Alan Blyth – författare

This first volume of Song on Record, devoted to Lieder, provides a critical guide to performance on record from the early days of the gramophone to the present day. Alan Blyth, with a team of distinguished writers and critics, has covered comprehensively the main strands of each composer's output in the field, from Haydn and Mozart to Schoenberg and Berg, together with illuminating and entertaining discussion of the differing interpretations found on the selected recordings. The book is thus as much a history of the Lied and its interpretation as a guide to available recordings and will be of interest to musicologists and performers as well as to music lovers and record collectors.

This second volume of Song on Record covers the repertory of song not included in the category of Lieder. It contains chapters on the major French composers, on Russian, Scandinavian, Spanish and American song, on Bartók and Janácek, Britten and English song, and ends with a bonne bouche entitled 'Encore'. Once again Alan Blyth has brought together a distinguished group of contributors to provide a valuable and informed discussion of interpretation. Indispensable for record collectors, it is also fascinating reading for all musicians and music lovers with an interest in song.

Following the successful volumes of Song on Record, this 1991 book surveys all the recordings of major choral works from the Monteverdi Vespers to Britten's War Requiem. Discussion of the various interpretations on record is preceded, in each chapter, by informed criticism of the work concerned, including - where appropriate - a clarification of editions, revisions, etc. (all the many changes in Messiah are, for instance, described in detail). The coverage of recordings is exhaustive and its value is enhanced by detailed discographies, with numbers of each recording. Each contributor is an authority within his or her specialist area and, collectively, their insights and observations make the book invaluable to record collectors, music lovers and all with an interest in changing tastes and styles of musical performance.

This first volume of Song on Record, devoted to Lieder, provides a critical guide to performance on record from the early days of the gramophone to the present day. Alan Blyth, with a team of distinguished writers and critics, has covered comprehensively the main strands of each composer's output in the field, from Haydn and Mozart to Schoenberg and Berg, together with illuminating and entertaining discussion of the differing interpretations found on the selected recordings. The book is thus as much a history of the Lied and its interpretation as a guide to available recordings and will be of interest to musicologists and performers as well as to music lovers and record collectors.

This second volume of Song on Record covers the repertory of song not included in the category of Lieder. It contains chapters on the major French composers, on Russian, Scandinavian, Spanish and American song, on Bartók and Janácek, Britten and English song, and ends with a bonne bouche entitled 'Encore'. Once again Alan Blyth has brought together a distinguished group of contributors to provide a valuable and informed discussion of interpretation. Indispensable for record collectors, it is also fascinating reading for all musicians and music lovers with an interest in song.