Music reviews and criticism

When Hank Williams died on New Year's Day 1953 at the age of twenty-nine, his passing appeared to bring an abrupt end to a saga of rags-to-riches success and anguished self-destruction.

When Hank Williams died on New Year's Day 1953 at the age of twenty-nine, his passing appeared to bring an abrupt end to a saga of rags-to-riches success and anguished self-destruction.

What is music, and why does it move us?

Andy Kirk's Clouds of Joy came from Kansas City to find nationwide fame in the later 1930s.

Sounding Authentic considers the intersecting influences of nationalism, modernism, and technological innovation on representations of ethnic and national identities in twentieth-century art music.

Leonard Bernstein was arguably the most highly esteemed, influential, and charismatic American classical music personality of the twentieth century.

The power of music, the way it works on the mind and heart, remains an enticing mystery.

The birth of rock 'n roll ignited a firestorm of controversy--one critic called it "e;musical riots put to a switchblade beat"e;--but if it generated much sound and fury, what, if anything, did it signify?

This volume examines the powerful ways in which identity can be shaped by rock music.

Renowned today as a prominent African-American in Music Theater and the Arts community, composer, conductor, and violinist Will Marion Cook was a key figure in the development of American music from the 1890s to the 1920s.

Michael Steinberg's 1996 volume The Symphony: A Reader's Guide received glowing reviews across America.

Have records, compact discs, and other sound reproduction equipment merely provided American listeners with pleasant diversions, or have more important historical and cultural influences flowed through them?

Music and queerness interact in many different ways.

Sebastien Erard's (1752-1831) inventions have had an enormous impact on instruments and musical life and are still at the foundation of piano building today.

Sebastien Erard's (1752-1831) inventions have had an enormous impact on instruments and musical life and are still at the foundation of piano building today.

Artists today are at a crossroads.

On September 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh read out the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence over a makeshift wired loudspeaker system to thousands of listeners in Hanoi.

On September 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh read out the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence over a makeshift wired loudspeaker system to thousands of listeners in Hanoi.

In recent years, a psychological perspective has gained increasing acceptance in the education provided to musicians: teachers, performers, and "e;creatives"e; alike.

In recent years, a psychological perspective has gained increasing acceptance in the education provided to musicians: teachers, performers, and "e;creatives"e; alike.

Sonic Overload offers a new, music-centered cultural history of the late Soviet Union.

Sonic Overload offers a new, music-centered cultural history of the late Soviet Union.

For decades, ethnomusicologists across the world have considered how to affect positive change for the communities they work with.

For decades, ethnomusicologists across the world have considered how to affect positive change for the communities they work with.

Vividly recreating the unique pleasure of experiencing a song-and-dance show, Broadway Babies spotlights the men and women who made a difference in the development of American musical comedy.

New York City witnessed a dazzling burst of creativity in the 1920s.

Over the last dozen years, the writings of Richard Taruskin have transformed the debate about "e;early music"e; and "e;authenticity.

How did Renaissance composers write their music?

The motet was unquestionably one of the most important vocal genres from its inception in late twelfth-century Paris through the Counter-Reformation and beyond.

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.

Burt Korall is widely recognized as the most authoritative writer on jazz drumming.

This study of the French early music revival gives us a vivid sense of how music's cultural meanings were contested in the nineteenth century.

Servanthood of Song is a history of American church music from the colonial era to the present.

Using a replica of Beethoven's Erard piano, scholar and performer Tom Beghin launches a striking reinterpretation of a key period of Beethoven's work.

The story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's precocity is so familiar as to be taken for granted.

Nowadays we listen to music whenever and wherever we like.

Nowadays we listen to music whenever and wherever we like.

What does it mean to have an emotional response to poetry and music?

Feminism has always been a complex and controversial topic, as female rock musicians know especially well.

"e;Essential reading, plain and simple.

In a stretch of just seven years, the Beatles recorded hundreds of songs which tower above those of their worthy peers as both the product of cultural leadership and an artistic reflection of their turbulent age, the1960s.

Andy Kirk's Clouds of Joy came from Kansas City to find nationwide fame in the later 1930s.

Music represents one of humanity's most vivid contemplations on the nature of time itself.

Music represents one of humanity's most vivid contemplations on the nature of time itself.

Described by music critic Alex Ross as "e;the most original musical thinker of our time"e; and having received innumerable accolades in a career spanning over fifty years, composer Steve Reich is considered by many to be America's greatest contemporary composer.

A monumental study of musical practices in 18th century Santiago de Chile, and the only English-language monograph about Chilean colonial music, A Sweet Penance of Music offers a comprehensive view of musicians within the city and their links with other Latin American urban centers in the wider colonial system.

A monumental study of musical practices in 18th century Santiago de Chile, and the only English-language monograph about Chilean colonial music, A Sweet Penance of Music offers a comprehensive view of musicians within the city and their links with other Latin American urban centers in the wider colonial system.

As the sound-producing mechanism for the bassoon, the reed is a vital component in the sound of the entire instrument.

As the sound-producing mechanism for the bassoon, the reed is a vital component in the sound of the entire instrument.

A new and groundbreaking approach to the history of grand opera, Grand Illusion: Phantasmagoria in Nineteenth-Century Opera explores the illusion and illumination behind the form's rise to cultural eminence.