Presto Music Classical Podcast,
A Life in Notes - The Art of Music Biography
The relationship between musicians' lives and the music they create is one the most discussed and debated aspects of music, and examinations of the lives of great musicians are almost as old as their music itself. Three authors who produced highly praised music biographies in 2020 were Philip Clark, on the jazz great Dave Brubeck, Oliver Craske on the Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar, and Oliver Soden on the British composer Michael Tippett. On this week's show I was delighted to welcome all three for a round table discussion on the art of the music biography.
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In 2003, music journalist Philip Clark was granted unparalleled access to jazz legend Dave Brubeck. Over the course of ten days, he shadowed the Dave Brubeck Quartet during their extended British tour, recording an epic interview with the bandleader. Structured around this extended interview and intensive new research, this book, now available in paperback, unearths many hitherto unknown aspects of Brubeck's career.
Available Format: Book
For this first biography of Ravi Shankar, now available in paperback, Oliver Craske carried out more than 130 new interviews and enjoyed unprecedented access to the Shankar family archives. The book paints a vivid picture of the public and private faces of a captivating, restless workaholic who lived an intense and extraordinary life across ninety-two years. Throughout, this biography seeks to answer the question of what impelled Ravi Shankar on an unending creative and emotional quest.
Available Format: Book
The music of British composer Michael Tippett is among the most visionary of the twentieth century. His first biography is now available in paperback. Oliver Soden weaves a century-spanning narrative of epic scope and penetrating insight, resulting in a landmark in the study of twentieth-century culture, simultaneously an astonishing feat of scholarship and a story as enthralling as in any great novel.
Available Format: Book
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