The Cambridge Companion to Bach goes beyond a basic life-and-works study to provide a late twentieth-century perspective on J. S. Bach the man and composer. The book is divided into three parts. Part One is concerned with the historical context, the society, beliefs and the world-view of Bachs age. The second part discusses the music and Bachs compositional style, while Part Three considers Bachs influence and the performance and reception of his music through the succeeding generations. This Companion benefits from the insights and research of some of the most distinguished Bach scholars, and from it the reader will gain a notion of the diversity of current thought on this great composer. Provides comprehensive and indispensable background to thought and composition in Bachs day Includes theories of how and why Bachs achievement has been influential Contains new ways of understanding Bachs achievement and analysing and understanding the music
Composer pianist and writer Erik Satie was one of the great figures of Belle Époque Paris Known for his unvarying image of bowler hat three piece suit and umbrella Satie was a surrealist before Surrealism and a conceptual artist before Conceptual Art Friend of Cocteau and Debussy Picabia and Picasso Satie was always a few steps ahead of his peers at the apex of modernism There s scarcely a turn in postwar music both classical and popular that Satie doesn t anticipate Moving from the variety shows of Montmartre s Le Chat Noir to suburban Arcueil from the Parisian demi monde to the artistic avant garde cult critic Ian Penman s masterful Erik Satie Three Piece Suite is an exhilarating and playful three part study of this elusive and endlessly fascinating figure published to mark the centenary of Satie s death
The Beatles focuses on the group of young musicians who became a world phenomenon and were responsible for a consistently innovative body of music. The author examines why this music created, at least initially, as ephemera has remained so durable. Drawing on his researches into studio outtakes, demos, unreleased recordings and broadcast performances, he reveals how the tracks took shape, and how the groups live performances changed throughout its touring years.
