Although supporters and critics of conductor Leopold Stokowski have disagreed over his contribution to symphonic music, a consensus developed that he was a man of paradox and mystery, an extrovert showman reclusively shy about who he was and what he was trying to do in music. This volume attempts to solve the mysteries. Includes an annotated discography.
Leopold Stokowski began his career in England as an organist and choirmaster. This first major study of Stokowski's early years covers his education at the Royal College of Music, his church posts in London, and his three years spent as director of music at New York's prestigious St. Bartholomew's Church. An examination of the programs of his organ recitals (played on the third largest organ in America), a list of his repertoire, facsimiles of his original choral works, an analysis of his Aeolian player organ roll of Bach's Passacaglia, and a detailed study of his famous orchestral transcriptions of Bach's organ works, reveals a new and unique insight into Stokowski's unparalleled career in music.
Daniel, long time associate and friend unfolds "Stoki's" extraordinary career, spanning more than 75 years of music-making. The story of this conductor's involvement with the musical institutions of this century, his vigor, productivity and vision, is closely entwined with the history of music in America. Though there were many facets to Stokowski's personality, including his vanity, showmanship, and love of publicity, Daniel reminds us that behind the glamour and headlines, Stokowski's contribution to music was profound and of lasting importance. The author's style is anecdotal, relying on extensive quotations from memoirs, correspondence and especially personal interviews. ISBN 0-396-07936-9.
An award-winning scholar and leading authority on American symphonic culture argues that classical music in the United States is peculiarly performance-driven, and he traces a musical trajectory rising to its peak at the close of the 19th century and receding after World War I.
In this second edition of Orchestral “Pops” Music: A Handbook, Lucy Manning brings forward to the present her remarkable compendium of information about this form of orchestral music. Since the appearance of the first edition in 2008, this work has proven critical to successful “pops” concert programming. With changes in publishers and agents, the discontinuation of the publication of certain original material or, worst of all, presses going out of business, music directors, orchestra conductors, and professional instrumentalists face formidable challenges in tracking down accurate information about this vast repertoire. This revised handbook alleviates the time-consuming task of researching these changes by offering a list of works for orchestral “pops” concerts that is comprehensive, informative, and current. Manning’s emphasis on clarity and accuracy gives users an indispensable tool for gathering vital information on the style, instrumentation, and availability of the repertoire listed, as well as notes on its performance. The user-friendly appendices include expanded instrumentation choices, easy-to-find durations, and handy title cross-references. In addition to corrections and updates, this new edition of Orchestral “Pops” Music includes at least 1,000 new title listings. Orchestral “Pops” Music: A Handbook is the ideal tool for working conductors and orchestral librarians, as well as music program directors at colleges, conservatories, and orchestras.
In 1915, Thomas Edison proclaimed that he could record a live performance and reproduce it perfectly, shocking audiences who found themselves unable to tell whether what they were hearing was an Edison Diamond Disc or a flesh-and-blood musician. Today, the equation is reversed. Whereas Edison proposed that a real performance could be rebuilt with absolute perfection, Pro Tools and digital samplers now allow musicians and engineers to create the illusion of performances that never were. In between lies a century of sonic exploration into the balance between the real and the represented. Tracing the contours of this history, Greg Milner takes us through the major breakthroughs and glorious failures in the art and science of recording. An American soldier monitoring Nazi radio transmissions stumbles onto the open yet revolutionary secret of magnetic tape. Japanese and Dutch researchers build a first-generation digital audio format and watch as their "compact disc" is marketed by the music industry as the second coming of Edison yet derided as heretical by analog loyalists. The music world becomes addicted to volume in the nineties and fights a self-defeating "loudness war" to get its fix. From Les Paul to Phil Spector to King Tubby, from vinyl to pirated CDs to iPods, Milner's Perfecting Sound Forever pulls apart musical history to answer a crucial question: Should a recording document reality as faithfully as possible, or should it improve upon or somehow transcend the music it records? The answers he uncovers will change the very way we think about music.
This book is a comprehensive filmography of biographical films featuring the lives of 65 great classical composers. Performances analyzed include Richard Burton as Richard Wagner, Cornel Wilde as Frederic Chopin, Gary Oldman as Ludwig van Beethoven, Tom Hulce as Mozart, and Katharine Hepburn as Clara Schumann, among others. Arranged alphabetically by composer's name and illustrated1with stills and posters, the text provides a brief biography of each composer and analyzes the feature films portraying him or her. Emphasis is given to the factual accuracy of the screenplay, the validity of the portrayal, and the film's presentation of the composer's music.
New York magazine was born in 1968 after a run as an insert of the New York Herald Tribune and quickly made a place for itself as the trusted resource for readers across the country. With award-winning writing and photography covering everything from politics and food to theater and fashion, the magazine's consistent mission has been to reflect back to its audience the energy and excitement of the city itself, while celebrating New York as both a place and an idea.
