Australian Piano Music of the Twentieth Century

by Larry Sitsky

Overview

This is the first book to comprehensively cover all of the Australian piano music of the 20th century. It is lavishly illustrated with over 300 music examples, giving a very clear picture of the various composers and styles. The composers are listed within various historical and stylistic blocks as well as within consideration of their own pianistic prowess. The large number of scores will help future researchers as well as recording and concert pianists who are searching for new and exciting repertoire.

This is an invaluable book certain to appeal to music lovers, the professional musician and amateur, and students. In fact, anyone interested in the piano and its historical evolution will appreciate this volume.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313322860
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	04/30/2005
Series:	Music Reference Collection , #87
Pages:	356
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.81(d)

About the Author

Larry Sitsky is Head of the Composition Department, School of Music, Australian National University. He is also the author of Music of the Twentieth-Century Avant-Garde (Greenwood Press, 2002).

Table of Contents

List of Musical Examples
Acknowledgment
Preface
The First Generation
Composers of Their Time: Early Modernists and Neoclassicists
Composers Looking Back: Late Romantics and the Nineteenth-Century Legacy
The "Australian" Composers
The Second Generation
Post-1945 Modernism
Retrospective Composers
More "Australian" Composers
Sitsky's Keyboard Music
The Third Generation
The Next Wave of Modernism
Minimalism and Maximalism
Pluralism: Popular Music/Jazz/Neotonality
"Australian" Composers: The Next Generation
The Youngest Composers
The Australian Piano Concerto
Conclusion
Bibliography
Appendix: Database of Piano Works Considered

Editorial Reviews

Australian Piano Music us abundantly illustrated with well-chosen excerpts from the scores discussed, and the individual treatment of each composer makes it an effective reference text, easily consulted for commentary on a particular composer. Those wishing to gain an overview of Australian music and cultural history will do well by reading it from beginning to end. An appendix, listing publication details of the works discussed, will help pianists seeking to explore new and unfamiliar repertoire.” —Music Reference Services Quarterly

“Composer and pianist Sitsky offers a detailed overview of 20th-century Australian piano music. Using a wealth of musical examples, he explores the ways the genre has developed from the work of early modernist composers such as Margaret Sutherland through the contemporary jazz of pianist Simplicius Cheong.” —Reference & Research Book News

From the Publisher