrow from Botstein, Mahler might best be understood through the lens of his most dedicated critics; "informed hostility can reveal more acutely than deferential praise the character and virtues of the music."

Botstein's own jumping-off point is a search for an explanation for the enduring interest in Mahler's music. The initial upsurge in interest that began, largely, with Leonard Bernstein very publically championing Mahler, today, nearly a half-century later, shows no sign of slowing, and is in fact increasing, with no obvious end in sight. How, then, to explain the phenomenon?

A key Botstein point is that the 1960s brought us more than Bernstein and a renaissance of performances and and a flood of recordings; it also marked the emergence of Adorno's contributions to "Mahlerology" with the publication of his "Mahler: A Musical Physiognomy." By using "negation" (his cramped "negative dialectics") to "invert" the arguments of Mahler's harshest critics, Adorno found not only "fault lines" in their analyses but totally fresh, if idiosyncratic, insights into characterizing Mahler's music.

A uniquely Adorno insight (in fact, a chapter in his book) was that Mahler was to composing what Flaubert was to writing, with "Madame Bovary" as an exemplary case. Botstein takes this further by suggesting that the novel as perfected by Flaubert served as a written vessel into which the reader could pour himself proactively, as if a protagonist, and that there are clear parallels to this proactivity when listening to Mahler's music.

This is a provocative thought: The listener as active participant. But in a way it was preordained when Mahler eschewed descriptive programs while writing music of some "vernacularity" and ambiguity about that vernacularity. This leaves open the door to our "individuating" our responses to Mahler's music (something which, as Botstein makes clear, is not possible for the programmatic music of Richard Strauss, an obvious counterexample).

A thoughtful and challenging essay, and a very worthwhile book.

Bob Zeidler ... Read more

Product Description

John Lithgow makes Arts and Literacy a Palooza of fun for kids!

Collect a ... Read more

Product Description

In the World War II era, big bands and swing music reached the heights of popularity with soldiers as well as friends and loved ones back home. Many entertainers such as Glenn Miller also served in the military, or supported the war effort with bond drives and entertaining the troops at home and abroad. In addition to big band and swing music, musicals, jazz, blues, gospel and country music were also popular. Chapters on each, along with an analysis of the evolution of record companies, records, radios, and television are included here, for students, historians, and fans of the era.

Includes a timeline of the music of the era, an appendix of the Broadway and Hollywood Musicals, 1939-1945, and an appendix of Songs, Composers, and lyricists, 1939-1945. An extensive discography and bibliography, along with approximately 35 black and white photos, complete the volume.

Product Description
This text includes letters, documents, contemporary accounts, and commentary to act as a musical companion and guide to Mozart's daily life. His artistic codes, teaching methods, and views on composition are illuminated with musical examples. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great companion book for musicians and music lovers alike
Mozart once wrote of a desire to write a book about music. Sadly, he did not have a chance to do so before he died at the age of 35. Whether or not you have actually played Mozart's work in concert or just love to listen to it, this book is one of the best you will ever come across. It shows the reader Mozart's personal thoughts on just about everything, from music to religion to society to the "other arts". Not only that, but it offers recollections from friends and relatives, including his sister Nannerl and his wife Constanze. The snippets of letters are mingled with fascinating editorial ancedotes about Mozart's life. The man revealed in this book is a far cry from the childish genius in the film "Amadeus", the vision that has too often been the definition of the man in recent years. The only fault I found with the book is that the editor too often reused the same quotes over and over in different sections of the book, and some of the notes on the correspondance were confusing, but other than that this book is probably my favorite Mozart reference. ... Read more

Product Description
This set of three audio CDs includes all the music from The World of Music, 7th Edition, by David Willoughby. ... Read more

Product Description
World Musics in Context is a wide-ranging survey of musics of the world, in their historical and social contexts, from ancient times to the present day. Ethnomusicologist Peter Fletcher begins by describing aspects of musical style and function in relation to the early developments of civilizations. He then goes on to explore, in five parts, music of the ancient world, music of Africa and Asia, European music, North and South American traditions, and music of the modern world. A compendium of information as well as an examination of musical causation and function, this book gives a deeper understanding of the various musical traditions that contribute to the modern, multicultural environment. ... Read more

Product Description

One of Europe's foremost jazz producers takes us through a world of musical traditions and explores the effects of sound on consciousness.  ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

One of the Best Books written on Music - EVER
Professor Joachim-Ernst Berendt was one of the few enlightened European Scholars, who studied Pythagorean Harmonik, Eastern philosphy and the nature of consciousness. He was able to not only create one of the most important monochord album sets Primordial Tones 1: The Tones of the Earth, the Sun, the Moon, and the Shiva-Shakti Soundin the new age music field, but also wrote one of the best books on music ever written!
If you are interested in the deeper meaning and purpose of music and if you are interested in spirituality, transformation and consciousness - this is a MUST HAVE.

Intangible Writing Style
Many parts did not make sense or were poorly written.The author has a lot of good points, but moreso ideas and assumptions that are not backed up or explained.

Disappointing
I'm rating this book with just one star because the other reviews are too good, otherwise I may give it "two stars" but no more.
I bought this book because of the positive reviews and I was sorely disappointed. I was expecting a book about the metaphysics of sound. What I got was the superficial text of a rambling enthusiast. The variety of topics covered is interesting and the style is engaging... during the first couple of chapters. After that, Berendt needs a good editor. For example, several times we find quotations of the type (not verbatim): "Some author says that the molecules of hydrogen resonate with a major third interval: <>" This kind of quotation adds nothing and explains less. I am still wondering what kind of analogy is it they were talking about. Besides, the second part of the book consists of a few miscellaneous articles on Zen, jazz, etc., unrelated to what should be the main topic of the book.
On the good side, it showed me some threads to follow... but nothing that can't be found elsewhere, I'm afraid.

Sound principles expand horizons
Joachim-Ernst Berendt has a great gift for synthesizing informaion.This book is a must read for anyone interested in harmony and understanding our place in the universe as part of the great expression of spirit.It will also appeal to those who prefer more practical information as to how sound and music has transcended and unified while informing those who play as well as the listener.I just love this book! I'm a yoga teacher and a singer and this book really touched me on all levels.

Nada Brahma
I read this book a little while ago and it completely transformed the way I perceive the world around me. This book showed me the power that sound has. While the book is primarily concerned with the mysticism of sound, he also relates the world around us to sound, and shows us how reliable and accurate our ears are when compared to our eyes.
Joachim-Ernst Berendt also gives listening tests in some of the chapters to give the reader an opportunity to develop their sense of hearing, which he says is being underused in our predominantly visual western culture.

I am a private detective and ever since reading this book, I have always tried to use sound equipment and techniques on my investigations. Since reading this book I have completely re-evaluated and structured the approach and conduct of my work for the better.Can't recommend it enough.
James Pearson.

%65%79%65%67%6C%61%73%73%37%34%00 ... Read more

Product Description
Arranged for Easy Piano by Dan Fox. The music in this collection is organized in a unique way: Pre-Ceremony, Processional, During The Ceremony, and Recessional. There is also a guide for the bride, groom and the pianist in selecting the appropiate music for each part of the ceremony, this is an invaluable guide for wedding planning. Short write-ups about each song is also provided along with information about the music and it's historical perspective. Contents: llegro Maestoso (Handel) * Andante (Mozart) * Arioso (Bach) * As Times Goes By * At Last * Ave Maria (Gounod) * Ave Maria (Schubert) * Beauty and the Beast * Be Thou with Me (J. S. Bach) * Bridal Chorus - short version (Wagner) * Bridal Chorus - complete version (Wagner) * Canon in D (Pachelbel) * Come What May * Gymnopédie (Satie) * The Hawaiian Wedding Song * I Don't Want to Miss a Thing * I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face * Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring (J. S. Bach) * Larghetto (Handel) * Love Is Here to Stay * My Funny Valentine * Nocturne (Borodin) * Nocturne (Chopin) * O Mio Babbino Caro (Puccini) * Ode to Joy (Beethoven) * Over the Rainbow * Panis Angelicus (Franck) * Pathétique Sonata (Beethoven) * Plaisir d'Amour (Martini) * The Prayer * Recessional (Purcell) * Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini (Rachmaninoff) * The Rose * Sheep May Safely Graze (J. S. Bach) * Take My Breath Away * (I've Had) The Time of My Life * This I Promise You * Trumpet Voluntary (Clarke) * Unforgettable * Up Where We Belong * Valentine * The Way You Look Tonight * Wedding March (Mendelssohn) *Wedding Song (There is Love) * We've Only Just Begun * What a Wonderful World * When a Man Loves a Woman * When I Fall in Love * The Wind Beneath My Wings * You Raise Me Up. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Starter Book for Less Experienced Players
I'm an adult piano student, and started lessons about 10 months ago.One of my goals is to play at weddings for friends and for hire.This book by Dan Fox, happily for me, is exactly what I was looking for!

What I like best about 'World's Greatest Wedding Music' is that the staffs and notation are larger than normal.At most there are 5 treble & bass staffs on each page.With additional experience I know I'll become comfortable playing more advanced arrangements.But for now, I love being able to play some really beautiful pieces of music like Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 ('Elvira Madigan' theme) and Erik Satie's 'Gymnopedie'.

Mr. Dan Fox, the author, gives a little background information on each song, which I find interesting because I often want to learn about the person who composed the piece and his/her other works.I also really like the book's forward by Ms. Lounsbery.Having performed at hundreds of ceremonies of all denominations and sizes, her advice is very practical! ... Read more

Product Description
At 44 Licking Pike in Wilder, Kentucky, just across the river from Cincinnati, Ohio...lies, what has been called "the most haunted place in America."Bobby Mackey's Music World, a country/western bar and nightclub, is well known for its mechanical bull.It is better known for more violent encounters with spirits than anywhere else in the US.Visitors and staff members report everything from poltergeist-like phenomena, to disembodied voices and laughter, to actual physical attacks by unseen forces.There are, on record, 29 sworn affidavits of sightings, several from police and clergy. Paranormal Investigator Doug Hensley was called in to determine the causes for the strange occurrences.Mr. Hensley made some startling discoveries.This book has been the subject of National TV Shows such as Geraldo, Sightings, Encounters, Sally Jessee Rapheal, A Current Affair, Real Ghosts, The Other Side and many more. Read America’s Most Documented Haunting, Hell’s Gate.



... Read more

Customer Reviews (29)

I visited Bobby Mackey's 3 times...1st two were interesting...
I read this book in the 90's because my mother left it in her room and I happen to pick it up.The cover was appealing so well, .....I thought I'dcheck a few pages out.I was hooked.Couldn't put the book down.

Since I lived in Kentucky at the time, I felt I had to drive up there one night, (late) and visit.Driving late kicked the suspense for sure.As we approached the building we were both freaked out.It was dark and the only illumination was a single street light showing the front door.Bugs were flying around, it was muggy outside.I was petrified.Probably all because of the book.It was almost 2 am. .Didn't see a thing.No activity or wierdness.But I tell you, I was scared out of my mind.The place seemed as if it were alive and evil itself.That's all I can say about that 1st night.Itwas closed, of course. I wanted to see things.I WAS pretty scared and too much of a Wimp to venture behind it were the river was etc etc..

The next time I visited was in the day because I wanted to see if maybe someone was there.I was less scared of course.A guy with somewhat long hair and a large build walked out of the front door.He was pretty nice.He said hello.I said, "Oh, hey, we read that book and HAD to come by and see for ourselves.".

He actually said we could COME IN!!!Nothing was going on and no one was there so he said, "I'll show you around if you want.".Maybe it's because we were 2 girls in mid 20's. We toured the whole place.

As far as the book goes....it was hard to put down.When I saw that well in the basement and stairs that led to nowhere I felt strange.The well looked like it had been charred with flames 20 ft high.It had a few boards across it. But not enough to cover the whole thing.That was the creepiest part.

The other time I visited was when the place was open for business.It was kindof fun even though I don't like country music much.

Here are the experiences I had which were not realy much:

~Was freezing cold when others seemed find.Janet Mackey herself asked me if I was cold.
~Mechanical bull malfunctioned several times and sparked
~Bobby Macky sat at the end of the bar and said to us that he STILL has never seen a thing happnen there.
~The stereo system set up on the stage burnt out and smoke came out of it.Someone (don't remember) said that happens all of the time

Other than that....the people there seemed to be having a lot of fun and seemed to LOVE in-line dancing.Music was pretty good.

I'm not sure if this story is a hoax or not but the book is dam good.
Visiting the place added to the excitement.I'm glad I did and will again.

Kathy
Portland, Oregon

Excellent Book!!
This was a great book to read if your just looking for information on Bobby Mackey's! It wasn't written in the best way, but still a good read. The story is true and I've been there and experienced the paranormal myself. We go down there for a bowling tournament every year and heard about Bobby Mackey's from one of the locals. I've always wanted to ride the mechanical bull and I love to dance, so this was the place for us! Other reviews have discounted the claims of things that have happened at Bobby Mackey's and summed it up to claims by drunks, well I don't drink! What makes my experience even better, was the fact that I wasn't sure if something was happening or not until I finished the book. I was in the bathroom and the toilet kept continuing to flush. Being that I'm a maintenance worker by trade, I thought I would take a look at it. I couldn't find any reason why it would be doing that. After playing with the handle a couple times it would just stop. This happened more than once. After finishing the book, it said that this was one of the things the ghosts would do. Also, we went there on a Thursday night not knowing that Bobby Mackey's is only open Friday and Saturday nights. I pulled the car up on the sidewalk to shine the lights on the door looking for some hours and I could feel a sense of evil. I most certainly would not want to be there alone in the dark for very long! We had a great time at Bobby Mackey's and we will be back again this year. I did look around and think the place could use some fixing up, but after reading the book, I now know why it looks like that!

This book is fiction
This book is poorly written,edited, and at time reads worse than an R.L. Stine Goosbumps novel.I feel sorry for people who buy into these ghost stories without doing any research.

The Pearl Bryan legend is just that, a legend. I am researching the subject as a history major at the University of Cincinnati. There is absolutely no primary documentation or evidence in general to support the satanic cult theory suggested by Hensley. None. In fact, every website that posts the Pearl Bryan murder legend fails to accept the simple historical facts. People just can't seem to accept that the two mile proximity of the murder to what is now Bobby Mackey's is just a coincedence.GET OVER IT!

Don't Waste Your Money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This book is a joke!My 1st grader can make up stuff better than this!It was just plain made up on certain parts, or should I say %99 percent of the book was made up. This book is not worth 25 Cents. I paid over $25.00 for this book.If you really read all the reviews they are from writers family and friends.Look out don't be the next sucker to have to write a review on this horrible book.

GOOD STORY...BAD WRITING
The story is a fairly good one if you're interested in supernatural phenomenon. Parts of the book are truly scary in spite of Mr. Hensley's inability to write. Mr. Hensley's writing skills are abysmal at best. The fact that I actually finished the book is testament to the fact that the book can be chilling at times. It's unfortunate that the book wasn't authored by an actual writer...that might have made for a really good book. It doesn't appear that the book was proof read for errors. There are repetitions and word errors. The book is definitely not worth the listed purchase price but if you can pick up a second hand copy for less you'll probably get some thrills and not regret your purchase. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent Collection
An interesting and excellent collection of essays.I personally found the articles written by Brahms' contemporaries to be the most illuminating. While some of the chapters are quite technical musically, there is much that is of great interest to the layperson. ... Read more

Product Description

The Garland Handbook of African Music is comprised of essays from The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: Volume 1, Africa, (1997). Revised and updated, the essays offer detailed, regional studies of the different musical cultures of Africa and examine the ways in which music helps to define the identity of this particular area.

Part One provides an in-depth introduction to Africa. Part Two focuses on issues and processes, such as notation and oral tradition, dance in communal life, and intellectual property. Part Three focuses on the different regions, countries, and cultures of Africa with selected regional case studies.

The second edition has been expanded to include exciting new scholarship that has been conducted since the first edition was published. Questions for Critical Thinking at the end of each major section guide and focus attention on what musical and cultural issues arise when one studies the music of Africa -- issues that might not occur in the study of other musics of the world. An accompanying audio compact disc offers musical examples of some of the music of Africa.

Customer Reviews (1)

An invaluable, highly recommended reference work.
The Garland Handbook Of African Music is a single volume compilation of informative essays written by the leading scholars in the field of African music. This outstanding reference explores all aspects of African music asit explores the content and its many musical forms. Included is a thoroughdiscussion of the issues and processes in the study of African music,illustrated by a number of regional case studies covering North, West,East, Central, and Southern Africa. The Garland Handbook Of African Musicis enhanced with an accompanying 60 minute CD, a glossary, and guides topublications, recordings, films and videos. The Garland Handbook Of AfricanMusic is an invaluable, highlyrecommended addition to personal,professional, and academic multicultural and African music referencecollections. ... Read more

Product Description
Antonin Dvorák made his famous trip to the United States one hundred years ago, but despite an enormous amount of attention from scholars and critics since that time, he remains an elusive figure. Comprising both interpretive essays and a selection of fascinating documents that bear on Dvorák's career and music, this volume addresses fundamental questions about the composer while presenting an argument for a radical reappraisal.

The essays, which make up the first part of the book, begin with Leon Botstein's inquiry into the reception of Dvorák's work in German-speaking Europe, in England, and in America. Commenting on the relationship between Dvorák and Brahms, David Beveridge offers the first detailed portrait of perhaps the most interesting artistic friendship of the era. Joseph Horowitz explores the context in which the "New World" Symphony was premiered a century ago, offering an absorbing account of New York musical life at that time. In discussing Dvorák as a composer of operas, Jan Smaczny provides an unexpected slant on the widely held view of him as a "nationalist" composer. Michael Beckerman further investigates this view of Dvorák by raising the question of the role nationalism played in music of the nineteenth century.

The second part of this volume presents Dvorák's correspondence and reminiscences as well as unpublished reviews and criticism from the Czech press. It includes a series of documents from the composer's American years, a translation of the review of Rusalka's premiere with the photographs that accompanied the article, and Janácek's analyses of the symphonic poems. Many of these documents are published in English for the first time. ... Read more

Product Description
"Every beginner needs a place to begin. For a music lover, what better place to discover more about music than between the pages of another music lover's book? The Classical Music Experience makes it easy by taking you through the history of classical music composer by composer."-Adam Duritz, lead singer, Counting Crows

There are many books about classical music, but none capture the incredible range of musical styles and sounds as accessibly or in as compelling a way as The Classical Music Experience.

The Classical Music Experience tells the stories of forty-two of the world's most celebrated composers, ranging from Bach, Handel, Mozart and Beethoven to Mahler, Tchaikovsky, Gershwin and Bernstein. It weaves five hundred years of history and music into a rich tapestry of sound and story unlike any other book of its kind.

This is a volume to cherish and to return to again and again as you build your own classical music library and venture out to the symphony hall. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Great book!
Love this book. Great for every age. Expose your children to classical music and read about the author as you listen.

It's a good start...
(I'm always a little suspicious when an item- after getting all four and five star ratings- suddenly gets an uninterrupted string of one star reviews.)

As a young musician myself, I can tell you this is a wonderful book for the lay person to approach music. It avoids talking about the music theory of pieces (trust me, if you're a non-musician, this is a very good thing), and gives a good (if brief) look at the lives of composers. I rather welcomed the introduction of the authors knowledge of surgery and medicine when he brought it up- I enjoy hearing about how my favorite composer died.

If you're someone who really likes trivia of all sorts, this is a great book. I wouldn't study for an exam by it, but it is a high quality coffee table or nightstand reader.

I didn't care for it, either.
Since we seem to be piling on this poor fellow, I thought this to be the most bizarre publication I have seen in years. I agree that the author is entirely too full of himself, even to the point that the purpose of the book seems to be to glorify himself, rather than to address the purported subject of the book.

Aside from that, the approach of the book seems so scatterbrained that a lot of what he says doesen't mean much unless you already know the subject matter pretty well. It's just too much of a fact here and a fact there thrown in among the author's obvious prejudices about who you will enjoy listening to and who you will not. I may not be as big a fan of the Goulding book as someone else here who has recommended it, but it is much better written, organised and filled with useful information. In fact, much of the content of the Jacobson book is so sketchy that it will make a lot more sense if you read something like Goulding first.

On the other hand, if you have already read Goulding or the like, you probably don't need this book anyway, unless you just like to hear authors talk of themselves.

Keep your money
I've worked in public radio long enough to have read a number of these types of books regarding which this author rather naively maintains his to be the first of it's kind. The only remarkable thing about this work is that the author has rendered such a poorly written attempt, yet managed to remain so full of himself. Read the Goulding book, instead.

Great place to start if you are new to classical music
Taking full advantage of the ability to bind a CD into a book, The Classical Music Experience offers and opportunity to read about classical composers and listen to appropriate example of their works.The book portion covers all the composers that you would expect in a work on classical music.These include Palestrina, Bach, Handel, Hayden, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Berlioz, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Chopin, Schumann, Strauss, Liszt, Wagner, Smetana, Bruckner, Brahms, Bizet, Bruch, Musorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Grieg, Rimsky-Korsakov, Elgar, Mahler, Debussy, Strauss, Sibelius, Vaughan, Schoenberg, Ives, Ravel, Orff, Bartok, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Gershwin, Poulenc, Copland, Shostakovich, and Bernstein.

For each composer the author gives information on their history, most important pieces, and an analysis of their work as well as several examples on the CD.Each time they are discussing a track on the CD it is clearly identified as such in the text and the specific CD and track listed so you can easily find it and listen while reading that section.

This is as fine of an introduction to the world as classical music as you are likely to find anywhere.A thoroughly enjoyable education in classical music,
The Classical Music Experience is highly recommended. ... Read more

Product Description
Music in China is one of many case-study volumes that can be used along with Thinking Musically, the core book in the Global Music Series. Thinking Musically incorporates music from many diverse cultures and establishes the framework for exploring the practice of music around the world. It sets the stage for an array of case-study volumes, each of which focuses on a single area of the world. Each case study uses the contemporary musical situation as a point of departure, covering historical information and traditions as they relate to the present. Visit www.oup.com/us/globalmusic for a list of case studies in the Global Music Series. The website also includes instructional materials to accompany each study.
Music in China offers a unique exploration of the rich, dynamic, and multifaceted Chinese musical landscape. In contrast with previous scholarship--which focused almost exclusively on the role of music in elite culture--this volume takes a balanced look at a variety of traditional and modern genres, including those performed among local and regional folk musicians, in academia, in the media, and on concert stages both inside and outside of China. Using the interrelated themes of identity, modernization, and ideology as a narrative framework, author Frederick Lau discusses the musical features of the selected genres, the processes through which they came into existence, and related socio-political issues. Lau draws on his own extensive fieldwork and performance experience in both mainland China and its diasporic communities to show how the ever-changing Chinese musical tradition takes on particular meanings in China, in overseas Chinese communities, and in diverse international settings.
Enhanced by eyewitness accounts of local performances, interviews with key performers, vivid illustrations, and hands-on listening activities, Music in China provides an accessible and engaging introduction to Chinese music. It is packaged with an 80-minute audio CD containing examples of the music discussed in the book. ... Read more

Product Description
Beginning at the threshold of the modern era, with the late Romanticism of Debussy and Mahler, the author traces the new directions of music through composers such as Alban Berg and Anton Webern, Charles Ives, Edgard Varese and Olivier Messiaen, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pierre Boulez, Philip Glass and Elliott Carter. The various paths are made clear by a concentration on the major works and turning points in the music of our time: the new rhythmic force that came in with The Rite of Springthe unbounded universe of Schoenberg's atonalitythe undreamed-of possibilities opened up by electronics The role of chance in the music of John Cage and the astonishing diversity of minimalism.In addition to the text, there are numerous musical examples & photos throughout the book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A memory of my music life
Actually I read the 1978 version when I was a serious music student. It is very long time ago. The book became a memory of my music life.
It was unforgettable that the contemporary music had began with Debussy's "Prelude a l'ares-midi d'un faune". After reading the book, I analyzed the Debussy's score then I was totally convinced.
I met many contemprary composers in this book. I tried to listen thier music later, some of I love, some of not.
Griffiths's writing is clear and I think he captures the overall picture of 20th century serious music world.

CLEAR AND CONCISE INTRODUCTION TO MODERN MUSIC.
Griffiths book Modern Music clearly shows the main styles and trends af 20th century Music, he starts with the late Romantics and the Impressionists like Strauss,Mahler and Debussy and then devotes chapters onNew Harmony, New Rhythm and Form. The revolutionary ideas of Schoenberg andStravinsky are covered and how their ideas and others developed throughoutthe century. There's a chapter on Neoclassicism, Serialism and TotalSerialism which developed after the second world war through composers suchas Boulez and Stockhausen , he writes about the influence of the east onsuch composers as Debussy and Messiaen. Percussion, new ideas in rhythm,electronics and chance methods are covered, and then the last chapters areabout Theatre and Politics and Minimalism and Multiplicity.

All the majorthemes and the most important composers are here so you get a clear Idea ofhow Modern Art music was in the 20th century, the book is not long so youdon't get a detailed analysis of the works but what you get is a clearoverall picture.A very good book to start with if you want information onModern Music

Also recomended are his books "Modern Music the AvantGarde since 1945" which is a more detailed analysis of the second halfof the century and his book about the Brilliant composer Gyorgi Ligeti. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description

Two decades after the fall of communism in Eastern Europe and one decade into the twenty-first century, European music remains one of the most powerful forces for shaping nationalism. Using intensive fieldwork throughout Europe -- from participation in alpine foot pilgrimages to studies of the grandest music spectacle anywhere in the world, the Eurovision Song Contest -- Philip V. Bohlman reveals the ways in which music and nationalism intersect in the shaping of the New Europe.

Focus: Music, Nationalism, and the Making of the New Europe begins with the emergence of the European nation-state in the Middle Ages and extends across long periods during which Europe’s nations used music to compete for land and language, and to expand the colonial reach of Europe to the entire world. Bohlman contrasts the "national" and the "nationalist" in music, examining the ways in which their impact on society can be positive and negative -- beneficial for European cultural policy and dangerous in times when many European borders are more fragile than ever. The New Europe of the twenty-first century is more varied, more complex, and more politically volatile than ever, and its music resonates fully with these transformations.

Product Description
"Up from the Cradle of Jazz" is an intimate history of New Orleans music during the last 45 years. It describes the piano playing of Fats Domino, Professor Longhair, James Booker, Huey "Piano" Smith and Dr John; the singing of Irma Thomas, Little Richard, Aaron Neville and Lee Dorsey; the compositions and performances of Allen Toussaint, Guitar Slim, Wynton and Branford Marsalis, The Meters and The Neville Brothers. From smoky bars and nightclubs to the open air revelry of Mardi Gras, this work aims to be the definitive story of the music of contemporary New Orleans. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A terrific read for anyone interested in New Orleans R&B
If you are interested in the development of R&B in New Orleans, then this is the book to buy. All the essential contributors are there. What I really liked was the space given to the Mardi Gras Indians. ... Read more