New Publications,
New Music Book Publications - 7th August 2023
Welcome to our latest selection of new music publications, including books on the life and music of Schubert, Vaughan Williams, Silvestre Revueltas, and Elizabeth Maconchy, a guide for composers on writing for the pipe organ, books for young children on the trumpet, percussion, and the history of music from around the world, a collection of interviews with artists connected with the Royal Academy of Music in London, and an exploration of experiences of synchrony and temporal flow in music and dance.
This major new biography takes a detailed look into Schubert’s life, from his early years at the Austrian Stadtkonvikt to the harrowing battle with syphilis that led to his death at the age of thirty-one. Drawing on extensive archival research in Vienna and the Czech Republic, and reconsidering the meaning of some of his best-known works, it provides a fuller account than ever before of Schubert’s extraordinary achievement and incredible courage.
Available Format: Book
Vaughan Williams and His World
Byron Adams & Daniel M. Grimley (editors); University of Chicago Press; Paperback
Vaughan Williams was one of the most innovative figures in twentieth-century music. This book traces his stylistic and aesthetic development in a broadly chronological fashion, reappraising his music composed during and after the Second World War and affirming his status as an artist whose leftist political convictions pervaded his life and music. It also reclaims his deeply-held progressive ethical and democratic convictions.
Available Format: Book
With access to a wealth of documentation previously unavailable, this book explores the life and music of British-born Irish composer Elizabeth Maconchy within a consideration of the social and political context of the world in which she lived. It also discusses her foray into administration and her advocacy of young composers through her work as the first woman to be elected Chairman of the Composers' Guild of Great Britain in 1959.
Available Format: Book
Silvestre Revueltas: Sounds of a Political Passion
Roberto Kolb-Neuhaus; Oxford University Press; Hardback
Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas has been portrayed as a nationalist artist both at home and beyond Mexico's borders. This book shows how Revueltas, strongly inspired by the Mexican and Russian Revolutions, sought ways to sound the voice of the commoners wandering the Mexican streets, as well as that of gypsy miners in Spain, Black women in the U.S. South, and slaves in Cuba in colonial times.
Available Format: Book
The organ is one of the oldest instruments in Western music. However, orchestration textbooks tend to mention it only in passing, with little practical advice for a composer. This book offers a guide on how to write idiomatically for the instrument. It provides advice not only on notation but also the full resources of the modern organ, including chapters on registration, writing for manuals and pedals, and using the organ in ensembles. Musical examples are quoted from across the repertoire, with a particular focus on contemporary composers.
Available Format: Book
Created in partnership with the London Symphony Orchestra, this book enables readers to follow trumpet player, Pete, on his musical journey, as he plays in the school orchestra, at music college and in the recording studio. Discover how the trumpet is played, the different genres of music it creates and its role within the orchestra. Listen along and feel swept away by a lively orchestral performance at the end of the book.
Available Format: Book
Also in the series is this volume bringing to life all that is wonderful about drums and percussion. Meet Annie and join her as she introduces her friend Marco to all the different orchestral percussion instruments. Discover how drums and percussion are made, how they are played and their role within the orchestra. With panels that offer suggestions for music to listen to, this is a multi-sensory experience in which to enjoy and learn about drums and percussion.
Available Format: Book
Discover the power of music and be inspired by cultures from all over the world with this extensive guide, offering the perfect introduction for young readers to music from every continent. Children aged 9+ can find out how instruments are made and played, and learn about the fascinating lives and achievements of great composers and musicians, from Bach to Bowie, Björk and Beyoncé.
Available Format: Book
Speaking Musically: Great Artists in Conversation at the Royal Academy of Music
Raymond Holden (editor); Royal Academy of Music Press; Hardback
For 200 years, the Royal Academy of Music has been training generations of music makers from all over the world. Between 2009 and 2018, they hosted forty interviews with eminent musical figures including Neville Marriner, Charles Mackerras, Colin Davis, Trevor Pinnock, Kiri Te Kanawa, Steven Isserlis, Christian Thielemann, and many more. Each interview offers insights into the changing professional and artistic worlds of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, as well as serving as a valuable collection of exceptional life stories.
Available Format: Book
Performing Time: Synchrony and Temporal Flow in Music and Dance
Clemens Wöllner & Justin London (editors); Oxford University Press; Hardback
Music and dance can change our sense of time. Both rely on synchronising our attention and actions with sounds and with other people, both involve memory and expectation, and both can give rise to experiences of flow and pleasure. This book explores our experience of time in dance and music, from the perspectives of performers and audiences, and informed by the most recent research in dance science, musicology, neuroscience, and psychology.
Available Format: Book
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