From Palace to Power: an IIlustrated history of Whitehall is the 400-year story -- in contemporary pictures, maps and photographs, as well as letters and diaries -- of the historical transformation of The Street' recognised throughout the world as a symbol of Government. The illustrations have been gathered from diverse sources: some hang as oil paintings in the corridors of power, known only to the privileged who occupy these offices. Others have been gleaned from contemporary journals, old sepia prints and postcards from the early days of the camera. Extended captions to the 120 illustrations, the 8-page coloured plate section, map endpapers -- as well as a select bibliography, chronology, list of statues in Whitehall, and index -- make this book easy to read and follow for the historian and the browser. In this new work, which has taken five years to research, Susan Foreman has created a vivid image of how the most pre-eminent street in Britain has changed, and how the political fortunes of its dramatis personae have left their mark.

A picture of a highly creative music critic, notable for his humane commentary, as well as his promotion of contemporary French and British music. The music critic Felix Aprahamian (1914-2005) was a remarkable self-made man whose enormous influence in musical circles was deeply founded in his practical experience of promoting music in London, notably British and French composers. Early on he became interested in the organ and was soon corresponding with the leading French names of the day - André Marchal, Charles Tournemire, Maurice Duruflé and the young Olivier Messiaen. In 1933, the nineteen-year-old Aprahamian visited Frederick Delius in France, and while in Paris, met the aged Charles-Marie Widor. The surviving diaries, published here complete for the first time, document these events in detail. During the Second World War he acted as concert director of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, was the guiding spirit behind the influential Concerts de Musique Française and became assistant to Sir Thomas Beecham. After the liberation of Paris, a wide circle of outstanding French musicians and composers including Francis Poulenc, Messiaen, Pierre Bernac and Pierre Fournier became personal friends. Aprahamian made his name as music critic on The Sunday Times, where from 1948to 1989 he was required reading. He helped numerous young musicians to develop their careers and was associated with many musical organizations, notably the Delius Trust and Society. Prefaced by an illuminating biography, this collection sheds new light on Aprahamian's life and work. His diaries and BBC broadcasts uniquely illuminate London concert life from the 1930s to the 1960s, while his articles on many composers and musicians - nearly all friends and colleagues - testify to his promotion of French and British music. Examples of his record and concert reviews are included, and the book evokes the almost vanished world of a music criticism both humane and strict, paying tribute to music's spontaneous and absolute qualities. It will be of interest to anyone following London concert life in the twentieth century; British and French music; writing about Debussy, Poulenc, Messaien and, in particular,Delius; as well as organ music. LEWIS FOREMAN is a writer on British music and the editor of The John Ireland Companion (The Boydell Press, 2011) and author of Bax: A Composer and His Times. SUSAN FOREMAN is author of various books on Whitehall and, together with Lewis Foreman, London. A Musical Gazetteer (2005).

The essential companion to musical London This compact and convenient guide to music in London features the sites where music has flourished and where leading musicians have lived or performed in the city-from Handel's house to Berlioz's rooms, from cathedrals and churches to recording studios and concert halls. It provides historical information on auditoriums and opera houses, theatres, conservatories, museums, libraries, galleries, graves, memorials and statues, orchestras, music publishers, auction houses, and places of musical interest in the greater London area. The book includes biographical accounts of some 125 composers and musicians who inhabited or visited London. The book offers interesting musical walks, a historical overview, and the most thorough account yet published of musical compositions evoking London. Boxes within the text present information on such topics as the music Wagner conducted in London in 1855, the organists and choirmasters of the cathedrals, and Gershwin's recording sessions. With maps, bibliography, web addresses, information on transport and access, and an extensive index, this unique compilation is enhanced with many striking illustrations.