Music : History & Criticism

Nicolas Slonimsky (1894-1995) was an influential and celebrated writer on music. This new collection brings together the cream of his writing in four volumes. more...

Price: $395.00

The haunting beauty of Mozart’s Requiem and the tragic circumstances surrounding its composition have made it a favorite among performers and listeners alike. But how much of it is actually Mozart’s — and how do we know? Who wrote the missing pieces? What more...

Price: $28.95

TOP FIVE MUSICAL THINGS I HOPE HAPPEN NOW THAT THE ORIGINAL LINEUPS OF THE PIXIES AND DINOSAUR JR. HAVE REUNITED. 1. Ian Curtis is resurrected. 2. The Smiths reunite for a private party at my favorite bar. 3. There is a new My Bloody Valentine album. 4. A new Nirvana comes along to blow away all of those fey Duran Duran emulators. 5. Radiohead stops listening to Pink Floyd and starts listening to Black Sabbath. If you've ever made, or conceived of, a list like this, then look no further for your next book purchase. You have it. In your hands. Please consider it as your next book purchase. more...

Price: $11.99

Inspiring history of the musicians, composers, and conductors who fostered Western classical music in China, written by a WSJ, NYT, IHT journalist and an internationally-known conductor. more...

Price: $45.00

For more than half of his long life, composer Roger Sessions was a commanding figure on the American musical scene. He enjoyed the solid respect of his peers, and as a teacher of a generation of composers and author of compelling writings on his craft, his influence on musical thought remains profound. Yet, even in his lifetime, his music endured vastly disrespectful neglect. He was a "difficult" composer. Sessions was well aware of it. In a New York Times article, he wrote, "I have sometimes been told that my music is 'difficult' for the listener. There are those who consider this as praise, those who consider it a reproach. For my part I regard it as, in itself, neither one or the other...it is the way the music comes, the way it has to come." The way Sessions's music "had to come" is a recurrent focus of this biography. As the story is told, often in the composer's own words, the complex picture emerges of a remarkable man who, gradually and not very willingly, learned to accept his unexpected lot as a "difficult" composer. Frederik Prausnitz, an acquaintance of Sessions and conductor of his work, combines personal and musical insights to present this fascinating portrait of an influential, yet often overlooked, modernist composer.  more...

Price: $47.50