The Sunday Times bestseller and Waterstones Book of the Year, now in paperback Paul McCartney says this is as close as he will get to an autobiography and no wonder his life is in every line of these songs .
**As featured on Barack Obama's Summer 2022 Reading List**Winner of the Gordon Burn PrizeWinner of the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in NonfictionFinalist for the National Book Critics Circle AwardFinalist for the Pen/Diamonstein-Spievogel Award for the Art of the EssayShortlisted for the National Book Award'Gorgeous' - Brit Bennett'Pure genius' - Jacqueline Woodson'One of the most dynamic books I have ever read' - Clint SmithAt the March on Washington, Josephine Baker reflected on her life and her legacy.
Berlioz was one of the towering figures of Romanticism: not only was he a great and revolutionary composer, but also the finest composer of his day and an outstanding critic and writer.
In this eloquent, intimate exploration of the delights and demands of the piano, world-renowned concert pianist and music writer Charles Rosen draws on a lifetime's wisdom to consider every aspect of the instrument: from what makes a beautiful sound to suffering from stage fright, from the physical challenges of playing to tales of great musicians, including Vladimir Horowitz's recording tricks, Rachmaninov's hands and why Artur Rubenstein applied hairspray to the keys.
One of the Spectator's Books of the Year 2012'Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladiesFarewell and adieu to you ladies of SpainFor we've received orders for to sail for old EnglandBut we hope in a short while to see you again'One of the great English popular art forms, the folk song can be painful, satirical, erotic, dramatic, rueful or funny.
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings is firmly established as the world's leading guide to recorded jazz, a mine of fascinating information and a source of insightful - often wittily trenchant - criticism.
FROM THE MILLION-COPY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF ABOUT A BOY 31 Songs is best-selling author Nicky Hornby's ultimate desert island disksThrough thirty-one songs that he either loves or has loved, Nick Hornby tells us what music means to his life.
Join Gervase Phinn in the classroom where he faces his greatest challenge: keeping a straight face as teachers and children alike conspire to have him laughing out loud .
A ';funny, relatable, honest' (Mindy Kaling, actress and New York Times bestselling author) essay collection about navigating a career change in Hollywood, rediscovering your identity, and overcoming the relatable messiness that ensues from unforeseen circumstances.
Never before published in Kerouac's lifetime, this 1955 biography of the founder of Buddhism is a clear and powerful study of Siddartha Gautama's life and works.
George Orwell's searing account of working-class life in the bleak industrial heartlands of Yorkshire and Lancashire in the 1930s, The Road to Wigan Pier is a brilliant and bitter polemic that has lost none of its political impact over timeOrwell's graphically unforgettable descriptions of social injustice, cramped slum housing, dangerous mining conditions, squalor, hunger and growing unemployment are written with unblinking honesty, fury and great humanity.
The complete collection of Nick Cave lyrics spanning his entire career, from 1978 until 2013, revised and updated by the cult rock star'He is an Australian artist like Sidney Nolan is an Australian artist - beyond comparison, beyond genre, beyond dispute' - from Nick Cave's induction into the Australian Hall of FameThis complete collection of Nick Cave's lyrics spans his entire career, from his writing for The Birthday Party through the highly acclaimed Murder Ballads and The Boatman's Call to recent work with Grinderman and his 2013 album, Push the Sky Away.
David Cairns weaves a brilliantly engaging narrative which puts Mozart s operas in the context of his life, showing how they illuminate his creativity as a whole.
A rare look at the life and music of renowned Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-KorsakovDuring his lifetime, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) was a composer whose work had great influence not only in his native Russia but also internationally.
Growing up in poor circumstances in the midlands town of Mullingar might seem an unlikely start for a musical superstar, but that's exactly the journey Joe Dolan travelled in his amazing life.
Gilbert and Sullivan s operas are some of the world s best-loved musical works, delighting audiences with their joyous wit, topsy-turvy logic and extravagant wordplay.
INDEPENDENT BOOKS OF THE YEARThis completely new edition of the Penguin Guide reviews the 1000 best classical albums issued and reissued over the past five decades, many of which dominate the catalogue because of their sheer excellence, irrespective of recording dates.
A new look at the life, times, and music of Polish composer and piano virtuoso Fryderyk ChopinFryderyk Chopin (1810-49), although the most beloved of piano composers, remains a contradictory figure, an artist of virtually universal appeal who preferred the company of only a few sympathetic friends and listeners.
Derived from the colorful traditions of vaudeville, burlesque, revue, and operetta, the musical has blossomed into America's most popular form of theater.
A wide-ranging look at the interplay of opera and political ideas through the centuriesThe Politics of Opera takes readers on a fascinating journey into the entwined development of opera and politics, from the Renaissance through the turn of the nineteenth century.
Since its first publication in 1990, Brahms and His World has become a key text for listeners, performers, and scholars interested in the life, work, and times of one of the nineteenth century's most celebrated composers.
