New Publications,
New Music Book Publications - 2nd August 2021
Welcome to our latest selection of new music books. Our picks this time round include a history of the piano as explored through the lens of 100 pieces; a guide to the music of Hector Berlioz; a revised version of an examination of the film music of John Williams; an exploration of the role of music in the ancient Greek and Roman worlds; a look at how differing performance venues have helped to shape the history of jazz; a memoir of the singer Amy Winehouse by her childhood friend; and various paperback editions of books on topics as diverse as Prokofiev's operas, the Kanneh-Mason family of musicians, the life and works of Joseph Haydn, the link between opera and scientific thinking in the nineteenth century, and two books by noted musicologist Lawrence Kramer.
This book introduces and surveys the music of Berlioz from the early symphonic masterworks, to the sacred music and concert overtures, and to his mighty five-act opera, Les Troyens. Berlioz's strongly-profiled musical style possesses high rhythmic energy, and manic outbursts that are instantly identifiable as his, and he is widely acknowledged as one of the most innovative and effective orchestrators in history.
Available Format: Book
The Cambridge Haydn Encyclopedia
Caryl Clark & Sarah Day-O'Connell (editors); Cambridge University Press; Paperback
This distinctive and richly illustrated encyclopedia offers a new perspective on Haydn and the many cultural contexts in which he worked and left his indelible mark during the Enlightenment and beyond. Contributions from sixty-seven scholars and performers in Europe, the Americas, and Oceania, capture the vitality of Haydn studies today - its variety of perspectives and methods - and ultimately inspire further exploration of one of Western music's most innovative and influential composers.
Available Format: Book
The Film Music of John Williams: Reviving Hollywood's Classical Style (Revised Edition)
Emilio Audissino; University of Wisconsin Press; Paperback
From the triumphant 'Main Title' of Star Wars to the ominous bass line of Jaws, John Williams has penned some of the most unforgettable film scores. This updated edition takes stock of Williams's creative process and achievements, and discusses his unique approach to writing by examining his Neoclassical style in context, demonstrating how he revived and revised classical Hollywood music.
Available Format: Book
Drawing on a wealth of primary source materials and engaging with recent scholarship in Slavonic studies, this book investigates encounters between Prokofiev's late operas and the aesthetics of socialist realism, contemporary culture, political ideology, and the obstacles of bureaucratic interventions and historical events. This contextual approach is interwoven with critical interpretations of the operas in their original versions.
Available Format: Book
Seven brothers and sisters, all of them classically-trained musicians. Their mother, Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason, opens up about what it takes to raise a musical family in a Britain divided by class and race. What comes out is a memoir of the power of determination, camaraderie and a lot of hard work. The Kanneh-Masons are a remarkable family. But what truly sparkles in this eloquent memoir is the joyous affirmation that children are a gift and we must do all we can to nurture them.
Available Format: Book
Musical Meaning: Toward a Critical History
Lawrence Kramer; University of California Press; Paperback
First published in 2001, this book anticipated many of the musicological topics of today, including race, performance, embodiment, and media. Ranging widely over classical music, jazz, popular music, and film and television music, it uncovers the historical importance of asking about meaning in the lived experience of musical works, styles, and performances. In addition, it explores music itself as a source of understanding via the author's composition, Revenants for piano, revised for this edition.
Available Format: Book
Nineteenth-Century Opera and the Scientific Imagination
David Trippett & Benjamin Walton (editors); Cambridge University Press; Paperback
Scientific thinking has long been linked to music theory and instrument making, yet the profound and often surprising intersections between the sciences and opera during the long nineteenth century are here explored for the first time. Topics include vocal physiology, theories of listening and sensory communication, technologies of theatrical machinery, and discourses of biological degeneration. Taken together, the chapters reveal an intertwined cultural history that extends from backstage hydraulics to drawing-room hypnotism, and from laryngoscopy to theatrical aeronautics.
Available Format: Book
Music and Memory in the Ancient Greek and Roman Worlds
Lauren Curtis & Naomi Weiss (editors); Cambridge University Press; Hardback
In Greek mythology, the Muses are Memory's daughters. Their genealogy suggests a deep connection between music and memory in Graeco-Roman culture, but how was this connection understood and experienced by ancient authors, artists, performers, and audiences? This volume explores music's role in the discourses of cultural memory, communication, and commemoration in ancient Greek and Roman societies.
Available Format: Book
The Hum of the World: A Philosophy of Listening
Lawrence Kramer; University of California Press; Paperback
This book is an invitation to contemplate what would happen if we heard the world as attentively as we see it. Balancing big ideas, playful wit and lyrical prose, it identifies the role of sound in Western experience as the primary medium in which the presence and persistence of life acquires tangible form, roving freely over music, media, language, philosophy, and science from the ancient world to the present, revealing how life is apprehended through sounds ranging from pandemonium to the faint background hum of the world.
Available Format: Book
Jazz Places: How Performance Spaces Shape Jazz History
Kimberly Hannon Teal; University of California Press; Paperback
The social connotation of jazz in American popular culture has shifted dramatically since its emergence in the early twentieth century. Once considered youthful and even rebellious, jazz music is now a firmly established American artistic tradition. As jazz in American life has shifted, so too has the kind of venue in which it is performed. This volume traces the history of jazz performance from private jazz clubs to public, high-art venues often associated with charitable institutions.
Available Format: Book
At the Top of the Stairs: The Story of Leeds Central, Northern Soul and Jazz Funk
Steve Taylor; Grosvenor House Publishing; Paperback
The story of a subterranean club situated in the backstreets of Leeds that changed the lives of all who went there. This book tracks the origin of the Central Dance Club and its transition, from the early mods, through the Northern Soul era to Jazz Funk, and ultimately back again. It captures the unique stories of the DJs and the dancers alike, along with some of the events that have persisted in Soul folklore for decades.
Available Format: Book
James Longstaffe - Head of Retail
