Unlocking the Masters – serie

Bach’s Operas of the Soul is the first introduction for the general music lover to Bach’s sacred cantatas to appear in nearly half a century. In clear and accessible language, Mark Ringer examines this vast output of masterpieces as the great musical dramatic creations that they are in order to open these works to a wider audience.Bach’s sacred cantatas represent an almost superhuman artistic and spiritual achievement, arguably the richest investment by a great composer within a single genre. But outside of a handful of pieces, they remain a closed book to a majority of serious listeners already familiar with Bach’s large-scale religious works. Nevertheless, the same musical-dramatic genius of Bach’s Passions is fully evident in virtually all of the composer's sacred cantatas. This book’s innovative approach to Bach’s Sacred Cantatas is to think of them as sermons in musical-dramatic form, un-staged operas, planned for each occasion of the church year. Bach’s ability to dramatize text through music is unmatched throughout history. His era relished dramatic contrast and Bach’s use of the human voice offers a constantly changing pallet of vocal colors. The singers play ‘roles’ throughout the cantatas from penitent sinner, to ardent believer, to Christ himself. The emotions and dramatic situations expressed are as varied as the human condition.This book will be of use to readers interested in opera and vocal music who have already come to love Bach’s Passions and who want to familiarize themselves with this wide array of masterpieces.

Victor Lederer surveys the music of Hector Berlioz, one of the most pioneering orchestrators in history, and introduces the general music lover to both his masterpieces such as Les Troyens and lesser known gems.A bold innovator in the 19th century, Berlioz was a musical dramatist with an output that is less familiar than it should be and often misunderstood. His most famous and popular pieces are the thrilling programmatic symphonies, the Symphonie fantastique and Harold en Italie. The “dramatic symphonies” Roméo et Juliette and La damnation de Faust are both driven by conflict and excitement, which contrast his piercing, long-limbed melodies and startling harmonic shifts. Berlioz’s strongly profiled musical style possesses high rhythmic energy, and manic outbursts that are instantly identifiable as his, and he is widely acknowledged as one of the most innovative and effective orchestrators in history. The book is accompanied by online audio tracks to select Berlioz works from the Naxos library.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Composer bon vivant pianist teacher superstar showman raconteur writer entrepreneur ladies' man philanthropist and priest Franz Liszt is widely viewed today not only as a great composer but also as the greatest pianist of the 19th century. Yet his enormous body of piano music by turns poetic glittering acrobatic prophetic profound and haunting failed to command the acclaim it deserved in his lifetime. In ÊLisztÊ John Bell Young takes a close look at this opulent music illuminating its many facets and challenges from a pianist's engaged perspective.ÞHIGHLIGHTÞÛ Never-before-released recordings of five extraordinary young pianists are included on an accompanying CD

Ringer sheds new perspectives on Schubert's songs focusing on their incomparable dramatic power which often exceeds that of many a full-fledged opera. But Schubert's stage was not to be the public theaters of the repressive Metternich regime in Vienna but the far less censorable theater of the mind. Schubert's theater of song would spring to life in intimate social gatherings of like-minded friends wherever a singer and a fortepiano were available. They rightfully belong to every music lover. This is the first introductory guide for the general reader to appear in many years.

John Bell Young explores some of the richest and most memorable instrumental music ever written. How did this prolific musician compose more than a thousand masterpieces in a career that spanned less than two decades? Young's colorful analysis of a Schubert's greatest orchestral piano and chamber works deftly illuminates these issues. The accompanying CD features superb performances by Claudio Arrau.

Along with Beethoven's sonatas and the purely idiomatic works for piano of Chopin and Debussy the solo keyboard music of Johann Sebastian Bach represents the heart of the pianist's repertory; in the more specialized field of music for the organ Bach's primacy seems beyond challenge. This listener's guide to Bach's music for the keyboard provides the interested amateur with a close but non-technical look at these two crucial parts of the master's oeuvre. The composer's tendency to work exhaustively in tightly structured formats ä such as the 48 preludes and fugues of ÊThe Well-Tempered ClavierÊ ä provides a natural framework for this study; but the power beauty high polish and occasionally the sheer strangeness of Bach's imagination are carefully examined as well.

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.

Beethoven's works for solo piano – the sonatas, variations, and bagatelles – and the five concertos for piano and orchestra stand at the heart of the repertory. Beethoven's Piano Music: A Listener's Guide, by Victor Lederer, will help the motivated reader understand this popular but often knotty music. The bulk of the text consists of a movement-by-movement analysis of the 32 sonatas, fascinating for their individuality and for the way they trace the master's development.In addition to the sonatas, Lederer also takes the reader through the most significant of the variations. The greatest is the Diabelli, Beethoven's monumental takeoff on a trivial theme, but three more sets, the 32 Variations in C minor, the Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 34, and the “Eroica” Variations, Op. 35, are also of the highest quality. And the Bagatelles, Opp. 33, 119, and 126, are short but strong studies that display different aspects of Beethoven's musical personality. Finally, Lederer discusses the five piano concertos in detail, showing the influence of the sublime models of Mozart in the first three concertos, with Beethoven boldly finding his own voice with the beloved Fourth and Fifth Concertos. The book comes with a Naxos CD containing performances by pianist Jenö Jandó that illustrate the text.

Ludwig van Beethoven's chamber works are some of his most revered compositions. Victor Lederer guides the serious nonprofessional listener through this oeuvre in his new book ÊBeethoven's Chamber Music: A Listener's GuideÊ.ÞLederer shows how Beethoven's sonatas for violin and piano overflow with high energy and spirits showing a creative force that transcended personal struggles. The Kreutzer sonata Op. 47 displays all the power of the master's middle period while the G Major sonata Op. 96 foreshadows Beethoven's mellower late works. The author also considers the sonatas for cello and piano which span Beethoven's early middle and late periods and examines the piano trios including the immense Archduke trio.ÞA highlight of the book is an exploration of the sixteen string quartets which represent the pinnacle of Beethoven's achievement in chamber music. Lederer explains how the middle-period quartets starting with the epic Razumovsky set shatter molds and create new procedures often on a stunning scale and why the five late quartets and the Great Fugue are considered the peaks of the quartet literature and of Beethoven's own output. Lederer helps both new and experienced listeners grasp the strangeness and grandeur of these astonishing creations.ÞThe book comes with a compact disc containing musical selections drawn from critically acclaimed performances on Naxos Records.

Giuseppe Verdi's career forms one of the loveliest arcs in musical history. The passion of his works resonates universally while the sophistication of his middle and late operas satisfies demanding ears and tastes. In ÊVerdi: The Operas and Choral WorksÊ Victor Lederer surveys every one of the master's 28 operas and his greatest choral pieces showing Verdi's growth as a musical dramatist ä he would revolutionize the hidebound conventions of 19th-century Italian opera ä and his single-minded pursuit of dramatic truth.ÞAfter describing the chaotic milieu in which Verdi learned his craft the book provides act-by-act analyses of the early masterpieces ÊNabuccoÊ ÊErnaniÊ and ÊMacbethÊ. The neglected operas from the composer's self-described years in the galleys are covered together. Lederer then takes readers through the magnificent sequence of Verdi operas from ÊLuisa MillerÊ onward including the fine but underrated ÊStiffelioÊ. Each of the late operas ä ÊDon CarloÊ ÊAidaÊ and ÊOtelloÊ and ÊFalstaffÊ the twin Shakespearean masterworks that crown Verdi's oeuvre ä is discussed at length in its own chapter. Lederer also examines Verdi's monumental Requiem along with the choral ÊQuattro pezzi sacriÊ Verdi's sublime final achievement. The book comes with a Naxos CD of musical selections representing highlights from throughout Verdi's long remarkable career.

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.ÞVirtually from the day they were written Strauss's tone poems from the late nineteenth century ä works such as ÊDon JuanÊ ÊTill EulenspiegelÊ ÊAlso Sprach ZarathustraÊ and ÊDeath and TransfigurationÊ ä have been repertory standards. So have the operas ÊSalomeÊ ÊElektraÊ and ÊDer RosenkavalierÊ. 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.ÞThis 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.

An enigma to those who knew him, the early-20th century French master Maurice Ravel composed some of the most popular and beloved music in the repertory. In Ravel: A Listener's Guide, Victor Lederer surveys and explores this master's refined and utterly distinctive oeuvre.Ravel is often mentioned in the same breath as his older contemporary Claude Debussy, but the works of the two composers display as many differences as similarities. Where Debussy rejected existing forms, the structuralist Ravel embraced the baroque suite and classical sonata form as vehicles for his ideas, in addition to his own concise inventions. At his best, which is where we usually find this focused stylist, passion flows just beneath some of the most exquisitely crafted surfaces in music, under which lurk ironies that raise as many questions as they answer. A perfect example is Boléro, Ravel's most famous work; Lederer analyzes the music and looks at the outsized role it has assumed in our culture.Lederer walks the reader and listener through Ravel's relatively small but crucial contributions to orchestral, vocal, chamber, and piano music. Ravel's two operas, idiosyncratic and underappreciated, are examined in detail as well. The book includes a Naxos CD with examples from across the master's career.

HANDEL: A LISTENER'S GUIDE

Over the course of some three dozen volumes, Amadeus Press' highly acclaimed Unlocking the Masters series has drawn readers into the worlds of the greatest composers and their music. Curated pairings of critically minded introductory texts and companion CDs loaded with tracks selected from the world's foremost libraries of recorded classics, the series truly brings the sounds and stories of its legendary subjects to life. Its latest entry, Victor Lederer's Schumann: A Listener's Guide, is an essential portal to the musical works of and tempestuous life of this little-understood genius. Many, if not most, major composers improve over the course of their careers. For Schumann, however, the opposite was true: plagued throughout his life by physical and mental illnesses, he helplessly – and consciously – endured the gradual diminution of his prodigious talent until his premature death at age 46. Throughout Schumann: A Listener's Guide, Lederer provides unflinching critiques of the weaknesses that plagued Schumann's style, contrasting them with the brilliance of his earliest triumphs. This eminently accessible account explores the full spectrum of the master composer's oeuvre, from his popular early music and lieder to his works for chamber ensembles composed in 1842 to his four beloved, if flawed, symphonies. It also accounts for Schumann's dramatic works, particularly Genoveva, his only opera, and Incidental Music to Byron's “Manfred ” a bewilderingly unappreciated musical score. As with all volumes in the UTM series, Schumann: A Listener's Guide is accompanied by a CD containing two of the master's most daring imaginative flights, both explored in detail in the text: the Davidsbündlertänze for piano and Dichterliebe (A Poet's Love), one of the all-time greatest song cycles and works for voice. Geared toward fledglings, but written with an eye turned to aficionados, the book is a must-have for Schumann buffs and classical music fans young and old.