Random House New Releases - Music - Classical - Between May 22, 2012 and June 21, 2013.

On Music and Musicians by Konrad Wolff

2013-04-03T00:30:00-05:00

On Music and Musicians
Written by Robert Schumann
Edited by Konrad Wolff
Translated by Paul Rosenfeld

Edited by Konraad Wolff
Translated by Paul Rosenfeld
With twenty black-and-white illustrations

Schumann’s literary gifts and interests almost equaled his musical ones. From boyhood on he was drawn to literary expression, and his writings on music belong to the best among the romantic literature of the 19th century. The same fire, poetry, directness of expression, the same inventiveness we love in his compositions, also animated his prose.

This edition for the first time groups his articles and observations according to subject matter and individual composers. It is complete as far as Schumann’s writings on the great composers are concerned. All his reviews of the works by the masters, from Beethoven to Brahms, are included, some of them translated for the first time into English.

From the Hardcover edition.

Franz Liszt, Volume 2 by Alan Walker

2013-03-20T00:30:00-05:00

Franz Liszt, Volume 2 The Weimar Years: 1848-1861
Written by Alan Walker

The second volume in Alan Walker's magisterial biography of Franz Liszt.

"You can't help but keep turning the pages, wondering how it will all turn out: and Walker's accumulated readings of Liszt's music have to be taken seriously indeed."-D. Kern Holoman, New York Review of Books

"A conscientious scholar passionate about his subject. Mr. Walker makes the man and his age come to life. These three volumes will be the definitive work to which all subsequent Liszt biographies will aspire."-Harold C. Schonberg, Wall Street Journal

"What distinguishes Walker from Liszt's dozens of earlier biographers is that he is equally strong on the music and the life. A formidable musicologist with a lively polemical style, he discusses the composer's works with greater understanding and clarity than any previous biographer. And whereas many have recycled the same erroneous, often damaging information, Walker has relied on his own prodigious, globe-trotting research, a project spanning twenty-five years. The result is a textured portrait of Liszt and his times without rival."-Elliot Ravetz, Time

"The prose is so lively that the reader is often swept along by the narrative. . . . This three-part work . . . is now the definitive work on Liszt in English and belongs in all music collections."-Library Journal

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

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 First Four Notes by Matthew Guerrieri

2012-11-13T00:30:00-05:00

The First Four Notes Beethoven's Fifth and the Human Imagination
Written by Matthew Guerrieri

A TIME Magazine Top 10 Nonfiction Book of 2012
A New Yorker Best Book of the Year
Los Angeles Magazine's #1 Music Book of the Year

A unique and revelatory book of music history that examines in great depth what is perhaps the best-known and most-popular symphony ever written and its four-note opening, which has fascinated musicians, historians, and philosophers for the last two hundred years.

Music critic Matthew Guerrieri reaches back before Beethoven’s time to examine what might have influenced him in writing his Fifth Symphony, and forward into our own time to describe the ways in which the Fifth has, in turn, asserted its influence. He uncovers possible sources for the famous opening notes in the rhythms of ancient Greek poetry and certain French Revolutionary songs and symphonies. Guerrieri confirms that, contrary to popular belief, Beethoven was not deaf when he wrote the Fifth. He traces the Fifth’s influence in China, Russia, and the United States (Emerson and Thoreau were passionate fans) and shows how the masterpiece was used by both the Allies and the Nazis in World War II. Altogether, a fascinating piece of musical detective work—a treat for music lovers of every stripe.

The First Four Notes by Matthew Guerrieri

2012-11-13T00:30:00-05:00

The First Four Notes Beethoven's Fifth and the Human Imagination
Written by Matthew Guerrieri

Random House New Releases - Music - Classical - Between May 22, 2012 and June 21, 2013.

On Music and Musicians by Konrad Wolff

On Music and Musicians Written by Robert Schumann Edited by Konrad Wolff Translated by Paul Rosenfeld

Franz Liszt, Volume 2 by Alan Walker

Franz Liszt, Volume 2 The Weimar Years: 1848-1861Written by Alan Walker

The Essential Classical Recordings by Rick Phillips

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

The First Four Notes by Matthew Guerrieri

The First Four Notes Beethoven's Fifth and the Human ImaginationWritten by Matthew Guerrieri

The First Four Notes by Matthew Guerrieri

The First Four Notes Beethoven's Fifth and the Human ImaginationWritten by Matthew Guerrieri

On Music and Musicians
Written by Robert Schumann
Edited by Konrad Wolff
Translated by Paul Rosenfeld

Franz Liszt, Volume 2 The Weimar Years: 1848-1861
Written by Alan Walker

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

The First Four Notes Beethoven's Fifth and the Human Imagination
Written by Matthew Guerrieri

The First Four Notes Beethoven's Fifth and the Human Imagination
Written by Matthew Guerrieri