Composers Musicians category: 3267 books

Samuel Barber (1910-1981) was one of the most important and honored American composers of the twentieth century. Writing in a great variety of musical forms--symphonies, concertos, operas, vocal music, and chamber music--he infused his works with poetic lyricism and gave tonal language and forms new...

Canadian composer Louis Applebaum devoted his life to the cultural awakening of his native land, and this "magnificent obsession" drove him to become a founder of the Canadian League of Composers and the Canadian Music Centre. He was an instrumental figure in the early development of the...

Music Makers examines and celebrates the extraordinary lives of composer Harry Freedman and his partner, soloist Mary Morrison. Harry, with roots in jazz and popular music, was a member of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra for 25 years. Canada’s Composer of the Year in 1979, he has written an...

Eagle Minds—a selection from the correspondence between the Canadian composer and scholar Istvan Anhalt and his American counterpart George Rochberg—is a splendid chronicle and a penetrating analysis of the swerving socio-cultural movements of a volatile half-century as observed by two highly...

“Arthur Rubinstein was a seventh child—gifted not only with the extraordinary talent we all listened to but also with one of the totaller recalls which makes possible this easy, expansive memoir of his years into World War I but also and especially a very happy nature which makes itself manifest...

This essay represents the first organic study about Jerry Goldsmith (1929-2004), emblematic American film composer in the second half of the 20th century. Goldsmith was also a brilliant conductor. He conducted his music, but also of other composers, such as those of his mentor Alex North. He has worked...

The esteemed American composer and unabashed diarist Ned Rorem provides a fascinating, brazenly intimate first-person account of his life and career during one of the most extraordinary decades of the twentieth century Ned Rorem is often considered an American treasure, one of the greatest...

Shortly before his death, Percy Grainger (1882-1961) lodged over twenty unpublished sketches in his Australian Museum. Self-Portrait of Percy Grainger draws exclusively from these sketches, revealing for the first time an illuminating portrait of the composer's life. With such titles as "The...

John Cage was one of America's most renowned composers from the 1940s until his death in 1992. But he was also a much-admired writer and artist, and a uniquely attractive personality able to present his ideas engagingly wherever he went. As an interview subject he was a consummate professional. The...

First published in 1978 The Ordeal of Ivor Gurney is a moving and extraordinary account of a tragic genius penned by the composer Michael Hurd. Born in Gloucester in 1890 Ivor Gurney began writing songs and poems in his teens, taking his inspiration from the Severn Valley countryside where he grew...

How do you bring a forgotten silent film back to life? What are the techniques behind writing a successful film score? How do you work with and inspire choreographers? Carl Davis’s fascinating story gives an insight into the prolific composing and conducting career of one of the world’s most celebrated...

A tortured genius, a sensitive soul, and a great composer burdened by the weight of his private desires, Tchaikovsky’s life is explored in full by the incomparable John Suchet. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is one of the most successful composers that Russia has ever produced, but his path to...

Possessed by Music is the fascinating story of the Russian composer Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov (1865-1936). He was born into a wealthy publishing family, with very musical parents: his mother was a fine pianist and his father played the violin. The young Glazunov demonstrated a number of talents,...

A lifelong study of the music of Johann Hasse by conductor David Wilson has culminated in his superb new book, The Dresden Manuscripts: Unearthing an 18th Century Musical Genius. Hasse’s music achieved great popularity during his lifetime, only to be overshadowed later in history by other composers,...