| Voices in the Wilderness: Six American Neo-Romantic Composers Contributor(s): Simmons, Walter (Author) |
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ISBN: 0810857286 ISBN-13: 9780810857285 Publisher: Scarecrow Press OUR PRICE: $66.33 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: February 2006 Annotation: Simmons examines those composers whose styles maintain continuity with the values and principles developed during the 19th century. The six composers chosen are each presented through a biographical overview, followed by a comprehensive assessment of their bodies of work. Each composer's musical output is discussed according to its stylistic origins and affinities with other composers, phases or periods of development, as well as strengths and weaknesses. Each chapter concludes with a discography of essential recordings. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Biography & Autobiography | Music |
| Dewey: B |
| Series: Modern Traditionalist Classical Music |
| Physical Information: 1.1" H x 6.38" W x 8.38" (1.26 lbs) 432 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 19th Century |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Despite the Modernist search for new and innovative aesthetics and rejection of traditional tonality, several twentieth century composers have found their own voice while steadfastly relying on the aesthetics and techniques of Romanticism and 19th century composition principles. Musicological and reference texts have regarded these composers as isolated exceptions to modern thoughts of composition-exceptions of little importance, treated simplistically and superficially. Music critic and scholar Walter Simmons, however, believes these composers and their works should be taken seriously. They are worthy of more scholarly consideration, and deserve proper analysis, assessment, and discussion in their own regard. In Voices in the Wilderness, the first in a series of books celebrating the "Twentieth-Century Traditionalist," Simmons looks at six Neo-Romantic composers: Ernest Bloch Howard Hanson Vittorio Giannini Paul Creston Samuel Barber Nicolas Flagello Through biographical overviews and a comprehensive assessment of musical works, Simmons provides readers with a clear understanding of the significance of the composers, their bodies of work, and their placement in musicological history. The chapters delve deeply and objectively into each composer's oeuvre, addressing their origins, stylistic traits and consistencies, phases of development, strengths and weaknesses, and affinities with other composers. The composers' most representative works are identified, and each chapter concludes with a discography of essential recordings. Visit the author's website to read samples from the book and to listen to representative excerpts of each composer's work. |