Random House New Releases - Music - Appreciation

Musical Motley by Ernest Newman

2013-04-10T00:30:00-05:00

Musical Motley
Written by Ernest Newman

eBook | Knopf | Fiction - Literary; Music - Appreciation; Music - History & Criticism | $18.99 | 978-0-307-83080-7 (0-307-83080-2)

The Essential Classical Recordings by Rick Phillips

2012-12-18T00:30:00-05:00

The Essential Classical Recordings 100 CDs for Today's Listener
Written by Rick Phillips

eBook | McClelland & Stewart | Music; Music - Appreciation; Music - Classical | $12.99 | 978-1-55199-521-2 (1-55199-521-2)

Most guides to classical recordings on CD comprise thousands of brief listings. In their attempt to be comprehensive, they end up being heavy and intimidating. Phillips knows better. He sticks to what he considers to be the 101 essential CDs, and tells readers not only why each one is the best recording in his opinion, but also why this piece of music belongs in their collection and where thecomposer fits into the evolution of classical music. Read consecutively, the recommendations — from medieval Gregorian chant to Arvo Pärt’s Fratres, written in 1977 — form a dazzling and concise history of classical music.

Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart are here, of course, along with other beloved but lesser-known composers, such as Josquin Desprez, Anton Bruckner, and Gabriel Fauré. And popular pieces, such as Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, Handel’s The Water Music, and Elgar’s Enigma Variations, are complemented by such less-familiar but outstanding compositions as the Turangalila Symphony by Olivier Messiaen.

Connoisseurs and die-hard listeners to “Sound Advice” will appreciate having Phillips’s recommendations of specific recordings (and their catalogue numbers) between two covers at long last. And those who are just starting to explore the rich world of classical music will soon discover that Phillips is a guide they can trust.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

The Listening Book by W. A. Mathieu

2011-11-15T00:30:00-05:00

The Listening Book Discovering Your Own Music
Written by W. A. Mathieu

Trade Paperback, 192 pages | Shambhala | Music - Appreciation | $17.95 | 978-1-59030-831-8 (1-59030-831-X)

The Listening Book is about rediscovering the power of listening as an instrument of self-discovery and personal transformation. By exploring our capacity for listening to sounds and for making music, we can awaken and release our full creative powers. Mathieu offers suggestions and encouragement on many aspects of music-making, and provides playful exercises to help readers appreciate the connection between sound, music, and everyday life.

Why Mahler? by Norman Lebrecht

2011-11-01T00:30:00-05:00

Why Mahler? How One Man and Ten Symphonies Changed Our World
Written by Norman Lebrecht

Trade Paperback, 336 pages | Anchor | Music - Classical; Music - Appreciation; Biography & Autobiography - Composers & Musicians | $16.00 | 978-1-4000-9657-2 (1-4000-9657-X)

Why Mahler? Why does his music affect us in the way it does?

Norman Lebrecht, one of the world’s most widely read cultural commentators, has been wrestling obsessively with Mahler for half his life. Following Mahler’s every footstep from birthplace to grave, scrutinizing his manuscripts, talking to those who knew him, Lebrecht constructs a compelling new portrait of Mahler as a man who lived determinedly outside his own times. Mahler was—along with Picasso, Einstein, Freud, Kafka, and Joyce—a maker of our modern world. Why Mahler? is a book that shows how music can change our lives.

Bridge of Waves by W. A. Mathieu

2010-12-14T00:30:00-05:00

Bridge of Waves What Music Is and How Listening to It Changes the World
Written by W. A. Mathieu

Trade Paperback, 240 pages | Shambhala | Music - Appreciation | $18.95 | 978-1-59030-732-8 (1-59030-732-1)

Music is, in one sense, merely a series of fleeting vibrations that arise and subside. How could it be that something so insubstantial fills us, and calms us, and makes us weep? Because, says W. A. Mathieu, music bridges mind and heart, self and other, and affirms our place in the world. Everyone uses the bridge of music, from casual listeners to devoted professionals. Mathieu's delightful and trenchant prose asks you to question what music is, how it works, and how to understand its value in your life, in the life of your community, and in the evolution of the cosmos.

Moving to Higher Ground by Geoffrey Ward

2009-09-08T00:30:00-05:00

Moving to Higher Ground How Jazz Can Change Your Life
Written by Wynton Marsalis and Geoffrey Ward

Trade Paperback, 208 pages | Random House Trade Paperbacks | Music - Jazz; Biography & Autobiography - Composers & Musicians; Music - Appreciation | $16.00 | 978-0-8129-6908-5 (0-8129-6908-1)

In this beautiful book, Pulitzer Prize—winning musician and composer Wynton Marsalis draws upon lessons he’s learned from a lifetime in jazz–lessons that can help us all move to higher ground. With wit and candor he demystifies the music that is the birthright of every American and demonstrates how a real understanding of the central idea of jazz–the unique balance between self-expression and sacrifice for the common good exemplified on the bandstand–can enrich every aspect of our lives, from the bedroom to the boardroom, from the schoolroom to City Hall. Along the way, Marsalis helps us understand the life-changing message of the blues, reveals secrets about playing–and listening–and passes on wisdom he has gleaned from working with three generations of great musicians. Illuminating and inspiring, Moving to Higher Ground is a master class on jazz and life, conducted by a brilliant American artist.

To a Young Jazz Musician by Selwyn Seyfu Hinds

2009-03-12T00:30:00-05:00

To a Young Jazz Musician Letters from the Road
Written by Wynton Marsalis and Selwyn Seyfu Hinds

eBook, 144 pages | Random House Trade Paperbacks | Music - Jazz; Biography & Autobiography - Composers & Musicians; Music - Appreciation | $11.99 | 978-0-307-49831-1 (0-307-49831-X)

In To a Young Jazz Musician, the renowned jazz musician and Pulitzer Prize—winning composer Wynton Marsalis gives us an invaluable guide to making good music–and to leading a good life.
Writing from the road “between the bus ride, the sound check, and the gig,”

Marsalis passes on wisdom gained from experience, addressed to a young musician coming up–and to any of us at any stage of life. He writes that having humility is a way to continue to grow, to listen, and to learn; that patience is necessary for developing both technical proficiency and your own art rather than an imitation of someone else’s; and that rules are indispensable because “freedom lives in structure.”

He offers lessons learned from his years as a performer and from his great forebears Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, and others; he explores the art of swing; he discusses why it is important to run toward your issues, not away; and he talks about what to do when your integrity runs up against the lack thereof in others and in our culture. He poetically expresses our need for healers: “All of it tracks back to how you heal your culture, one patient at a time, beginning with yourself.”

This is a unique book, in which a great artist offers his personal thoughts, both on jazz and on how to live a better, more original, productive, and meaningful life. To a Young Jazz Musician is sure to be treasured by readers young and old, musicians, lovers of music, and anyone interested in being mentored by one of America’s most influential, generous, and talented artists.

From the Hardcover edition.

The Essential Jazz Recordings by Ross Porter

2008-11-19T00:30:00-05:00

The Essential Jazz Recordings 101 CDs
Written by Ross Porter

eBook | McClelland & Stewart | Music; Music - Appreciation; Music - Jazz | $12.99 | 978-1-55199-247-1 (1-55199-247-7)

A guide to the all-time must-have jazz recordings by a maven of the genre.

Possibly the twentieth century’s greatest musical innovation, jazz is now more popular than it has been for the past fifty years. But with the plethora of new recordings and the phenomenon in jazz of the same standards being recorded seemingly by almost every artist and band or trio, it’s very hard to know where to start or to improve a CD collection.

The Essential Jazz Recordings provides a trustworthy, concise guide, heavily skewed to Porter’s personal favourites and showcasing Canadian talent where it’s merited. With background information on the music, the artist, and the recording, Porter explains the unique merits of each recording, from Louis Armstrong to Wynton Marsalis, Billie Holiday to Diana Krall. With this guide, dedicated jazz aficionados can ensure a complete collection and novices can expand their knowledge. Both will hugely enjoy the musical riches in The Essential Jazz Recordings.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Moving to Higher Ground by Geoffrey Ward

2008-09-02T00:30:00-05:00

Moving to Higher Ground How Jazz Can Change Your Life
Written by Wynton Marsalis and Geoffrey Ward

eBook | Random House | Music - Jazz; Biography & Autobiography - Composers & Musicians; Music - Appreciation | $13.99 | 978-1-58836-811-9 (1-58836-811-4)

“In this book I hope to reach a new audience with the positive message of America’s greatest music, to show how great musicians demonstrate on the bandstand a mutual respect and trust that can alter your outlook on the world and enrich every aspect of your life–from individual creativity and personal relationships to conducting business and understanding what it means to be American in the most modern sense.”
–Wynton Marsalis

In this beautiful book, the Pulitzer Prize-winning musician and composer Wynton Marsalis explores jazz and how an understanding of it can lead to deeper, more original ways of being, living, and relating–for individuals, communities, and nations. Marsalis shows us how to listen to jazz, and through stories about his life and the lessons he has learned from other music greats, he reveals how the central ideas in jazz can influence the way people think and even how they behave with others, changing self, family, and community for the better. At the heart of jazz is the expression of personality and individuality, coupled with an ability to listen to and improvise with others. Jazz as an art–and as a way to move people and nations to higher ground–is at the core of this unique, illuminating, and inspiring book, a master class on jazz and life by a brilliant American artist.

Advance praise for Moving to Higher Ground

“An absolute joy to read. Intimate, knowledgeable, supremely worthy of its subject. In addition to demolishing mediocre, uniformed critics, Moving to Higher Ground is a meaningful contribution to music scholarship.”
–Toni Morrison

“I think it should be in every bookstore, music store, and school in the country.”
–Tony Bennett

“Jazz, for Wynton Marsalis, is nothing less than a search for wisdom. He thinks as forcefully, and as elegantly, as he swings. When he reflects on improvisation, his subject is freedom. When he reflects on harmony, his subject is diversity and conflict and peace. When he reflects on the blues, his subject is sorrow and the mastery of it–how to be happy without being blind. There is philosophy in Marsalis’s trumpet, and in this book. Here is the lucid and probing voice of an uncommonly soulful man.”
–Leon Wieseltier, literary editor, The New Republic

“Wynton Marsalis is absolutely the person who should write this book. Here he is, as young as morning, as fresh as dew, and already called one of the jazz greats. He is not only a seer and an exemplary musician, but a poet as well. He informs us that jazz was created, among other things, to expose the hypocrisy and absurdity of racism and other ignorances in our country. Poetry was given to human beings for the same reason. This book could be called “How Love Can Change Your Life,” for there could be no jazz without love. By love, of course, I do not mean mush, or sentimentality. Love can only exist with courage, and this book could not be written without Wynton Marsalis’s courage. He has the courage to make powerful music and to love the music so, that he willingly shares its riches with the entire human family. We are indebted to him.”
–Maya Angelou

From the Hardcover edition.

The Essential Jazz Recordings by Ross Porter

2006-10-24T00:30:00-05:00

The Essential Jazz Recordings 101 CDs
Written by Ross Porter

Trade Paperback, 248 pages | McClelland & Stewart | Music; Music - Appreciation; Music - Jazz | $16.95 | 978-0-7710-7032-7 (0-7710-7032-2)

Keyboard Conversations�: Mozart and Friends by Jeffrey Siegel

2006-06-20T00:30:00-05:00

Keyboard Conversations�: Mozart and Friends
Written by Jeffrey Siegel
Read by Jeffrey Siegel

Unabridged Audiobook Download | Random House Audio | Music - Appreciation; Music - Classical | $7.49 | 978-0-7393-3264-1 (0-7393-3264-3)

Keyboard Conversations® with Jeffrey Siegel combine the virtuosity and poetry of a world-class pianist with entertaining commentary to create a magical concert experience. His lively, engaging insights and captivating performances make listening an enthralling experience for all music lovers.

For information about the other titles in this series please visit www.randomhouse.com/audio.

From the Compact Disc edition.

Keyboard Conversations�: The Power and Passion of Beethoven by Jeffrey Siegel

2006-06-20T00:30:00-05:00

Keyboard Conversations�: The Power and Passion of Beethoven
Written by Jeffrey Siegel
Read by Jeffrey Siegel

Unabridged Audiobook Download | Random House Audio | Music - Appreciation; Music - Classical | $7.49 | 978-0-7393-3270-2 (0-7393-3270-8)

Keyboard Conversations�: The Romance of the Piano by Jeffrey Siegel

2006-06-20T00:30:00-05:00

Keyboard Conversations�: The Romance of the Piano
Written by Jeffrey Siegel
Read by Jeffrey Siegel

Unabridged Audiobook Download | Random House Audio | Music - Appreciation; Music - Classical | $7.49 | 978-0-7393-3268-9 (0-7393-3268-6)

Keyboard Conversations�: The Romanticism of the Russian Soul by Jeffrey Siegel

2006-06-20T00:30:00-05:00

Keyboard Conversations�: The Romanticism of the Russian Soul
Written by Jeffrey Siegel
Read by Jeffrey Siegel

Unabridged Audiobook Download | Random House Audio | Music - Appreciation; Music - Classical | $7.49 | 978-0-7393-3266-5 (0-7393-3266-X)

Puccini Without Excuses by William Berger

2005-11-08T00:30:00-05:00

Puccini Without Excuses A Refreshing Reassessment of the World's Most Popular Composer
Written by William Berger

Trade Paperback, 480 pages | Vintage | Music - Opera; Music - Appreciation; Biography & Autobiography - Composers & Musicians | $18.00 | 978-1-4000-7778-6 (1-4000-7778-8)

Puccini is the most beloved composer of opera in the world: one quarter of all opera performances in the U.S. are of his operas, his music pervades movie soundtracks, and his plots have infiltrated our popular culture. But, although Puccini’s art still captivates audiences and the popularity of such works as Tosca, La Boh?me, and Madama Butterfly has never waned, he has long been a victim of critical snobbery and cultural marginalization.
In this witty and informative guide for beginners and fans alike, William Berger sets the record straight, reclaiming Puccini as a serious artist. Combining his trademark irreverent humor with passionate enthusiasm, Berger strikes just the right balance of introductory information and thought-provoking analysis. He includes a biography, discussions of each opera, a glossary, fun facts and anecdotes, and above all keen insight into Puccini’s enduring power. For anyone who loves Puccini and for anyone who just wonders what all the fuss is about, Puccini Without Excuses is funny, challenging, and always a pleasure to read.

INCLUDES:
_ Why Puccini’s art and its message of hope is crucial to our world today
_ How Anglo audiences often miss the mythic significance of his operas
_ The use of his music as shorthand in films, from A Room with a View to Fatal Attraction
_ A scene-by scene analysis of each opera
_ A guide to the wealth of available recordings, books, and videos

To a Young Jazz Musician by Selwyn Seyfu Hinds

2005-11-08T00:30:00-05:00

To a Young Jazz Musician Letters from the Road
Written by Wynton Marsalis and Selwyn Seyfu Hinds

Trade Paperback, 144 pages | Random House Trade Paperbacks | Music - Jazz; Biography & Autobiography - Composers & Musicians; Music - Appreciation | $12.95 | 978-0-8129-7420-1 (0-8129-7420-4)

The Essential Classical Recordings by Rick Phillips

2004-10-05T00:30:00-05:00

The Essential Classical Recordings 100 CDs for Today's Listener
Written by Rick Phillips

Trade Paperback, 264 pages | McClelland & Stewart | Music; Music - Appreciation; Music - Classical | $16.95 | 978-0-7710-7001-3 (0-7710-7001-2)

Living with Music by Robert O'Meally

2002-05-14T00:30:00-05:00

Living with Music Ralph Ellison's Jazz Writings
Written by Ralph Ellison
Edited by Robert O'Meally

Trade Paperback, 336 pages | Modern Library | Music - Jazz; Music - Appreciation; Music - History & Criticism | $14.95 | 978-0-375-76023-5 (0-375-76023-7)

Before Ralph Ellison became one of America’s greatest writers, he was a musician and a student of jazz, writing widely on his favorite music for more than fifty years. Now, jazz authority Robert O’Meally has collected the very best of Ellison’s inspired, exuberant jazz writings in this unique anthology.

The Musical Life by W. A. Mathieu

1994-05-24T00:30:00-05:00

The Musical Life
Written by W. A. Mathieu

Trade Paperback | Shambhala | Music - Appreciation | $24.95 | 978-0-87773-670-7 (0-87773-670-7)

Everyone, according to W.A. Mathieu, is musical by nature—it goes right along with being human. And if you don't believe it, this book will convince you. In a series of interrelated short essays, Mathieu takes the reader on a journey through ordinary experiences to open our ears to the rich variety of music that surrounds us but that we are trained to ignore; such as the variety of pitches produced by different objects, like glassware, furniture, drums—anything you can tap; or sounds that hover on the border of music, like laughter, the clinking of glasses in a toast, or the unintentional falsetto produced by yawning. Along the way the author teaches aspects of music theory that nonmusicians might ordinarily shy away from. He reveals the way of music to be a profoundly spiritual path—one that is everyone's birthright.

Listening Book by W. A. Mathieu

1991-03-27T00:30:00-05:00

Listening Book
Written by W. A. Mathieu

Trade Paperback, 192 pages | Shambhala | Music - Appreciation | $15.95 | 978-0-87773-610-3 (0-87773-610-3)

Random House New Releases - Music - Appreciation

Musical Motley by Ernest Newman

Musical Motley Written by Ernest Newman

The Essential Classical Recordings by Rick Phillips

The Essential Classical Recordings 100 CDs for Today's ListenerWritten by Rick Phillips

The Listening Book by W. A. Mathieu

The Listening Book Discovering Your Own MusicWritten by W. A. Mathieu

Why Mahler? by Norman Lebrecht

Why Mahler? How One Man and Ten Symphonies Changed Our WorldWritten by Norman Lebrecht

Bridge of Waves by W. A. Mathieu

Bridge of Waves What Music Is and How Listening to It Changes the WorldWritten by W. A. Mathieu

Moving to Higher Ground by Geoffrey Ward

Moving to Higher Ground How Jazz Can Change Your LifeWritten by Wynton Marsalis and Geoffrey Ward

To a Young Jazz Musician by Selwyn Seyfu Hinds

To a Young Jazz Musician Letters from the RoadWritten by Wynton Marsalis and Selwyn Seyfu Hinds

The Essential Jazz Recordings by Ross Porter

The Essential Jazz Recordings 101 CDsWritten by Ross Porter

Moving to Higher Ground by Geoffrey Ward

Moving to Higher Ground How Jazz Can Change Your LifeWritten by Wynton Marsalis and Geoffrey Ward

The Essential Jazz Recordings by Ross Porter

The Essential Jazz Recordings 101 CDsWritten by Ross Porter

Keyboard Conversations�: Mozart and Friends by Jeffrey Siegel

Keyboard Conversations�: Mozart and Friends Written by Jeffrey Siegel Read by Jeffrey Siegel

Keyboard Conversations�: The Power and Passion of Beethoven by Jeffrey Siegel

Keyboard Conversations�: The Power and Passion of Beethoven Written by Jeffrey Siegel Read by Jeffrey Siegel

Keyboard Conversations�: The Romance of the Piano by Jeffrey Siegel

Keyboard Conversations�: The Romance of the Piano Written by Jeffrey Siegel Read by Jeffrey Siegel

Keyboard Conversations�: The Romanticism of the Russian Soul by Jeffrey Siegel

Keyboard Conversations�: The Romanticism of the Russian Soul Written by Jeffrey Siegel Read by Jeffrey Siegel

Puccini Without Excuses by William Berger

Puccini Without Excuses A Refreshing Reassessment of the World's Most Popular ComposerWritten by William Berger

To a Young Jazz Musician by Selwyn Seyfu Hinds

To a Young Jazz Musician Letters from the RoadWritten by Wynton Marsalis and Selwyn Seyfu Hinds

The Essential Classical Recordings by Rick Phillips

The Essential Classical Recordings 100 CDs for Today's ListenerWritten by Rick Phillips

Living with Music by Robert O'Meally

Living with Music Ralph Ellison's Jazz WritingsWritten by Ralph Ellison Edited by Robert O'Meally

The Musical Life by W. A. Mathieu

The Musical Life Written by W. A. Mathieu

Listening Book by W. A. Mathieu

Listening Book Written by W. A. Mathieu

Musical Motley
Written by Ernest Newman

The Essential Classical Recordings 100 CDs for Today's Listener
Written by Rick Phillips

The Listening Book Discovering Your Own Music
Written by W. A. Mathieu

Why Mahler? How One Man and Ten Symphonies Changed Our World
Written by Norman Lebrecht

Bridge of Waves What Music Is and How Listening to It Changes the World
Written by W. A. Mathieu

Moving to Higher Ground How Jazz Can Change Your Life
Written by Wynton Marsalis and Geoffrey Ward

To a Young Jazz Musician Letters from the Road
Written by Wynton Marsalis and Selwyn Seyfu Hinds

The Essential Jazz Recordings 101 CDs
Written by Ross Porter

Moving to Higher Ground How Jazz Can Change Your Life
Written by Wynton Marsalis and Geoffrey Ward

The Essential Jazz Recordings 101 CDs
Written by Ross Porter

Keyboard Conversations�: Mozart and Friends
Written by Jeffrey Siegel
Read by Jeffrey Siegel

Keyboard Conversations�: The Power and Passion of Beethoven
Written by Jeffrey Siegel
Read by Jeffrey Siegel

Keyboard Conversations�: The Romance of the Piano
Written by Jeffrey Siegel
Read by Jeffrey Siegel

Keyboard Conversations�: The Romanticism of the Russian Soul
Written by Jeffrey Siegel
Read by Jeffrey Siegel

Puccini Without Excuses A Refreshing Reassessment of the World's Most Popular Composer
Written by William Berger

To a Young Jazz Musician Letters from the Road
Written by Wynton Marsalis and Selwyn Seyfu Hinds

The Essential Classical Recordings 100 CDs for Today's Listener
Written by Rick Phillips

Living with Music Ralph Ellison's Jazz Writings
Written by Ralph Ellison
Edited by Robert O'Meally

The Musical Life
Written by W. A. Mathieu

Listening Book
Written by W. A. Mathieu