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Classical Music BOOKS Catalog

cover
Rough Guide to Classical Music

cover
The Voice:
A Spiritual Approach to Singing,
Speaking and Communicating
by Miriam Jaskierowicz Arman

    The book reveals the forgotten secrets of the Bel Canto Vocal Technique of singing and returns to the fundamentals of what great, beautiful and natural singing is all about.

TITLES OF INTEREST POSTED 30 OCTOBER 2001

"Valery Gergiev and the Kirov: A Story of Survival" John Ardoin
...available here.
The late John Ardoin's study "Valery Gergiev and the Kirov: A Story of Survival" offers a history of the Kirov opera and ballet that encompasses quite a bit of Russian history along the way. His meticulously researched book on the institutions inherited by the pivotal conductor Gergiev addresses past and present in alternating chapters.

"The Operagoer's Guide: One Hundred Stories and Commentaries" M. Owen Lee
...available here.
Father Lee's "Operagoer's Guide" is--as anyone familiar with his elegant "Wagner's Ring: Turning the Sky Round" should expect--delightful, informative, and humorous. Along with plot synopses, he includes commentaries brimful with bits of unexpected, unfamiliar information. Lee isn't afraid to voice strong-minded opinions, but his charm is disarming in the process.

"Covent Garden, the Untold Story: Dispatches from the English Culture Wars, 1945-2000" Norman Lebrecht
...available here.
Classical music's favorite doomsday prophet (and denouncer of emperors-in-new-clothers), Norman Lebrecht has gained much recent attention for his jeremiads a propos the recording industry. In "Covent Garden, the Untold Story: Dispatches from the English Culture War (1945-2000)," the feisty scribe rivets his focus on the venerable English institution in a story of decline and fall. Lebrecht sees the opera house's fortunes as emblematic for much that is wrong in the art and its administration today, and he offers a glimpse into the future as well.

"No Vivaldi in the Garage: A Requiem for Classical Music in North America" Sheldon Morgenstern
...available here.
Another litany of what's wrong with our arts institutions can be found in Sheldon Morgenstern's "No Vivaldi in the Garage: A Requiem for Classical Music in North America." Morgenstern, a teacher and conductor who directed the Eastern Music Festival, has written a memoir that encompasses portraits of important musical figures of the last several decades, as well as passionate critiques of the NEA, American Symphony Orchestra League, and, more generally, the manner in which musical politics and polemics are conducted today.

"My First 79 Years: Isaac Stern" Chaim Potok
...available here.
Violinist Isaac Stern, who recently passed away, left a legacy larger than his extraordinary life in music. Reportedly, conductor George Szell once told Stern that if he spent less time doing other things and more time practicing, he could be "the greatest violinist in the world." Stern's appealing memoir reveals a well-rounded man with a gusto for life beyond the concert hall that made his passion for music all the more fulfilling.

"The Music of Silence" Andrea Bocelli
...available here.
For fans of Andrea Bocelli, there's a new splurge of goodies. The tenor's memoir, "The Music of Silence," has now been translated into English, its publication coinciding with the release of his latest (mostly pop-oriented) CD, "Cieli di Toscana." Read about Bocelli's ascent--as well as struggles faced--to attain a new kind of crossover superstardom.

"Longing (Ballantine Reader's Circle)" J. D. Landis
...available here.
The Romantic composers have always been particular magnets for fictional treatment--a trend that probably reached its laughably clichéd nadir in Hollywood films. But novelist J.D. Landis attempts to get inside the psychology of one of the most sensitive figures in music history, who lived in very interesting times. His novelistic treatment of Robert and Clara Schumann, "Longing," is now available in paperback.

RICHTER REMEMBERED

Sviatoslav Richter (1915-1997) was one of the most enigmatic pianists ever to play classical music. Yet, the mysterious keyboardist was also one of the most talented, with a fiery, expressive playing style that still sounds definitive today. In this exclusive feature, Amazon.com contributor and Richter expert Stephen Wigler considers what made the Russian virtuoso so special, looking at RCA's new "Richter Rediscovered" and the other brilliant recordings he left us.
...available here.

Read Amazon.com's feature
...available here.

ECM STORE

"Morimur (after J.S. Bach)" Christoph Poppen
...available here.
Copious liner notes help explain the concept behind ECM's fascinating "Morimur" disc: an acclaimed music professor has discovered that Bach's Partita in D minor for solo violin is embedded with various chorale themes and other musical symbols. Once you get past the scholarly conception, what you get is a beautifully recorded, thoroughly entrancing disc featuring the Hilliard Ensemble performing Bach chorales to violin accompaniment. The results are a true revelation: sublime and calming.

Amazon.com's ECM Store
...available here.

Amazon.com Delivers Classical Music Books Editor, Thomas May c. 2001 amazon.com and associate,ncdn

Classical Music BOOKS Catalog

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