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Rating: 
Summary: Best collection of its kind
Review: A fabulous collection for professors, students, and amateurs alike. More concise than others out there without sacrificing the breadth and importance of the readings. Editors' introductions are extremely helpful in placing each reading in context. A must-have for evey music lover.
Rating:
Summary: Best collection of its kind
Review: A fabulous collection for professors, students, and amateurs alike. More concise than others out there without sacrificing the breadth and importance of the readings. Editors' introductions are extremely helpful in placing each reading in context. A must-have for evey music lover.
Rating:
Summary: Fine collection edited skillfully for readability & breadth
Review: This is a particularly fine collection of a couple of hundred readings on Western Music from the ancient Greeks to the 1980s. That is a broad span, but the editors, Weiss and Taruskin, have done a fine job and keep things moving in a lively manner. The energy and vitality of these articles holds the reader's interest and wondering what treasure is coming next. Of course, this is a perfect volume for students in courses on music history and music appreciation, but it is also a very fine book for the general reader who is interested in learning more about the history of Western Art Music ("Classical Music"). What I like about volumes of source readings is the way the writings give a better context and flavor of their time than any later writing. Yes, the editors have to provide some context for us, and the editors do make choices about what to provide to us and they are almost always in translation, but they make a valuable contribution to one's education about the matters at hand. This is a fine collection that is edited in a skillful way for readability, breadth, and vitality. Superb job!
Rating:
Summary: Fine collection edited skillfully for readability & breadth
Review: This is a particularly fine collection of a couple of hundred readings on Western Music from the ancient Greeks to the 1980s. That is a broad span, but the editors, Weiss and Taruskin, have done a fine job and keep things moving in a lively manner. The energy and vitality of these articles holds the reader's interest and wondering what treasure is coming next. Of course, this is a perfect volume for students in courses on music history and music appreciation, but it is also a very fine book for the general reader who is interested in learning more about the history of Western Art Music ("Classical Music"). What I like about volumes of source readings is the way the writings give a better context and flavor of their time than any later writing. Yes, the editors have to provide some context for us, and the editors do make choices about what to provide to us and they are almost always in translation, but they make a valuable contribution to one's education about the matters at hand. This is a fine collection that is edited in a skillful way for readability, breadth, and vitality. Superb job!
Rating:
Summary: recommended
Review: Well...an entertaining and thought-provoking selection of essays and curiosities. It amused me to learn that Shoenberg called Stravinsky (with bitter sarcasm) "Modernsky". Milton Babbitt's notorious "Who Cares If You Listen?" article is followed by an apposite rebuttal evoking (though not alluding to) the second part of C.S. Lewis's brilliant "The Abolution of Man". Also recommended: PENTATONIC SCALES FOR THE JAZZ-ROCK KEYBOARDIST by Jeff Burns.
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