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Books > Arts & Architecture > Music > Composers & musicians
In October, 1975, the International Haydn Conference was held in Washington, D.C., during the last eight days of the Haydn Festival at Kennedy Center. Scholars and musicians from all over the world were brought together for the conference, participating in panel discussions, round tables, and workshops. This collection of Haydn studies is the meticulously edited result of those activities.
Richart's bio-bibliography is a most welcome addition to the literature. For the first time, Richart has made available a comprehensive bibliography, discography, and up-to-date worklist. Ligeti's writings, writings about Ligeti, and reviews and analyses of his works, mainly after his 1956 flight from Hungary to the West, are listed and annotated. . . . Richart's short, concise biography is informative and well written. . . . Highly recommended for public, college, and university libraries with music collections. Choice Gyorgy Ligeti is one of the most significant of contemporary composers. Most often described as innovative, he has been able to combine beauty and emotional meaning with that innovation. This bio-bibliography describes rather than evaluates the considerable body of writings by and about Ligeti. The book is divided into four sections: biography, worklist, discography, and bibliography. The biography is a brief survey designed to acquaint the reader, if necessary, with the basic and widely available facts of Ligeti's life. The bibliography is divided into two parts: writings by Ligeti and writings about him. The largest section in the latter part consists of concert and record reviews. Cross references link all items dealing with each individual music work. An appendix lists, in chronological order, all of the concerts devoted entirely to works by Ligeti. Writings listed in the bibliography are dated from the 1940s onward. The bulk of the material was written after Ligeti's flight to the west in 1956. This first book-length work on Gyorgy Ligeti will be welcomed by music scholars.
Awarded the legion d'Honneur by the French government in 2006 for his services to French culture, acclaimed writer and broadcaster Roger Nichols invites the reader to accompany him on his journey through the century-and-a-half turbulent and fertile period in the history of French music from Berlioz to Boulez. In compiling his collection of articles, interviews, radio plays and talks, Nichols begins with Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique and ends with his obituary of Pierre Boulez. Along the way, he includes in-depth studies of Debussy and Ravel, connecting the two by a comparison of their operatic masterpieces, Pelleas et Melisande and l'Enfant et les sortileges. Twenty other significant composers from this fascinating period come in for Nichols' hallmark combination of erudition and wit.
Falco and Beyond is devoted to the most popular Austrian song-writer, singer and rapper of the twentieth century and one of the most successful European singers of all time. Falco was born in 1957, reached the peak of his popularity in the 1980s with songs such as "Der Kommissar," "Rock Me Amadeus" and "Jeanny," with mixed luck attempted to revive his career in the 1990s and died in a car crash in 1998. He sold over 30 million records worldwide and remains a successful posthumous artist. The book attempts to identify the most salient and contradictory features of Falco's art, such as linguistic inventiveness and dexterity, rapping and adopting a posture of a romantic artist. It argues that Falco's songs betray an apocalyptic imagination, picturing the image of an exhausted and unhappy world. It looks at Falco's career and his phenomenon in the context of international and Austrian music business and politics, and investigates how his popularity has been maintained after his death, by means such as records released posthumously, cover versions of his songs, mashup songs and videos, biographies and Falco fandom.
One of the greats of blues music, Willie Dixon was a recording artist whose abilities extended beyond that of bass player. A singer, songwriter, arranger, and producer, Dixon's work influenced countless artists across the music spectrum. In Willie Dixon: Preacher of the Blues, Mitsutoshi Inaba examines Dixon's career, from his earliest recordings with the Five Breezes through his major work with Chess Records and Cobra Records. Focusing on Dixon's work on the Chicago blues from the 1940s to the early 1970s, this book details the development of Dixon's songwriting techniques from his early professional career to his mature period and compares the compositions he provided for different artists. This volume also explores Dixon's philosophy of songwriting and its social, historical, and cultural background. This is the first study to discuss his compositions in an African American cultural context, drawing upon interviews with his family and former band members. This volume also includes a detailed list of Dixon's session work, in which his compositions are chronologically organized.
The Black Horn: The Story of Classical French Hornist Robert Lee Watt tells the story of the first African American French Hornist hired by a major symphony in these United States. Today, the number of African Americans who hold chairs in major American symphony orchestras are few and far between, and Watt is the first in many years to write about this uniquely exhilarating and at times painful experience. The Black Horn chronicles the upbringing of a young boy first fascinated by the sound of the French horn. Watt walks readers through the many obstacles presented by the racial climate in the United States both on and off stage in his efforts learn and eventually master an instrument little considered in the African American community, with even the author s own father, who played trumpet, seeking to dissuade the young classical musician in the making. Opposition from within the community--a middle instrument suited only for thin-lipped white boys, Watt s father once chided and from without, Watt document his struggles as a student at an all-white major music conservatory as well as his first job in a major symphony orchestra after his conservatory canceled his scholarship. Watt subsequently chronicles his triumphs and travails as a musician, sometimes alone when confronting the realities of race in America and the world of classical music. This work will surely interest any working classical musician and student, particularly those of color, seeking to grasp firsthand the sometimes troubled history of being the only black horn. "
The enchanting story of the real life Hannah Montana and her stunning success as a film, television, and music superstar. This biography tells the story of the real-life Hannah Montana, the daughter of country music superstar Billy Ray Cyrus, who has become an international phenomenon in her own right. Miley Cyrus details the star's life from her Franklin, Tennessee, childhood to snagging the role of Hannah Montana from over 1,000 other hopefuls. The book also follows Cyrus' transition from a wholesome Disney icon to a more mature actress and musician, covering both her efforts to be a positive teen influence, and controversies such as Cyrus' photo shoot for Vanity Fair with her father. As an added bonus, the book offers a complete Hannah Montana episode guide as well as a complete discography of Cyrus' recordings as both Hannah and Miley.
Musical performance on brass instruments has blossomed in the 20th century because of technical improvements in horn making, a vastly increased literature, and an astonishing number of outstanding players. Louis Armstrong, Tommy Dorsey, and Doc Severinsen have become household names, and classical musicians such as Maurice Andre, Christian Lindberg, and Barry Tuckwell have pursued distinguished careers as soloists. Twentieth-Century Brass Soloists analyzes and celebrates nearly one hundred brass soloists who have performed and been recorded widely, and whose genius, technique, and style have combined to produce unforgettable moments in music.
This volume presents the life and works of Robert Russell Bennett, whose prolific career as composer and arranger spanned much of the twentieth century. George J. Ferencz chronicles how Bennett's concert works, orchestrations, and commercial scores both reflected and enhanced the musical vitality of New York City, where he spent most of his professional life. Although Bennett enjoyed commercial success, his stylistic preferences embraced the classics, and Ferencz appropriately focuses his study on Bennett's original concert works rather than his popular scores. Ferencz introduces the artist with a lengthy biographical profile, followed by a complete list of works and selected performances which features compositions rather than arrangements in an effort to document those works most representative of Bennett's singular talent. All of Bennett's known commercial recordings are cataloged in the discography, and an annotated bibliography highlights writings about the composer and his works. Subsequent appendixes list commercial orchestrations and original scores for shows, film, and television, and a full index completes the work.
This is a collection of scholarly essays on music of the Classical era in honour of Alan Tyson. A leading authority on composers and music of the Classical period, Tyson has made an outstanding contribution to the study of composers' sketches, manuscript compositions, and early printed editions. An international group of 19 distinguished musicologists contribute essays on Mozart, Haydn, Clementi and Beethoven and other topics under the editorship of Sieghard Brandenburg. The book also includes a complete checklist of Alan Tyson's writings on music.
In a recent poll (Harris 1996), the Statler Brothers, country and gospel music legends, were rated second only to Frank Sinatra as America's favorite singers. They are known as the most awarded act in the history of country music and are still going strong after 30 years. Their performances and the songs they write reflect where they were born--in the birthplace of gospel music, the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Presented here in a clear format are the expected discography details plus additional information that Statler fans will find fun to read. This work contains the usual session and release information, single and album chart histories, television programs, awards, and indices for song titles, composers, and musicians plus extras such as album notes and Statler proverbs. This is a well-researched, documented, and concise work suitable for scholars and fans alike.
The harp is both the oldest and the newest of instruments. It has existed in some form in nearly all cultures since man has made music. The contemporary concert instrument has been known since the mid-19th century. This work is a compendium of the biographies of many notable harpists of the modern era. The biographies make clear how these performers shaped the contrasts in style and technique of harp playing that have developed over the past 150 years, as cultural, social, and psychological forces influenced individual performance. In addition to the biographical information, the A-Z entries include critical reviews, discographies, and selected bibliographies where possible. New material from the former Soviet states is included.
Interest in Pink Floyd remains as intense as ever even 40 years after the release of Dark Side of the Moon, with lavish box-sets collecting demos and out-takes, and Roger Waters' world tours of The Wall playing to packed stadiums. Now, Mark Blake's superbly comprehensive and engrossing history of the group, rightly acclaimed as the definitive book on the band, has been fully revised and extended with new interviews to bring the story up to date with the recent appearances of David Gilmour and Nick Mason with Roger Waters at a London date on his The Wall tour.
Taking piano lessons at three years of age and composing by five, William Mathias became one of Britain's leading 20th-century composers. (He was invited to compose the wedding anthem for the marriage of the Prince of Wales to Lady Diana Spencer.) This work provides, for the first time in one volume, up-to-date and comprehensive details of the composer's life's work. It includes a biography, a complete list of works and performances, a discography of sound recordings, and an annotated bibliography, along with useful appendixes and an index. This book will be of interest to musicologists, students, and 20th century music buffs alike. Mathias was a prolific and versatile composer whose works included opera and music for orchestra, chamber groups, solo instruments, organ, brass ensembles, choral, church, and children's groups. His wedding anthem for Prince Charles and Lady Diana was heard by over 750 million people around the world on television—probably the largest audience for any first performance of a new work.
Paul Evans, a New Yorker has had a long and varied musical career. Although he has written many song lyrics this is his first book, a book that describes his journey from getting his start in the music business, becoming part of the Brill’s song-writing community and the sixty-three music-filled years that followed. He was one of the first young writers to show up and work in the Bill Building on Tin Pan Alley and where he did his first demos. This is also where he was encouraged to change his name from Paul Lyle Rapport to Paul Evans. As a songwriter, Paul has written hits for himself as well as for Bobby Vinton - the 1962 classic, ‘Roses Are Red, My Love’, the Kalin Twins ‘When’ in 1957, and Elvis Presley ‘The Next Step Is Love’, and ‘I Gotta Know’ and more. A list of other recording artists who have recorded his songs is too long to write down here. His songs have been featured in movies (Martin Scorsese’s ‘Goodfellas’ and John Waters’ ‘Pecker’), television shows (‘Scrubs’, the Hulu series, 11.22.63) and TV ads (the 1965 CLEO winning Kent commercial, ‘Happiness Is’, England’s Sainsbury and France’s Intermarché grocery chains. He also wrote an off-off Broadway show, ‘Cloverleaf Crisis’, and the theme for the original network television show, ‘CBS This Morning’. Paul has spent a great deal of his life as a recording artist. From his 1959 and 60's Guaranteed Records hits: ‘Seven Little Girls Sitting In The Back Seat’, ‘Midnight Special’ and ‘Happy-Go-Lucky Me’ to his 1979 Spring Records hit: ‘Hello, This Is Joannie’ (# 6 on the English "pop" charts, Top 40 on Billboard's Country charts.) Paul has produced music tracks for recordings, industrials, jingles and television. He has also soloed and sung in groups on many commercial jingles, and has been seen and heard on the ‘David Letterman Show’, ‘The Conan O’Brien Show’, and more. His voice can be heard in the Woody Allen films, ‘Mighty Aphrodite’ and ‘Everyone Says I Love You’. He was also a part of the world-traveling jazz quintet, Group 5ive. Paul still lives in New York in his City apartment with his wife Susan.
An important new reference source for students of western musical culture, this volume directs the user to all pertinent, substantive, and accessible information concerning the life and works of Sir Michael Tippett, widely recognized as one of this century's most significant composers. The book is divided into four main sections: a biography, an annotated list of works and performances, a discography, and an extensive bibliography. Five appendices provide additional information for the researcher including a chronological list of compositions, a classified list of published compositions, honors and awards won by the composer, ballet and television productions, and resources available. The brief biography which begins the volume provides a convenient source for basic factual information about Tippett's life. The works and performances section presents in one alphabetical sequence all known musical works by Tippett, including early unpublished compositions. Each citation includes information about year of composition, duration, genre, instrumentation, additional statements of responsibility, commissions and dedications, location of existing manuscripts, published editions, and a selected list of performances. The discography contains all known commercial recordings of Tippett's music along with information about performers, date and place of recording, and a chronological listing of all issues of the performance. Divided into three sections, the bibliography covers writings by Tippett, books and articles about Tippett, and reviews of his works culled from the Times (London), the New York Times, and a variety of major and local newspapers around the world. Taken as a whole, this is amasterful contribution to the reference works available on the great composers of the twentieth century.
Born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, George Michael was raised in a family of Greek Cypriot immigrants in North London, and dreamed of stardom when he was a little boy. At just twelve years old he met Andrew Ridgeley and the two of them went on to achieve stunning success in the early 1980s with Wham!, creating music that remains popular to this day. Yet despite the enormous success of Wham!, George wanted more, and so set about recreating himself as a serious solo artist, reaching heights of even greater success. Ironically, however, even from the early days he was plagued with insecurity about his sexuality, which, combined with the calamity of losing his first lover to AIDS and his mother to cancer, plunged him into a lifelong struggle with drug addiction. He died, at the tragically early age of just fifty-three, on Christmas Day 2016. George Michael's life and career brought him international fame, and his sudden and unexpected death shocked the world. His unrivalled popularity as an artist, however, and the music he made, have turned him into one of the immortal greats of pop music. As Emily Herbert shows in this new biography, his legacy is not just his music, but his many extraordinary, and often anonymous, acts of charity.
Just after recording with John Coltrane in 1963, baritone singer Johnny Hartman (1923-1983) told a family member that "something special" occurred in the studio that day. He was right - the album, containing definitive readings of "Lush Life" and "My One and Only Love," resides firmly in the realm of iconic; forever enveloping listeners in the sounds of romance. In The Last Balladeer, author Gregg Akkerman skillfully reveals not only the intimate details of that album but the life-long achievements and occasional missteps of Hartman as an African-American artist dedicated to his craft. This book carefully follows the journey of the Grammy-nominated vocalist from his big band origins with Earl Hines and Dizzy Gillespie to featured soloist in prestigious supper clubs throughout the world. Through exclusive interviews with Hartman's family and fellow musicians (including Tony Bennett, Billy Taylor, Kurt Elling, Jon Hendricks, and others), accounts from friends and associates, newly discovered recordings and studio outtakes, and in-depth research on his career and personal life, Akkerman expertly recollects the Hartman character as a gentleman, romantic, family man, and constant contributor to the jazz scene. From his international concerts in Japan, Australia, and England to his steady presence as an American nightclub singer that spanned five decades, Hartman personifies the "last balladeer" of his kind, singing with a sentiment that captured the attention of Clint Eastwood, who brought Hartman's songs to the masses in the film The Bridges of Madison County. In the first full-length biography and discography to chronicle the rhapsodic life and music of Johnny Hartman, the author completes a previously missing dimension of vocal-jazz history by documenting Hartman as the balladeer who crooned his way into so many hearts. Backed by impeccable research but conveyed in a conversational style, this book will interest not only musicians and scholars but any fan of the Great American Songbook and the singers who brought it to life.
Compiled in cooperation with the Antonin Dvorak Society of Prague, Czechoslovakia, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the composer's birth, this is the first book-length discography on Dvorak. It updates the discography appended to Jarmil Burghauser's Antonin Dvorak Thematic Catalogue (1960). Burghauser, President of the Dvorak Society, explains in a foreword to the present work that, due to the immense proliferation of Dvorak recordings, it was decided not to include a discography in the revised edition of the Thematic Catalogue. Organized similarly to the Catalogue by genres and works, Antonin Dvorak on Records may be used in conjunction with it and, further, will be valuable to musicians, students, collectors, and others primarily interested in the recordings. The discography selects from the many thousands of Dvorak recordings those of excellence and historic significance on LP and CD formats, representing the diversity of the oeuvre. The volume introduction surveys the recording history before the LP revolution. Indexes provide access to the recordings by works and by performers and performing groups.
This is the first book-length study of Shostakovich’s Twenty-Four Preludes and Fugues for piano, Opus 87. Mark Mazullo explains the cultural context in which Shostakovich composed, relates the cycle to piano works (by Bach, Hindemith, and others), and offers individual commentaries on each of the Preludes and Fugues.
Internationally recognized American composer Elliott Cook Carter, Jr. has composed over three dozen substantial pieces, ranging from stage and choral works to ballets, symphonies, and chamber music. Even at age 85, he continues to pioneer trails into new territory in modern American music. Carter has been the recipient of two Guggenheim Fellowships, two Pulitzer Prizes for Music, and numerous other awards and honors. This book contains a listing of all compositions by Carter with detailed information on premiere performances, a complete discography, and annotated citations of Carter's writings and writings about Carter and his music. |
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