New Publications,
New Music Book Publications - 15th April 2019
Welcome to our latest selection of new music books. Our picks this time round include biographies of composers such as Michael Tippett, Paul Dukas, Debussy, and Duruflé; discussions of the relationship between music, consciousness and emotions; an account of the life of pop icon Paul Simon; an examination of musical theatre in the context of issues of race, culture, and identity; and the official, comprehensive guide to this year's BBC Proms festival with full listings of every concert.
Classical Composers
Now available in paperback, Stephen Walsh's thought-provoking biography, told partly through the events of Debussy's life, and partly through a critical discussion of his works, addresses issues of modernism in the music of one of the most influential composers of the early twentieth century.
Available Format: Book
Despite a relatively modest quantity of published scores (including The Sorcerer's Apprentice and the opera Ariane et Barbe-Bleue), Paul Dukas was regarded as a major figure in fin de siècle French music. This book is the first full-length Anglophone study of Dukas, investigating his inter-related identities as composer and critic, and seeking to explain his broad aesthetic motivations and artistic agenda.
Available Format: Book
The most comprehensive biography in any language of the great French organist and composer, Maurice Duruflé, is now available in paperback. Drawing on the accounts of those who knew the composer personally, this book offers a broad sketch of this modest and elusive man, widely recognised today for having created some of the greatest works in the organ repertoire as well as the masterful Requiem.
Available Format: Book
Reference Books & Aesthetics
Musical Emotions Explained: Unlocking the Secrets of Musical Affect
Patrik Juslin; Oxford University Press
This book explores how music expresses and arouses emotions, and how it becomes an object of aesthetic judgments. The author demonstrates how psychological mechanisms from our ancient past engage with meanings in music at multiple levels of the brain to evoke a broad variety of affective states - from startle responses to profound aesthetic emotions.
Available Format: Book
Music and Consciousness 2: Worlds, Practices, Modalities
Ruth Herbert, David Clarke, Eric Clarke (editors); Oxford University Press
This volume argues that music can provide a valuable route to understanding consciousness. It covers topics as wide-ranging as cognitive psychology, neuroscience, psychoanalysis, philosophy and phenomenology, aesthetics, sociology, ethnography, and performance studies, discussing musical styles from classic to rock, trance to Daoism, jazz to tabla, and deep listening to free improvisation.
Available Format: Book
Singing & Musical Theatre
The Oxford Handbook of Singing
David Howard, Graham Welch, John Nix (editors); Oxford University Press
Singing has been a characteristic behaviour of humanity across several millennia. Including fifty-three chapters by seventy-two authors, drawn from across the world, The Oxford Handbook of Singing is a landmark text on this topic. It is a comprehensive resource that is essential for anyone who wishes to know more about the nature of singing.
Available Format: Book
This critical collection of essays offers an overview of the musical in relation to issues of race, culture and identity. The chapters offer fresh perspectives on musical theatre history, calling for a radical and inclusive new approach. By questioning ideas about what the musical is about and whom it for, this groundbreaking book retells the story of the musical, prioritising previously neglected voices to reshape our understanding of the form.
Available Format: Book
Rock & Pop Artists
Hits such as The Sound of Silence, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Still Crazy After All These Years, and Graceland have established Paul Simon as one of the most beloved songwriters in American pop music history. This revealing account of the challenges and sacrifices of artistry covers all aspects of this American icon, from dominating the charts with Art Garfunkel and a successful reinvention as a solo artist, to his multiple marriages and highly-publicised second divorce from Carrie Fisher.
Available Format: Book
A book of quotations by and about the band that revolutionised popular music the world over. From insightful quotations by fellow artists and friends, to words of wit and wisdom from John, Paul, George and Ringo themselves, you'll find more than 170 amusing and inspiring soundbites inside.
Available Format: Book
This collection of bite-sized quips helps capture exactly what has made the band so legendary across more than fifty years in the spotlight. Including more than 170 quotations by fellow artists, collaborators and friends, to words of wit and wisdom from Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and the rest of the band.
Available Format: Book
This official book contains superb photographs of Freddie Mercury in all aspects of his life, including some from the private collections of his parents, from Brian May, as well as many contemporary photographers. This lavishly-illustrated book celebrates Freddie's life, lovingly and painstakingly recounted in pictures and insightful text.
Available Format: Book
A history of the boy band from The Beatles to One Direction, placing the modern male pop group within the wider context of twentieth- and twenty-first century popular music and culture. Offering the first extended look at pop masculinity as exhibited by boy bands, this volume links evolving expressions of gender and sexuality to wider economic and social changes that have resulted in new ways of representing what it is to be a man.
Available Format: Book
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