Brahms and the Scherzo
Brahms and the Scherzo

Author: Ryan McClelland

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-04-15

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 1317172841

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Despite the incredible diversity in Brahms's scherzo-type movements, there has been no comprehensive consideration of this aspect of his oeuvre. Professor Ryan McClelland provides an in-depth study of these movements that also contributes significantly to an understanding of Brahms's compositional language and his creative dialogue with musical traditions. McClelland especially highlights the role of rhythmic-metric design in Brahms's music and its relationship to expressive meaning. In Brahms's scherzo-type movements, McClelland traces transformations of primary thematic material, demonstrating how the relationship of the initial music to its subsequent versions creates a musical narrative that provides structural coherence and generates expressive meaning. McClelland's interpretations of the expressive implications of Brahms's fascinatingly intricate musical structures frequently engage issues directly relevant to performance. This illuminating book will appeal to music theorists, musicologists working on nineteenth-century instrumental music and performers.

Chopin
Chopin

Author: John Rink

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-07-26

Total Pages: 674

ISBN-13: 1000152049

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This anthology brings together representative examples of the most significant and engaging scholarly writing on Chopin by a wide range of authors. The essays selected for the volume portray a rounded picture of Chopin as composer, pianist and teacher of his music, and of his overall achievement and legacy. Historical perspectives are offered on Chopin’s biography ’as cultural discourse’, on the evolution and origins of his style, and on the contexts of given works. A fascinating contemporary overview of Chopin’s oeuvre is also provided. Seven source studies assess the status and role of Chopin’s notational practices as well as some enigmatic sketch material. Essays in the field of performance studies scrutinise the ’cultural work’ carried out by Chopin’s performances and discuss his playing style along with that of his contemporaries and students. This paves the way for a body of essays on analysis, aesthetics and reception, considering aspects of genre and including an overview of analytical approaches to select works. The remaining essays address Chopin’s handling of form, rhythm and other musical elements, as well as the ’meaning’ of his msuic. The collection as a whole underscores one of the most important aspects of Chopin’s legacy, namely the paradoxical manner in which he drew from the past - in particular, certain eighteenth-century traditions - while stretching inherited conventions and practices to such an extent that a highly original ’music of the future’ was heralded.