From Gregorian Chant to Henryk Gorecki, the first living classical composer to get into the pop album charts, here is the fascinating story of over a thousand years of Western classical music and the composers who have sought to express in music the deepest of human feelings and emotions. Polyphony, sonata form, serial music - many musical expressions are also explained - with the text illustrated by performances from some of the most highly praised recordings of recent years.
Music: From Gregorian Chant to Stravinsky and Gorecki - 150 musical excerpts illustrate the narrative
“Good work. An unpretentious 4-CD set, which delivers a comprehensive overview of the fourteen-plus centuries of classical music. Well-written by freelance writer and film director Richard Fawkes, it's a true Beginner's Guide which nevertheless offers a welcome refresher course to old classical hands as well. Read with freshness [and] good will by the British actor Robert Powell and illustrated with 150 musical examples, it's perfect for the car, Walkman, or laptop. And -- like everything Naxos does -- the price is right.”
Reviewer’s Bookwatch/The Midwest Book Review ...
“[A] fascinating and informative story. The text is illustrated by performances from some of the most highly praised recordings of recent years. Fawkes’ superb text is ably narrated by Robert Powell. Also highly recommended is Naxos AudioBooks edition of Fawkes’ The History of Opera.”
AudioFile Magazine...
“Written directly for recording, this is a splendid overview of several centuries of Western classical music. The text is neatly divided into four parts. Early and twentieth-century music get equal time with the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods. No previous musical knowledge is assumed. The cultured tones of British actor Powell lead the listener from plain chant to atonality with added snippets of social history and composers' biographies along the way. Examples from Naxos's extensive archives of recorded performances complement the text far more effectively than would print equivalents. The enduring spirituality of music is stressed; and, indeed, as the notes of Arvo Pärt's beautiful, contemporary Cantus fade at the end, one feels uplifted--and educated.”
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