This book explores the works and influence of the eighteenth-century British composer Charles Avison. Although he spent most of his life in the northern town of Newcastle upon Tyne, Avison went on to have a marked impact on the musical life of Britain during the second half of the eighteenth century. His concertos become part of the national concert repertory, while his critical treatise, An Essay on Musical Expression, shaped debates about musical aesthetics. This book provides t...

Published to mark the beginning of the Britten centenary year in 2013, Paul Kildea's Benjamin Britten: A Life in the Twentieth Century is the definitive biography of Britain's greatest modern composer.In the eyes of many, Benjamin Britten was our finest composer since Purcell (a figure who often inspired him) three hundred years earlier. He broke decisively with the romantic, nationalist school of figures such as Parry, Elgar and Vaughan Williams and recre...

The Classical Music Map of Britain is a charming and fascinating journey around the UK from a classical music perspective. Extensively researched and beautifully written, every entry explains why each place was so special to the composer in question, which pieces were composed there, and whether it's currently open to the public. The Classical Music Map of Britain is an enchanting adventure around some of our lesser-known landmarks - perfect for any lover of history or classical music, or ...

Handel is one of the most remarkable figures in the history of western music. His compositions form one of the peaks of creative achievement in the Baroque period, and cover a remarkable range: full-scale Italian operas and English oratorios (including Messiah), but also shorter works such as the Water Music and the Coronation Anthem Zadok the Priest. His compositional processes were often complex, but could result in accessible and memorable 'hit tunes', such as the aria that subsequently...

The British horn player Dennis Brain (19211957) is commonly described by such statements as the greatest horn player of the 20th Century, a genius, and a legend. He was both a prodigy and popularizer, famously performing a concerto on a garden hose in perfect pitch. On his usual concert instrument his tone was of unsurpassed beauty and clarity, complemented by a flawless technique. The recordings he made with Herbert von Karajan of Mozarts horn concerti are considered the definitive interp...

Volume One of these remarkable letters and diaries opens with a letter from Britten aged nine to his formidable mother, Edith. Music is already at the centre of his life, and it accompanies him through prep and public school and then to London to the Royal College of Music, where the phenomenally gifted but inexperienced young composer is plunged into metropolitan life and makes influential new friends, among them W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood. This was a time of prodigious musical...

Robert Simpson (1921-1997) is widely regarded as the most important British composer in the generation following Benjamin Britten. He wrote 11 symphonies, 15 string quartets, much other chamber music and works for brass band. He also wrote definitive studies of Bruckner and Nielsen. A committed socialist and pacifist, Simpson worked as a volunteer on a mobile surgical unit during the London blitz. Brought up in the Salvation Army, he later rejected religion, and never tried to ingratiate h...

Where would classical music be without the orchestra? Whether they are of the symphony or chamber variety, every orchestra is made up of a group of musicians playing together as one body to bring the music of the great composers to life. This handy reference guide from Classic FM takes you on a whistle-stop tour of the greatest orchestras at home and abroad, stopping off to explore the world of orchestral instruments, as well as making plenty of musical recommendations along the way. The o...

The Faber Pocket Guide to Handel offers a detailed but accessible exploration of George Frederick Handel, his composition, and his legacy. A larger-than-life figure in his time, Handel's reputation has been less than steady since his death in 1759. Was he (in the words of Berlioz) just 'a great barrel of pork and beer', or (as Handel himself claimed) truly 'the master of us all'? Now, more than 250 years after his death, there is more interest in Handel than ever before, with his ...

The story of British classical music extends over more than a thousand years. A distinctive national tone was identifiable already in medieval times, and in the fifteenth century Dunstable was a leading international figure. The Renaissance saw the emergence of great composers such as Tallis, Byrd and Gibbons, and the seventeenth century was lit up by the brief but brilliant career of Purcell. After a long period dominated by composers from abroad, British creativity reasserted itself once mo...

Handel is recognised as one of the principal creative figures in Baroque music. In this Companion acknowledged experts on Handel make their expertise accessible to the interested general reader and music lover. All the genres in which Handel composed are considered including oratorio, chamber cantata, opera, and church music, as well as works for the keyboard and orchestra. The wide-ranging, specially-commissioned essays cover topics from Handel's composing methods to his treatment of the ...

"I recommend this book wholeheartedly to new music lovers" Sir Charles Groves CBE Thanks to Nigel Kennedy and Pavarotti, millions of people have recently discovered that classical music is a highly enjoyable experience, perhaps contrary to their expectations. But the world of classical music can be highly intimidating and confusing. Ian Christians, for many years a passionate believer in broadening the interest in classical music, has developed a unique approach, designed to make it as eas...