Music reviews and criticism

The orchestra has tuned, the lights in the hall have dimmed, and the conductor's baton signals the downbeat for the beginning of the romance.

Between present and past, visible and invisible, and sensation and idea, there is resonance-so philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty argued and so Jessica Wiskus explores in The Rhythm of Thought.

An authoritative guide to Arvo Pärt, this Companion provides a rounded picture of the man and his music.

Without any formal training in music composition, Irving Berlin took a knack for music and turned it into the most successful songwriting career in American history.

Centered on the musical experiences of homosexual men in St.

Richly ethnographic and a compelling read, After the Dance, the Drums Are Heavy is a study of carnival, politics, and the musical engagement of ordinary citizens and celebrity musicians in contemporary Haiti.

In this book, Robert L.

The universally acclaimed and award-winning Oxford History of Western Music is the eminent musicologist Richard Taruskin's provocative, erudite telling of the story of Western music from its earliest days to the present.

Combining musical insight with the most recent research, William Kinderman's Beethoven is both a richly drawn portrait of the man and a guide to his music.

In The History of Music Production, Richard James Burgess draws on his experience as a producer, musician, and author.

Before the nineteenth century, instrumental music was considered inferior to vocal music.

Even before the Beatnik Riots of 1961, New York City's Greenwich Village was the epicenter of revolutionary movements in American music and culture.

At the height of Tim Maia's soaring fame, he joined a radical, extraterrestrial-obsessed cult and created two plus albums of some of Brazil's-and the globe's-best funk and soul music.

Keith Jarrett ranks among the most accomplished and influential pianists in jazz history.

If writing about music is like dancing about architecture, you'd do best to hone your chops and avoid cliches (like the one that begins this sentence) by learning from the prime movers.

In The Sound of Nonsense, Richard Elliott highlights the importance of sound in understanding the 'nonsense' of writers such as Lewis Carroll, Edward Lear, James Joyce and Mervyn Peake, before connecting this noisy writing to works which engage more directly with sound, including sound poetry, experimental music and pop.

In this unique and hybrid book, cultural and music historian Michael P.

Venetian music print culture of the mid-sixteenth century is presented here through a study of the Scotto press, one of the foremost dynastic music publishers of the Renaissance.

Drawing on a passion for music, a remarkably diverse interdisciplinary toolbox, and a gift for accessible language that speaks equally to scholars and the general public, Jann Pasler invites us to read as she writes "e;through"e; music, unveiling the forces that affect our sonic encounters.

As a noted composer and critic, Paul Dukas was a major figure in fin-de-siecle and early twentieth-century French music.

Do you know your power ballads from your punk anthems?

Robert Schumann is one of the most intriguing-and enigmatic-composers of the nineteenth century.

That Johann Sebastian Bach is a pivotal figure in the history of Western music is hardly news, and the magnitude of his achievement is so immense that it can be difficult to grasp.

This collection situates the North-East within a developing nationwide account of British musical culture.

This title is part of UC Presss Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact.

As one of the foremost composers, conductors, and pianists of the nineteenth century, Felix Mendelssohn played a fundamental role in the shaping of modern musical tastes through his contributions to the early music revival and the formation of the Austro-German musical canon.

The formative early ballets of West Side Story creators Leonard Bernstein and Jerome Robbins explored in detail for the very first time.

A thematically organised overview of the musical, social and cultural contexts for the multi-faceted career of this pivotal British composer.

The intriguing cultural history of the piano in AustraliaFrom the instruments that floated ashore at Sydney Cove in the late eighteenth century to the resurrection of derelict heirlooms in the streets of twenty-first-century Melbourne, A Coveted Possession tells the curious story of Australia s intimate and intrepid relationship with the piano.

Examines the decline and resurgence of Haydn's reputation in an effort to better understand the forces that shape critical reception on a broad scale.

One of Europe's foremost experts on early guitar music explores this little known but richly rewarding repertoire.

“Rock readers from Ohio and beyond will enjoy this quick and informative read” covering bands from the Breeders to the Black Keys and more (Library Journal).

From their humble beginnings as friends in high school, to playing strip clubs in nothing but well-placed socks, through a struggle to find the right guitarist, to the present day, Red Hot Chili Peppers FAQ chronicles the adventures of the best-selling alternative rock band of all time.

Frank Zappa was an unremitting musical innovator and experimenter, always looking for ways to exploit the latest advances in technology.

Over three decades, Paul Griffiths's survey has remained the definitive study of music since the Second World War; this fully revised and updated edition re-establishes Modern Music and After as the preeminent introduction to the music of our time.

Applied studies scholarship has triggered a not-so-quiet revolution in the discipline of ethnomusicology.

PROSE Award for Excellence in Music and the Performing Arts Finalist 2020Music videos promote popular artists in cultural forms that circulate widely across social media networks.

Most die-hard Brazilian music fans would argue that Getz/Gilberto, the iconic 1964 album featuring "e;The Girl from Ipanema,"e; is not the best bossa nova record.

Studies of concert life in nineteenth-century America have generally been limited to large orchestras and the programs we are familiar with today.

In this special seasonal edition, bestselling author Robert J.

Daniel Albright investigates musical phenomena through the lens of monism, the philosophical belief that things that appear to be two are actually one.

The one-hit wonder has a long and storied history in popular music, exhorting listeners to dance, to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony, to ponder mortality, to get a job, to bask in the sunshine, or just to get up and dance again.

Shortly after Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's death, his widow Constanze sent a manuscript copy of one of his most beloved operas, Die Zauberflote, to the court of the Elector of Cologne.

MTV utterly changed the movies.

Mad Dogs and Englishness connects English popular music with questions about English national identities, featuring essays that range across Bowie and Burial, PJ Harvey, Bishi and Tricky.

How did the Victorians engage with the ancient world?

A fresh look at Stravinsky''s musical style, from a variety of analytical, critical and aesthetic angles.

Film has shaped modern society in part by changing its cultures of memory.

A radical reappraisal of the left-wing politics at the heart of nineteenth-century German music and culture, first published in 2010.