Recent Books on Music

Recent Books on Music

Stravinsky, emigré A Windfall of Musicians: Hitler’s Émigrés and Exiles in Southern California (Yale University Press) by Dorothy Lamb Crawford examines the gathering of sixteen performers, fourteen composers (including Stravinsky...


Stravinsky, emigré

A Windfall of Musicians: Hitler’s Émigrés and Exiles in Southern California (Yale University Press) by Dorothy Lamb Crawford examines the gathering of sixteen performers, fourteen composers (including Stravinsky and Schoenberg) and one opera stage director, who fled Europe and arrived in the Los Angeles area from the 1930s onwards. While some were already famous, others would gain recognition in the young musical culture of Los Angeles, and still others struggled to establish themselves in an environment often resistant to musical innovation. yalepress.yale.edu 

Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original (Simon and Schuster) by Robin Kelley is the first book which has had exclusive access to the Monk family papers and private recordings, and brings to light a portrait of Thelonious Monk as witty, intelligent, generous, politically engaged, brutally honest and a devoted father and husband. Includes the story of his relationships with the Baroness Nica de Koenigswarter, Nellie Monk and various friends and family who sustained him during periods of joblessness, bipolar depression, incarceration, health crises, and other difficult moments. simonandschuster.com

The British Music Education Yearbook 2010 (Rhinegold Publishing) is a comprehensive directory of UK music education institutions, organisations and services for music students, parents and teachers from primary school to adult and continuing education level. Rhinegold also publishes the World Conservatories directory, the British and International Music Yearbook and the British Performing Arts Yearbook. rhinegold.co.uk

The Music Lover’s Literary Companion (JR Books), compiled by Joan and Dannie Abse, contains music writing by Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Shaw, Bernard Levin, Tolstoy, Carlisle, Philip Larkin and Alfred Brendel, as well as poetry by Shakespeare, Dryden, Thomas Hardy, W.H. Auden, Rilke, Ted Hughes, D.H. Lawrence and Louis MacNeice, and fiction by Balzac, Thomas Mann, Marcel Proust, Katherine Mansfield, Frank O’Connor and Roald Dahl. jrbooks.com

Working in the Music Industry: How to Find an Exciting and Varied Career in the World of Music (How To Books) by Anna Britten, who has worked for Warner Music and Naxos, contains chapters on record companies, music publishing, music PR and plugging, artist managers, booking agents and promoters, music journalism, recording studios and music retail. howto.co.uk

More Miles Than Money (Profile Books) by Garth Cartwright seeks out America’s musical spirit in its Indian reservations, barrio bars, juke joints and lost highways. Armed with a Greyhound ticket and enough money for his next beer, he set out to discover whether the American roots music he loved – blues and country, folk and soul – was still alive in the twenty-first century. See extract in this issue. profilebooks.com

Peterson’s College Guide for Performing Arts Majors (Simon and Schuster), edited by Jill Schwartz, helps students find a college program for studying dance, music or theatre in the US. Profiles professional baccalaureate and graduate degree programs, with information on costs, deadlines, enrollment, faculty and financial aid. Added features include advice from a former Juilliard admissions director on choosing a program and applying and auditioning, as well as articles written by current students about what it’s like to major in theatre, dance or music. simonandschuster.com

Published on 1 October 2009

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