BBC Proms 2021


Book Description

The BBC Proms is the world's biggest and longest-running classical music festival and one of the jewels in the crown for the BBC. Held every summer at the Royal Albert Hall in London, it is one of the strongest brand names in the music world and attracts a glittering array of artists and orchestras. Whether you're a first-time visitor or an experienced Prommer, watching at home or listening on radio or online, the BBC Proms Guide will be an excellent companion to a remarkable summer of music, which you can treasure and return to in years to come. Filled with the latest programme details and illuminating articles by leading experts, journalists and writers, the BBC Proms Guide gives a wide-ranging insight into the performers and repertoire, as well as thought-provoking opinion pieces about audiences, music and music-making. The contents for 2021 include a specially commissioned short story by award-winning author Chibundu Onuzo; an exploration of music and silence by author, commentator and broadcaster Will Self; a celebration of the history and influence of the iconic Royal Albert Hall 150 years after its opening by historian, author, curator and television presenter Lucy Worsley; a tribute to anniversary composer Igor Stravinsky; and an article spotlighting the remarkable Kanneh-Mason siblings (spearheaded by royal-wedding cellist Sheku).




BBC Proms 2023


Book Description

The BBC Proms is the world's biggest and longest-running classical music festival and one of the jewels in the crown for the BBC. Held every summer at the Royal Albert Hall in London, it is one of the strongest brand names in the music world and attracts a glittering array of artists and orchestras from the UK and around the world. Whether you're a first-time visitor or an experienced Prommer, watching at home or listening on radio or online, the BBC Proms Guide is an excellent companion to the festival, which you can treasure and return to in years to come. Filled with concert listings and articles by leading writers, the BBC Proms Guide offers an insight into the performers and repertoire, as well as thought-provoking opinion pieces about music, musicians and music-making. The contents for 2023 include a specially commissioned short story by Man Booker Prize-nominated author Madeleine Thien; an exploration of the mysterious art of conducting; and an investigation of the connections between music and the human body and spirit – including a 'mental health' Proms playlist. We celebrate the unashamedly Romantic and nostalgically bittersweet music of Sergey Rachmaninov, 150 years after his death; we throw the spotlight on Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Dora Pejacevic, Croatia's first major woman composer; and we delve into the sonic space dust of experimental legend György Ligeti, whose music Stanley Kubrick used to other-worldly effect in 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shining and Eyes Wide Shut. Plus, hear from an array of Proms artists in our series of Spotlight interviews.




BBC Proms 2022


Book Description

The BBC Proms is the world's biggest and longest-running classical music festival and one of the jewels in the crown for the BBC. Held every summer at the Royal Albert Hall in London, it is one of the strongest brand names in the music world and attracts a glittering array of artists and orchestras from the UK and around the world. Whether you're a first-time visitor or an experienced Prommer, watching at home or listening on radio or online, the BBC Proms Guide is an excellent companion to a remarkable summer of music, which you can treasure and return to in years to come. Filled with concert listings and articles by leading experts, journalists and writers, the BBC Proms Guide offers a wide-ranging insight into the performers and repertoire, as well as thought-provoking opinion pieces about audiences, music and music-making. The contents for 2022 include a sideways look at opera by comedian and opera fanatic Chris Addison; a profile of the legendary 'Queen of Soul' and civil rights activist Aretha Franklin; a specially commissioned short story by award-winning author Barney Norris; and anniversary features on Vaughan Williams, Iannis Xenakis and George Walker. In the centenary of the BBC, former Proms director Sir Nicholas Kenyon writes about how the Proms has developed under the Corporation's wing; and Juilliard School violinist-turned-performance coach Noa Kageyama looks at how musicians can improve their practising technique to allow them to operate at the highest level.




BBC Proms 2021


Book Description

The BBC Proms is the world's biggest and longest-running classical music festival and one of the jewels in the crown for the BBC. Held every summer at the Royal Albert Hall in London, it is one of the strongest brand names in the music world and attracts a glittering array of artists and orchestras. Whether you're a first-time visitor or an experienced Prommer, watching at home or listening on radio or online, the BBC Proms Guide will be an excellent companion to a remarkable summer of music, which you can treasure and return to in years to come. Filled with the latest programme details and illuminating articles by leading experts, journalists and writers, the BBC Proms Guide gives a wide-ranging insight into the performers and repertoire, as well as thought-provoking opinion pieces about audiences, music and music-making. The contents for 2021 include a specially commissioned short story by award-winning author Chibundu Onuzo; an exploration of music and silence by author, commentator and broadcaster Will Self; a celebration of the history and influence of the iconic Royal Albert Hall 150 years after its opening by historian, author, curator and television presenter Lucy Worsley; a tribute to anniversary composer Igor Stravinsky; and an article spotlighting the remarkable Kanneh-Mason siblings (spearheaded by royal-wedding cellist Sheku).




The Firebird, 1919 Suite


Book Description

Stravinsky's ballet score for The Firebird launched his career as a composer after its Paris premiere in 1910. Although he extracted an orchestral suite the following year, the large orchestra required limited performances in the concert hall. World War I, the Russian Revolution and a move to Switzerland intervened before he was able to arrange a suitable concert suite for a normal-sized orchestra, which was given its premiere by Ernest Ansermet and the newly founded Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in April of 1919. Offered here is the first definitive newly engraved publication of the concert-hall staple in the near-century since its first publication by Chester in 1920 - in a notoriously error-heavy edition. Thoroughly researched and edited by Clark McAlister and Clinton F. Nieweg, this new study score will be a most welcome addition to the libraries of conductors, music students and fans of the great Russian master's music everywhere.




On with the Show


Book Description

On with the Show follows on from the first volume of Love and Music, a joint autobiography of singers Christopher Davies and Barbara Kendall. In 1965, Barbara graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and joined Chris in the musical profession. They had gotten married in 1963 and this is the interesting story of how they coped with what was bound to be a demanding way of life.




The Silent Musician


Book Description

The conductor—tuxedoed, imposingly poised above an orchestra, baton waving dramatically—is a familiar figure even for those who never set foot in an orchestral hall. As a veritable icon for classical music, the conductor has also been subjected to some ungenerous caricatures, presented variously as unhinged gesticulator, indulged megalomaniac, or even outright impostor. Consider, for example: Bugs Bunny as Leopold Stokowski, dramatically smashing his baton and then breaking into erratic poses with a forbidding intensity in his eyes, or Mickey Mouse in Fantasia, unwittingly conjuring dangerous magic with carefree gestures he doesn’t understand. As these clichés betray, there is an aura of mystery around what a conductor actually does, often coupled with disbelief that he or she really makes a difference to the performance we hear. The Silent Musician deepens our understanding of what conductors do and why they matter. Neither an instruction manual for conductors, nor a history of conducting, the book instead explores the role of the conductor in noiselessly shaping the music that we hear. Writing in a clever, insightful, and often evocative style, world-renowned conductor Mark Wigglesworth deftly explores the philosophical underpinnings of conducting—from the conductor’s relationship with musicians and the music, to the public and personal responsibilities conductors face—and examines the subtler components of their silent art, which include precision, charisma, diplomacy, and passion. Ultimately, Wigglesworth shows how conductors—by simultaneously keeping time and allowing time to expand—manage to shape ensemble music into an immersive, transformative experience, without ever making a sound.




Between Burning Worlds


Book Description

​Deluxe edition with special embellishments on first printing only. Les Misérables meets The Lunar Chronicles in the out-of-this-world sequel to Sky Without Stars that’s an “explosion of emotion, intrigue, romance, and revolution” (Stephanie Garber, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Caraval series). A traitor. A prisoner. A fugitive. Wanted by the Regime. Destined to save the planet. Laterre is on the brink of war. The Third Estate are rioting against the injustices of a corrupt system. The Patriarche, reeling from the murder of his only heir, makes brutal attempts to quash the unrest, while a new militant faction launches a series of deadly attacks. And three outlaws find themselves pulled into the fray... Marcellus is now a traitor to his planet, willing to do anything to stop his grandfather from seizing control of Laterre, even if it means joining the Vangarde, a rebel group back from the dead. Chatine is a prisoner on Bastille. Desperate to survive the harsh conditions of the moon, she becomes embroiled in the Vangarde’s dangerous attempt to free their infamous leader. Alouette is a fugitive who has been lied to her entire life. Searching for the truth about her mysterious past, she soon finds herself hunted by the Regime for reasons she’s only beginning to understand. But when Laterre is threatened by the emergence of a deadly new weapon, these three renegades must risk everything, traveling to the far reaches of the System Divine and into the white hot center of a planet ready to ignite.




The Pathetick Musician


Book Description

Baroque oboists Bruce Haynes and Geoffrey Burgess established reputations as authorities on the history of their instrument with their co-authored book The Oboe, voted an outstanding achievement by the American Music Instrument Society. Haynes' writings, notably The End of Early Music, are known for pioneering new approaches in historical performance practice and inspiring healthy debate among scholars and performers of early music. Burgess, an instructor at the Eastman School of Music, recently published Well-Tempered Woodwinds: Friedrich von Huene and the Making of Early Music in a New World, which combines the biography of a leading manufacturer of historic instruments with a history of the emerging early music scene in America. Bruce Haynes passed away in May, 2011.




Dave Brubeck


Book Description

THE DEFINITIVE, INVESTIGATIVE BIOGRAPHY OFJAZZ LEGENDDAVE BRUBECK("TAKE FIVE") In 2003, music journalist Philip Clark was granted unparalleled access to jazz legend Dave Brubeck. Over the course of ten days, he shadowed the Dave Brubeck Quartet during their extended British tour, recording an epic interview with the bandleader. Brubeck opened up as never before, disclosing his unique approach to jazz; the heady days of his "classic" quartet in the 1950s-60s; hanging out with Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Louis Armstrong, and Miles Davis; and the many controversies that had dogged his 66-yearlong career. Alongside beloved figures like Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra, Brubeck has achieved name recognition beyond jazz. But finding a convincing fit for Brubeck's legacy, one that reconciles his mass popularity with his advanced musical technique, has proved largely elusive. In Dave Brubeck: A Life inTime, Clark provides us with a thoughtful, thorough, and long-overdue biography of an extraordinary man whose influence continues to inform and inspire musicians today. Structured around Clark's extended interview and intensive new research, this book recounts one of the last untold stories of jazz, unearthing the secret history of "Take Five" and many hitherto unknown aspects of Brubeck's early career-and sharing details about his creative relationship with his star saxophonist, Paul Desmond. Woven throughout are cameo appearances from a host of unlikely figures, from Sting, Ray Manzarek of The Doors, and Keith Emerson to John Cage, Leonard Bernstein, Harry Partch, and Edgard Varèse. Each chapter explores a different theme or aspect of Brubeck's life and music, illuminating the core of his artistry and genius. To quote President Obama, as he awarded the musician with a Kennedy Center Honor: "You can't understand America without understanding jazz, and you can't understand jazz without understanding Dave Brubeck."