New Books at PEOSTA

Description: In the years spanning from 1800 to 1824, Ludwig van Beethoven completed nine symphonies, now considered among the greatest masterpieces of Western music. …Martin Geck opens the book with an enthralling series of cultural, political, and musical motifs that run throughout the symphonies. A leading theme is Beethoven’s intense intellectual and emotional engagement with the figure of Napoleon, an engagement that survived even Beethoven’s disappointment with Napoleon’s decision to be crowned emperor in 1804. (publ.)
Note: Originally published as: Die Sinfonien Beethovens: Neun Wege zum Ideenkunstwerk (Hildesheim, Germany: Georg Olms Verlag, 2015).

Reviewed: CHE 11 Aug. 2017 (new books)
Description: A new look at the life, times, and music of Polish composer and piano virtuoso Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849). This collection offers for the first time in English an extended tribute to Chopin published in Poland upon his death and contemporary Polish writings contextualizing Chopin's compositional strategies. (publ.)

Description: Chronicles Bessie Smith’s vital contribution to and influence on music, the music industry, and the recording industry. While her recording career lasted only a decade, she toured long before setting her music to vinyl, with much of her early career amply documented. Singers from Billie Holiday to Janis Joplin were influenced by her work, and both musicians and music lovers today continue to be entranced by her unmistakable style. (publ.)

Reviewed: WSJ 15/16 July 2017 p. C9; Choice Nov 2017 vol. 55 no. 3 (recommended for community college libraraies)
Description: Bix Beiderbecke was one of the first great legends of jazz. Among the most innovative cornet soloists of the 1920s and the first important white player, he invented the jazz ballad and pointed the way to cool jazz. But his recording career lasted just six years; he drank himself to death in 1931 at the age of twenty-eight. (publ.)
Note: Both Beiderbecke & his biographer, Brendan Wolfe, grew up in Davenport, Iowa.

Reviewed: Choice Sep. 2017 vol. 55 no. 1 (Highly Recommended; recommended for community college libraries)
Description: For many of us, classical music is something serious–something we study in school, something played by cultivated musicians at fancy gatherings. In Language of the Spirit, renowned music scholar Jan Swafford argues that we have it all wrong: classical music has something for everyone and is accessible to all. Ranging from Gregorian chant to Handel’s Messiah, from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons to the postmodern work of Philip Glass, Swafford is an affable and expert guide to the genre. (publ.)

Description: Robert Schumann was far ahead of his time, not least in his attitude to children and young people; his Advice for Young Musicians, originally created to accompany his famous Album for the Young, remains as relevant today as when it was written. Celebrated cellist Steven Isserlis adds his own extensive commentary to Schumann’s words of wisdom. The advice is by turns practical, humorous, and profound, making this volume a must for all aspiring musicians of all ages and standards. (publ.)

Description: Glenda Dawn Goss begins her sweeping narrative in the Fin-land of Sibelius’s youth, which remained under Russian control for the first five decades of his life. Focusing on previously unexamined events, Goss explores the composer’s formative experiences as a Russian subject and a member of the Swedish-speaking Finnish minority. She goes on to trace Sibelius's relationships with his creative contemporaries, with whom he worked to usher in a golden age of music and art that would endow Finns with a sense of pride in their heritage and encourage their hopes for the possibilities of nationhood. Skillfully evoking this artistic climate–in which Sibelius emerged as a leader–Goss creates a dazzling portrait of the painting, sculpture, literature, and music it inspired. To solve the deepest riddles of Sibelius’s life, work, and enigmatic silence, Goss contends, we must understand the awakening in which he played so great a role. (publ.)

Reviewed: PW 21 Aug. 2017 p. 103 (mentioned)
Description: Examines Handel’s masterwork “Hallelujah Chorus,” and uncovers a disturbing message of anti-Judaism buried within its joyous celebration of the divinity of the Christ. (publ.)

Reviewed: NYRB 13 July 2017 p. 40; Choice Sep 2017 vol. 55 no. 1 (Highly recommended; Recommended for community college libraries)
Description: April of 1958–the Iron Curtain was at its heaviest, and the outcome of the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition seemed pre-ordained. Nonetheless, as star musicians from across the globe descended on Moscow, an unlikely favorite emerged: Van Cliburn, a polite, lanky Texan whose passionate virtuosity captured the Russian spirit. This is the story of what unfolded that spring–for Cliburn and the other competitors, jurors, party officials, and citizens of the world who were touched by the outcome. It is a behind-the-scenes look at one of the most remarkable events in musical history, filled with political intrigue and personal struggle as artists strove for self-expression and governments jockeyed for prestige. Stuart Isacoff is a pianist, writer, and the founder of Piano Today magazine, which he edited for nearly three decades.