Libros de Compositores e Intérpretes, página 23 de 168

From the romantic agonies of Hector Berlioz to the lonely labours of Anton Bruckner, and from the cosmopolitan triumphs of George Frideric Handel to the politically fraught career of Dmitri Shostakovich in the Soviet Union, the lives of the great composers are as varied and multifaceted as the works of creative genius they produced. Writing with verve and passion, broadcaster and writer Jeremy Nicholas presents, in chronological order, elegant, informative and often affectionate biographical profiles of 50 of the greatest composers in the history of classical music. The biographies not only describe the life, artistic development and creative output of each composer, but also set the composers and their works in a broader historical and cultural context. Furthermore, shortlists of ''must-hear'' masterpieces for each composer give the reader all the information they need to begin to build a brilliant classical music collection. Taken together, the 50 profiles in The Great Composers amount to a concise history of 500 years of classical music. Accessible and entertaining, but also informative and authoritative, this is the perfect introduction to the world of classical music for the general reader.

El mercat editorial està farcit de volums sobre els astres del rock`n`roll...

Neil Zlozower, David Lee RothFrom Van Halen's eponymous 1978 debut through their colossal 1984 album (both selling over 10 million copies), the band rewrote all the rules. Nobody rocked or partied harder. Photographer Neil Zlozower first met the band in 1978, worked with them again on Van Halen II, and soon became their friend, hanging out in L.A. and hitting the road on tour with them. Van Halen collects more than 250 backstage, candid, and full rock-out photos of the all-powerful, spandexed, high-kicking, guitar blazing, stadium-shaking, original Van Halen lineup. Accompanying Zlozower's amazing photos are an introduction about his wild ride with VH, a foreword by David Lee Roth, and testimony from the rock pantheon paying homage to the band, including members of Led Zeppelin, Guns 'n' Roses, Def Leppard, Judas Priest, KISS, Motley Crue, and more.

En el principio hay una escena de infidelidad: una noche en Viena, en 1907, Alban Berg escucha una sinfonía de Mahler y lo invade una sensación de infinita soledad. Luego le escribe a Helene Nahowski: "Esta noche, mi amor, te he sido infiel por primera vez. Ya sabes que mi idea de la fidelidad no es como la de la mayoria. Para mi, es un estado interior que nunca abandona al amante, que lo sigue como su sombra y se vuelve parte de su personalidad". A partir de ese momento, el ensayo de Esteban Buch se dispara en multiples direcciones que convergen en un mismo escenario: la Viena de fines de siglo XIX y principios del XX. Es un tiempo de cambio radical, que incluye la aparicion de la musica atonal y dodecafonica, de personajes como Schoenberg, Webern y hasta el propio T. W. Adorno convertido en mensajero amoroso. Porque de eso trata Historia de un secreto. Sobre la Suite Lirica de Alban Berg, de una pesquisa sobre el amor romantico, la musica de vanguardia, el estallido de la subjetividad y el destino desdichado de una de las biografias claves del siglo XX. La Suite Lirica para cuarteto de cuerdas es una de las obras mayores de Berg, y en ella se guarda un secreto: "Se trata de un secreto histerico, que grita aqui estoy, soy un secreto, revelame, poseeme, y luego se sustrae a la confesion, replegandose en la conciencia de los poseedores del secreto". El ensayo de Buch puede leerse tambien como una novela policial, como un enigma a resolver: el enigma de Alban Berg, que es al mismo tiempo el de toda una epoca, la de la crisis de la modernidad. Los libros de Esteban Buch ocupan ya un lugar central en el estudio de la relacion entre musica, politica y modernidad. Como pocos, su maestria reside en conjugar el rigor extremo del archivista con una escritura absolutamente literaria.

Octavio no engaña a nadie con su planteamiento de este libro. Escribe desde la entrega a la música y escribe desde la amistad de muchos años con Victoria. La amistad: para Octavio no es una prioridad. Es una necesidad. Mas aun: es el motivo principal de su existencia...

"I found a pattern in my behavior that had been repeating itself for years, decades even. Bad choices were my specialty, and if something honest and decent came along, I would shun it or run the other way." With striking intimacy and candor, Eric Clapton tells the story of his eventful and inspiring life in this poignant and honest autobiography. More than a rock star, he is an icon, a living embodiment of the history of rock music. Well known for his reserve in a profession marked by self-promotion, flamboyance, and spin, he now chronicles, for the first time, his remarkable personal and professional journeys. Born illegitimate in 1945 and raised by his grandparents, Eric never knew his father and, until the age of nine, believed his actual mother to be his sister. In his early teens his solace was the guitar, and his incredible talent would make him a cult hero in the clubs of Britain and inspire devoted fans to scrawl "Clapton is God" on the walls of London''s Underground. With the formation of Cream, the world''s first supergroup, he became a worldwide superstar, but conflicting personalities tore the band apart within two years. His stints in Blind Faith, in Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, and in Derek and the Dominos were also short-lived but yielded some of the most enduring songs in history, including the classic "Layla." During the late sixties he played as a guest with Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan, as well as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and longtime friend George Harrison. It was while working with the latter that he fell for George''s wife, Pattie Boyd, a seemingly unrequited love that led him to the depths of despair, self-imposed seclusion, and drug addiction. By the early seventies he had overcome his addiction and released the bestselling album 461 Ocean Boulevard, with its massive hit "I Shot the Sheriff." He followed that with the platinum album Slowhand, which included "Wonderful Tonight," the touching love song to Pattie, whom he finally married at the end of 1979. A short time later, however, Eric had replaced heroin with alcohol as his preferred vice, following a pattern of behavior that not only was detrimental to his music but contributed to the eventual breakup of his marriage. In the eighties he would battle and begin his rec

Sin duda nos encontramos ante la biografía definitiva de Bach, un texto riguroso, detallado y lleno de nuevas aportaciones que, además, está enriquecido con numerosos ejemplos de partituras, el índice de las obras de Bach y otros anexos de gran valor documental. Este libro, finalista del premio Pulitzer en 2001, ha sido celebrado ya por musicos tan relevantes como Gustav Leonhardt e Isaac Stern. "Esta biografia es una obra monumental que deberia ocupar un lugar en la biblioteca de cada musico y cada amante de la musica. Maravillosamente estructurado y profundamente documentado, este libro no solo ofrece una extraordinaria vision de las numerosas obras escritas sobre Bach, sino que expone nuevas opiniones y apreciaciones artisticas mucho mas amplias y profundas de lo que hasta hoy parecia posible. Wolff revela la importancia de Bach como excepcional guia e innovador de la creatividad musical cuyo legado ha influido en todos los compositores posteriores a el. Tambien nos muestra el profundo amor y el respeto del autor por la generosidad y el talento de Bach, como compositor, interprete, profesor, teologo y empresario. Este es un libro para leer con toda atencion y para volver a ser leido una y otra vez. La luz que arroja sobre los logros y el genio de Bacb es y sera por mucho tiempo un enorme tesoro."

El gener de 1959, Lluís Serrahima va publicar "Ens calen cançons d'ara" a la revista Germinabit. Amb el temps s'ha considerat aquest article com el manifest fundacional de la Nova Cançó. Al llarg dels anys seixanta es va produir una autèntica eclosió de grups i cantants en català: Els Setze Jutges (amb Pi de la Serra, Serrat, Bonet, Llach…), el Grup de Folk (amb Arnella, Falsterbo 3, Sisa, Pau Riba, Xesco Boix…), Raimon, Núria Feliu, Guillem d'Efak, Els Tres Tambors, Els Dracs, Els 4Z… Un univers musical impensable pocs anys abans que ha tingut continuïtat al llarg de 50 anys.

Contiene: Isaac Albéniz: el color de la música (DVD)/José Luis López-Linares. Iberia (DVD)/Carlos Saura. Albéniz, soñar España/Andrés Ruiz Tarazona. Esta edición conmemorativa en 3 volúmenes nos aproxima a la vida y obra de Isaac Albeniz.

Stephen DavisFrom the New York Times bestselling author, the complete story of the last rock supergroup from their drugfueled blast-off in the 1980s to the turbulent life of legendary singer Axl Rose and his fifteen-year, multi-million dollar effort to make the perfect hardrock album. With 90 million of the band's records sold worldwide since 1987, Guns N' Roses prolonged rock music past its sell-by date with controversial albums and immense, often riotous world tours. But the band's complete story has never been fully tolduntil now. In his sixth major rock biography, Stephen Davis details the riveting story of a band that originated in the gutters of Sunset Strip and went on to set attendance records on the biggest stadiums on the planet. Watch You Bleed documents the improbable story of W. Axl Rose, the biggest rock star of his generation. Taken from an abusive father in his infancy, he was raised as "Bill Bailey" in a strictly religious Indiana household by a stepfather who beat him for playing Led Zeppelin songs on the family piano. After quitting high school, and on the run from the police in his hometown, Axl arrived in Los Angeles in the midst of the street battles for supremacy among the top music genres of the eightiespost-punk, thrash, hair metal, and glam. The book also charts the backgrounds of every band member, especially Slash, a Hollywood street kid whose designer mother dated David Bowie. Davis brilliantly captures the birth of Guns' raw power, whichdespite rape charges, drug-induced rampages, and a general appetite for destruction launched the band into the pantheon of rock gods such as Led Zeppelin and theRolling Stones. With a wealth of detail, Davis looks at Axl's unrelenting quest to release the long-awaited, mystery-shrouded Chinese Democracy album, as well as the further adventures of some of the Gunners under the banner of the hard-rocking band Velvet Revolver. For the first time, millions of Guns N' Roses fans will learn the whole truthsometimes funny, sometimes tragicabout the last of the great rock bands. Biography

An Economist Best Book of 2007, Jonathan Carr''s The Wagner Clan was roundly acclaimed upon its publication in hardcover. Hailed as "fiendishly enjoyable" by Salon.com and "masterly" and "enthralling" by The Daily Telegraph, it proves that the history of Europe and that of the Wagners are inextricably intertwined. Carr presents not only Richard Wagner himself--composer, philosopher, philanderer, failed revolutionary, and virulent anti-Semite--but also a colorful cast of historical figures who feature in Wagner''s story: Franz Liszt (whose illegitimate daughter Cosima married Wagner); the "mad King" Ludwig II, who saved Wagner from penury by becoming his sponsor; Friedrich Nietzsche; Arthur Schopenhauer; Richard Strauss; Gustav Mahler; Arturo Toscanini; Joseph Goebbels; Hermann Goring; and the "Wolf" himself, Adolf Hitler, a passionate fan of the Master''s music and an adopted uncle to Wagner''s grandchildren. Wagner''s British-born daughter-in-law, Winifred, was a close friend of Hitler''s and seemed momentarily positioned to marry him after the death of her husband. All through the war the Bayreuth Festival, begun by the Master himself, was supported by Hitler, who had to fill the audience with fighting men and SS officers. After the war''s devastation, the festival was dark for a decade until Wagner''s offspring--with characteristic ambition and cunning--revived it. With the sweeping scope of a Wagnerian opera, The Wagner Clan is a riveting chronicle of the ascent, decline, and rehabilitation of the German nation and its most infamous family.