Within his broad historical narrative Professor Smallman provides descriptive analyses of key works, many with music examples, and also comments perceptively on local trends and developments.
Beethoven's middle-period quartets, Opp. 59, 74 and 95, are pieces that engage deeply with the aesthetic ideas of their time. In the first full contextual study of these works, Nancy November celebrates their uniqueness, exploring their reception history and early performance. In detailed analyses, she explores ways in which the quartets have both reflected and shaped the very idea of chamber music and offers a new historical understanding of the works' physical, visual, social and ideological aspects. In the process, November provides a fresh critique of three key paradigms in current Beethoven studies: the focus on his late period; the emphasis on 'heroic' style in discussions of the middle period; and the idea of string quartets as 'pure', 'autonomous' artworks, cut off from social moorings. Importantly, this study shows that the quartets encompass a new lyric and theatrical impetus, which is an essential part of their unique, explorative character.
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.
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.
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.
Menahem Pressler and the Beaux Arts Trio German born pianist Menahem Pressler (1923) was forced to flee Nazi terror to Israel. He quickly attained international fame in 1946 by winning the Debussy Competition in San Francisco and performing his début with Eugene Ormandy and The Philadelphia Orchestra. Ultimately emigrating to the United States, Pressler teaches at the Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University where he holds an endowed chair as Distinguished Professor. As founding member of the Beaux Arts Trio, he alone survived the ensemble's changes in membership during its unprecedented 53 year history. 'Setting the standard' for piano trio performance, the Beaux Arts Trio elevated the ensemble type to a par with the string quartet in over seven thousand performances, hundreds of award winning recordings and extensive broadcasts. Famed for his musicality and equally admired for his way with words, communicator Menahem Pressler is captured here, an inspiration to colleagues, students and his international public. In Always Something New to Discover, Pressler's biography, esthetics, pianism and dedication to music are gathered in texts enriched with oral history as generously shared by Pressler and his intimates. 'I am as hungry now making my music as when I was young!' With as yet no retirement in sight, Menahem Pressler continues his musical journey with an undiminished schedule and a full studio of international students, all in blissful service of the music he loves. Originally from Boston, Cynthia Wilson (1953) was educated at Concord Academy in Massachusetts and Sarah Lawrence College in New York before following her passion for early music to Amsterdam. After a decade of concertizing she held a number of management positions in the Dutch music world. In 2006, she founded wwclassics to pursue a wider range of artistic activities.