Libros de música, página 81 de 878

For three decades, Anthony Braxton has been alternately celebrated, dismissed and attacked for his musical innovations. His ambitious efforts to reconcile and personalize the historically divergent and often conflicting worldviews and principles of African-American (jazz), American Experimental (post-Ives), and Western European (post-serial) traditions have attracted both loyal supporters and passionate critics. Mike Heffley has followed Braxton's widely varied music from its beginning, and in 1988 began a professional musical relationship with him. His "biography" of Braxton's music is just that - a look at the music as if it were a living entity, with a traceable ancestry, a describable place in the world, and a history full of drama, intrigue and passion.

Like a great piece of rock music, an artful photograph is part harmony and part unexpected chaos. Mark Seliger is an artist who chronicles the music world and transposes its idioms to the photographic medium. The result is unexpected yet carefully composed. Fresh, lively and original, his style adapts itself to his subjects. Not overly mannered, his images crackle with life and a dare one say it a beauty. Appearing in notable magazines such as Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair, his works feature the biggest music legends of the ''80s through today such as Bono, Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, Snoop Dog, and Dolly Parton.

This brilliant portrayal weaves Beethoven's musical and biographical stories into their historical and artistic contexts. Lewis Lockwood sketches the turbulent personal, historical, political, and cultural frameworks in which Beethoven worked and examines their effects on his music. "The result is that rarest of achievements, a profoundly humane work of scholarship that will"or at least should"appeal to specialists and generalists in equal measure" (Terry Teachout, Commentary). Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. "Lewis Lockwood has written a biography of Beethoven in which the hours that Beethoven spent writing music"that is, his methods of working, his interest in contemporary and past composers, the development of his musical intentions and ideals, his inner musical life, in short"have been properly integrated with the external events of his career. The book is invaluable." "Charles Rosen "Lockwood writes with poetry and clarity"a rare combination. I especially enjoyed the connection that he makes between the works of Beethoven and the social and political context of their creation"we feel closer to Beethoven the man without losing our wonder at his genius." "Emanuel Ax "The magnum opus of an illustrious Beethoven scholar. From now on, we will all turn to Lockwood's Beethoven: The Music and the Life for insight and instruction." "Maynard Solomon "This is truly the Beethoven biography for the intelligent reader. Lewis Lockwood speaks in his preface of writing on Beethoven's works at 'a highly accessible descriptive level.' But he goes beyond that. His discussion of the music, based on a deep knowledge of its context and the composition processes behind it, explains, elucidates,and is not afraid to evaluate; while the biographical chapters, clearly and unfussily written, and taking full account of the newest thinking on Beethoven, align closely with the musical discussion. The result is a deeply perceptive book that comes as close as can be to presenting the man and the music as a unity." -Stanley Sadie, editor, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians "Impressive for both its scholarship and its fresh insights, this landmark work"fully accessible to the interested amateur"immediately takes its place among

The Music and Art of Radiohead provides compelling close readings of the English band''s music, lyrics, album cover art and music videos as well as critical commentary on interviews, reviews and the documentary film Meeting People is Easy. Established and emerging academic scholars engage with Radiohead''s music and art via concerns of broader implication to contemporary cultural studies.Topics range from the band''s various musical and multivalent social contexts to their contested situation within a global market economy; from asking the question, ''how free is art?'' to considering the band''s musical influences and radical sonic explorations. Together, the essays form a comprehensive discussion of Radiohead''s entire oeuvre, from Pablo Honey to Hail to the Thief, with a special focus on the critically acclaimed best-selling albums Kid A and Amnesiac.

Substantially expanded, updated, and redesigned for the first time since it was initially published in 1999, the ultimate music companion just got bigger and better. When Columbia released The Voice of Frank Sinatra in 1949, the album format was born. Using this as a starting point, The MOJO Collection charts the evolution of the L.P. over seven decades, through reviews of much-loved classics and little-known masterpieces, right up to Coldplay''s acclaimed A Rush of Blood to the Head, Eminem''s The Marshall Mathers LP, and Norah Jones''s Come Away With Me. Substantially revised, redesigned, and expanded for the first time, The MOJO Collection now contains over seven hundred specially commissioned reviews by forty of the world''s top music journalists. With the benefit of hindsight, and through interviews with many of the people involved in recording, these reviews offer fascinating, surprising, and authoritative new perspectives into the genesis and importance of each album. Every entry comes with recording and production details and much more. The page layout and indexing systems have been thoroughly redesigned. Readers can take advantage of this new user-friendliness, following clear signposts to similar albums, contemporary works, and artists'' influences. As a new feature, Top Five albums from various artists, along with billboard statistics from down the years are interspersed throughout, providing juicy trivia. Articles on areas of music that didn''t revolve around the L.P. format, such as easy listening and reggae, plus a listing of essential sound tracks and the hundred greatest compilation albums of all time add even more for every music lover. Not just for the hard-core music fanbut for all who enjoy music, The MOJO Collection is an astonishingly accessible, well-written, and unique approach to the genre, giving new perspectives on old favorites and introducing you to some of the music you may have missed along the way. Compiled by the staff and contributors of "Mojo" magazine, "The Mojo Collection" tells the stories behind the greatest albums of all time and the artists who made them.