David Hurwitz – författare

This book aids the listener in getting beneath the surface of Beethoven's two beloved symphonies.Composers often write pieces in highly contrasting moods in very close proximity. But no composer took this process further than Beethoven. His famous "Fifth Symphony", with an opening familiar to anyone, became the standard for the Romantic, tragedy to triumph, 'victory symphony'. The sunny Sixth however represents a high-water mark of relaxed lyricism. On a superficial listening, they couldn't sound more different from one another. Yet by examining them more closely it is revealed that they have more in common than their emotional trajectories might suggest.This book aids the listener in getting beneath the surface of these two beloved symphonies, revealing that however disparate the expressive message, the language and style remain Beethoven's - a symphonic voice as powerful in struggle and victory as in relaxation and meditation."Magnum Opus" is a series for anyone seeking a greater familiarity with the cornerstones of Western Classical Music - operatic, choral and symphonic.Always passionate, down-to-earth, and authoritative on the works and their creators, "Magnum Opus" is an indispensable resource for anyone's musical library and the perfect gift for the music-lover in your life.

Though Brahms' symphonies are often treated somewhat like medicine, as something 'good for you', but otherwise lacking in purely sensual pleasure, David Hurwitz takes the reader beyond the jargon and pedantry and unlocks the mystery (and the joy) contained within Brahms' symphonies. In short, Brahms was a musician's musician, in some respects and 'academic' (which is not to say 'pedantic') composer, and so it's practically impossible for professional scholars and musicians to approach his music without wanting to demonstrate at some point that they are as smart as Brahms, and uniquely able to unravel the technical intricacies of his larger works. For the general reader, this obviously represents a problem; indeed, it's not exactly a joy for the music professional either. Indeed, there is a sense in which Brahms' own seriousness of purpose is mistaken for a uniform seriousness of expression, with the result that his music is often treated somewhat like medicine, as something 'good for you', but otherwise lacking in purely sensual pleasure.Brahms' well-known struggles with orchestration compound this impression, but since no less an authority than Ravel praised the orchestration of the Second Symphony, we know that this fact is, at best, a generalization only partially true. "Magnum Opus" is a series for anyone seeking a greater familiarity with the cornerstones of Western Classical Music - operatic, choral and symphonic. Always passionate, down-to-earth, and authoritative on the works and their creators, "Magnum Opus" is an indispensable resource for anyone's musical library and the perfect gift for the music-lover in your life.

The greatest musical prodigy since Mozart (some would say he was even greater), Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847) excelled in everything he did, musical or otherwise, and during his brief life became Europe’s most respected and beloved composer. Yet no musician suffered more drastic swings in his posthumous reputation, and as a result Mendelssohn’s music was obscured by a host of extra-musical factors: changes in taste, the rise of nationalism, anti-Semitism, and contempt for Victorian culture. This “owner’s manual” offers a guide to Mendelssohn’s musical output, major and minor, providing points of entry into a large body of work, much of which remains far too little known. There’s much more to Mendelssohn than the “Italian” Symphony and the “Midsummer Night’s Dream” Overture, and a whole creative world of vivid, expressive, and fantastical music is ready for exploration.

Veteran music critic David Hurwitz provides an accessible, comprehensive, and fresh survey of Beethoven’s symphonies, overtures, concertos, theatrical music, his single ballet and other music for the dance, and several short pieces worth getting to know.Beethoven’s orchestral works include some of the most iconic and popular pieces of classical music ever written. This book offers chapters on Beethoven’s handling of the symphony orchestra and his contributions to its evolution, as well as his approach to musical form in creating large, multi-movement works. The musical descriptions provide helpful strategies for listening that invite both beginners and experienced enthusiasts to treat even the best known pieces as something fresh, new and relevant.In addition, Hurwitz provides extensive lists of recommended recordings of all of the music surveyed, highlighting the wide range of issues in Beethoven interpretation and performance, as well as the history of his music. He encourages readers to listen actively and critically, as they build their own Beethoven discographies according to their personal tastes and preferences. The book is accompanied by online audio tracks of Beethoven works selected by Hurwitz.

Veteran music critic David Hurwitz provides an accessible, comprehensive, and fresh survey of Beethoven’s symphonies, overtures, concertos, theatrical music, his single ballet and other music for the dance, and several short pieces worth getting to know.Beethoven’s orchestral works include some of the most iconic and popular pieces of classical music ever written. This book offers chapters on Beethoven’s handling of the symphony orchestra and his contributions to its evolution, as well as his approach to musical form in creating large, multi-movement works. The musical descriptions provide helpful strategies for listening that invite both beginners and experienced enthusiasts to treat even the best known pieces as something fresh, new and relevant.In addition, Hurwitz provides extensive lists of recommended recordings of all of the music surveyed, highlighting the wide range of issues in Beethoven interpretation and performance, as well as the history of his music. He encourages readers to listen actively and critically, as they build their own Beethoven discographies according to their personal tastes and preferences. The book is accompanied by online audio tracks of Beethoven works selected by Hurwitz.

No composer has ever achieved the amazing progression that Haydn has. He invented the string quartet as we know it today became the Father of the Symphony and founded the greatest school in the history of music. His life was one of ceaseless experimentation and invention of problems surmounted and challenges met.ÞÞIn this book No. 6 in the Amadeus Press Unlocking the Masters series David Hurwitz acquaints readers with Haydn's innovative melodic creativity his revolutionary use of musical form and important characteristics of his personal style including his genius for writing in minor keys and creating comedy in his music. In addition to Haydn's principal instrumental works Hurwitz explores Haydn's vocal music and instrumental masterpieces that fall outside the mainstream. Four appendixes list all of his symphonies string quartets piano sonatas and piano trios. Over two and a half hours of music keyed to pieces described in the book are available online using the unique code in each book.

The music of Antonin Dvorák defies fashion. He is one of the very few composers whose works entered the international mainstream during his own lifetime, and some of them have remained there ever since. The pieces that historically define his international reputation, however, represent only a small fraction of what he actually composed. They comprise just one facet of his complex and remarkably rich artistic personality. This book invites readers to celebrate his extraordinary achievement and experience the pleasure of getting to know more than 90 of his most important works.

Since Gustav Mahler was rediscovered in the early 1960s, his symphonies have become arguably the most popular works in the modern orchestral repertoire. Mahler''s Symphonies: An Owner''s Manual is the first discussion of the ten completed symphonies (No. 1-9 plus “The Song of the Earth”) to offer music lovers and record collectors a comprehensive overview of the music itself, what it sounds like, how it is organized, its form, content, and meaning, as it strikes today''s listeners. The book caters to the novice as David Hurwitz describes what the listener will hear, section by section, using simple cues such as important instrumental solos, recognizable tunes, climaxes, and other easily audible musical facts. He explains how each work is arranged, how the various parts relate to each other, and how one work leads to the next. It describes the emotional extravagance that lies at the root of Mahler''s popularity, the consistency of his symphonic thinking, the relationship of each work to its companions, and his dazzling and revolutionary use of orchestral instruments to create an expressive musical language that is varied in content and immediate in impact. The accompanying CD contains recordings from Symphony No. 1, Third Movement; Symphony No. 2, First Movement; Symphony No. 5, Third Movement; and Symphony No. 7, Second Movement: “Nachtmusik I.”

The life and music of Richard Strauss (1864-1949) span what was arguably the most turbulent period in human history, encompassing the Franco-Prussian War, the unification of Germany, and two world wars. He was one of the very last composers to have started his career in service to the old European aristocracy, but near the end of his life, the continent lay in shambles, and he faced financial ruin even as he remained Germany''s greatest living composer.Virtually from the day they were written, Strauss''s tone poems from the late nineteenth century – works such as Don Juan, Till Eulenspiegel, Also Sprach Zarathustra, and Death and Transfiguration – have been repertory standards. So have the operas Salome, Elektra, and Der Rosenkavalier. And yet a tremendous quantity of very good music, both early and late, has only recently come to the attention of musicians and music lovers alike.This “owner''s manual ” accompanied by a full-length CD, surveys all the major works with orchestra: symphonies, concertos, tone poems, operas, ballets, suites, and songs. Many of them will be new even to listeners familiar with the popular pieces, part of a vast legacy of immaculately crafted, beautiful music that deserves to be rediscovered and treasured.

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788) has to be the most rewarding expressive and entertaining of all the composers whose work fell into obscurity in the years following his death. He was overshadowed both by the rediscovery of his father Johann Sebastian and by the rise of the classical composers Haydn Mozart and Beethoven in Vienna. In his lifetime however he was considered the great Bach a musician of astonishing originality and a true original genius. His contemporaries were right.ÞBecause modern editions of C. P. E. Bach's music were few and far between it has been difficult for performers and record collectors to assess and enjoy his achievement but over the past two decades the situation has begun to improve. His output was vast: 52 keyboard concertos a dozen and a half symphonies hundreds of keyboard sonatas and character pieces and a wealth of songs choral music and chamber works.ÞAccompanied by a full-length H¢nssler Classic CD of the composer's finest and most representative works this survey offers a comprehensive overview of this magnificent all-but-unknown body of music and makes the case for regarding C. P. E. as a true classic.

HANDEL: A LISTENER'S GUIDE

The greatest musical prodigy since Mozart (some would say he was even greater), Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847) excelled in everything he did, musical or otherwise, and during his brief life became Europe’s most respected and beloved composer. Yet no musician suffered more drastic swings in his posthumous reputation, and as a result Mendelssohn’s music was obscured by a host of extra-musical factors: changes in taste, the rise of nationalism, anti-Semitism, and contempt for Victorian culture. This “owner’s manual” offers a guide to Mendelssohn’s musical output, major and minor, providing points of entry into a large body of work, much of which remains far too little known. There’s much more to Mendelssohn than the “Italian” Symphony and the “Midsummer Night’s Dream” Overture, and a whole creative world of vivid, expressive, and fantastical music is ready for exploration.

In this book Hurwitz takes the reader/listener through Mozart's chamber and orchestral music. This music doesn't sound like anyone else's ä only Mozart could have written it. What makes it so special and how to enjoy it are explored. The CD contains excerpts from BMG Classics Recordings.

Since Gustav Mahler was rediscovered in the early 1960s his symphonies have become arguably the most popular works in the modern orchestral repertoire. ÊMahler's Symphonies: An Owner's ManualÊ is the first discussion of the ten completed symphonies (No. 1-9 plus The Song of the Earth ) to offer music lovers and record collectors a comprehensive overview of the music itself what it sounds like how it is organized its form content and meaning as it strikes today's listeners. The book caters to the novice as David Hurwitz describes what the listener will hear section by section using simple cues such as important instrumental solos recognizable tunes climaxes and other easily audible musical facts. He explains how each work is arranged how the various parts relate to each other and how one work leads to the next. It describes the emotional extravagance that lies at the root of Mahler's popularity the consistency of his symphonic thinking the relationship of each work to its companions and his dazzling and revolutionary use of orchestral instruments to create an expressive musical language that is varied in content and immediate in impact. The accompanying CD contains recordings from ÊSymphony No. 1 Third Movement; Symphony No. 2 First Movement; Symphony No. 5 Third MovementÊ; and ÊSymphony No. 7 Second MovementÊ: Nachtmusik I.

Mozart was the first composer whose operas have never left the international repertoire and for many he remains one of the finest vocal composers who ever lived. In a sense all of his music is vocal music depending as it does on arresting singable melodies but in his great operas single arias and sacred works Mozart put his melodic gift to work revealing the subtleties and expressive potential of a wide range of texts in languages ranging from Italian to Latin to German. In every case he created masterpieces from operas such as ÊThe Marriage of Figaro Don GiovanniÊ and ÊThe Magic FluteÊ to the sacred choral motet ÊAve Verum CorpusÊ and of course the unfinished ÊRequiemÊ his final project.ÞÞThis second ÊGetting the Most Out of MozartÊ volume in our Unlocking the Masters series focuses on Mozart's great operas and other vocal works but also discusses numerous lesser-known compositions from operas he wrote as a child to insertion arias for favorite singers or operas by other composers. In each case David Hurwitz describes how the musical setting and choice of instruments supports the text. He takes readers through the seven major operas aria by aria showing how Mozart uses vocal style and orchestration to create believable and moving characters that remain the standard for characterization in music to which all composers and dramatists aspire.ÞÞThe accompanying CD from Telarc Records includes 14 works.

Jean Sibelius was not only Finland's greatest composer he was one of the most distinctive and appealing musical voices in the first half of the 20th century especially renowned for his characterful handling of the romantic symphony orchestra. His example has led directly to an unprecedented cultural flowering in his homeland making this small country of 5 million people a powerhouse in the world of classical music composition and performance.ÞÊSibelius The Orchestral Works ä An Owner's ManualÊ considers over 80 individual orchestral pieces from songs and choruses to symphonies tone poems overtures and theatrical music. Along the way readers are invited to identify and enjoy the fascinating mix of elements that make up Sibelius's colorful personal idiom. Two CDs accompanying the text offer not only a rich selection of music by Sibelius including two complete symphonies and two of his most popular tone poems but also a representative selection of the best Finnish music by his contemporaries and successors. This approach offers a unique opportunity: to hear Sibelius in context and gain an understanding of exactly what distinguishes him from his contemporaries how he influenced later generations and how it was that he came to be viewed as the musical spokesperson of an entire nation.

Leonard Bernstein's fame as a conductor and general cultural phenomenon has overshadowed his genius as a composer despite the fact that at least some of his orchestral music has entered the standard repertoire and achieved a well-deserved measure of popularity. In fact his achievement in the field of serious music is both larger and more significant than is usually acknowledged. It includes three symphonies several noteworthy pieces for soloists and orchestra ballets that are often performed in concert suites from his various stage works music for voices and orchestra and a substantial numbers of overtures and shorter pieces. In all of this music Bernstein's level of craftsmanship and inspiration remains consistently high. Even more remarkably and despite his lifelong involvement as a conductor in presenting the works of other composers his distinctive personality and style animate every bar. The direct emotional appeal of Bernstein's original work has always spoken most directly to music-loving audiences (as opposed to critics or academics) and so this book in tandem with the accompanying CD describes all of his significant concert music in a detailed but approachable way for listeners who want to explore his richly varied and colorful orchestral output ä both the familiar and the unfamiliar ä in greater depth.