The Way We Listen Now and Other Writings on Music
Selection from the musical writing of Bayan Northcott, one of the foremost musical critics of our time.

Published in association with the Cosman Keller Art and Music Trust.

Over the last forty years Bayan Northcott has established himself as one of London's leading music critics, a figure much admired by Hans Keller [1919-85] whose ideas he frequently invokes. Moving easily between the classics and the moderns, and writing with exceptional acuity, he brings a vast knowledge to bear on every issue great or small. In these years, though, he has alsodeveloped as a composer; and it is the meeting point of critic and artist that this, his first selection of essays, celebrates. The first part deals mainly with musical questions, the second with music for words, the third with agallery of composers, and the fourth with the various states of music. It is a book that will appeal to ordinary music lovers and connoisseurs alike.
"1141734382"
The Way We Listen Now and Other Writings on Music
Selection from the musical writing of Bayan Northcott, one of the foremost musical critics of our time.

Published in association with the Cosman Keller Art and Music Trust.

Over the last forty years Bayan Northcott has established himself as one of London's leading music critics, a figure much admired by Hans Keller [1919-85] whose ideas he frequently invokes. Moving easily between the classics and the moderns, and writing with exceptional acuity, he brings a vast knowledge to bear on every issue great or small. In these years, though, he has alsodeveloped as a composer; and it is the meeting point of critic and artist that this, his first selection of essays, celebrates. The first part deals mainly with musical questions, the second with music for words, the third with agallery of composers, and the fourth with the various states of music. It is a book that will appeal to ordinary music lovers and connoisseurs alike.
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<I>The Way We Listen Now</I> and Other Writings on Music

The Way We Listen Now and Other Writings on Music

<I>The Way We Listen Now</I> and Other Writings on Music

The Way We Listen Now and Other Writings on Music

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Overview

Selection from the musical writing of Bayan Northcott, one of the foremost musical critics of our time.

Published in association with the Cosman Keller Art and Music Trust.

Over the last forty years Bayan Northcott has established himself as one of London's leading music critics, a figure much admired by Hans Keller [1919-85] whose ideas he frequently invokes. Moving easily between the classics and the moderns, and writing with exceptional acuity, he brings a vast knowledge to bear on every issue great or small. In these years, though, he has alsodeveloped as a composer; and it is the meeting point of critic and artist that this, his first selection of essays, celebrates. The first part deals mainly with musical questions, the second with music for words, the third with agallery of composers, and the fourth with the various states of music. It is a book that will appeal to ordinary music lovers and connoisseurs alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780955608728
Publisher: BOYDELL & BREWER INC
Publication date: 05/21/2009
Series: Poetics of Music , #4
Pages: 224
Product dimensions: 6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.90(d)

Table of Contents

Author's Preface vii

Editor's Preface xi

Notes on the Artists xv

Part 1 The Sense of Sound

1 The Music that Remains 3

2 Compose Yourself 6

3 The Way We Listen Now 10

4 The Time of Music 13

5 The Music of Time 17

6 'Could I But Express...' 22

7 The Expressionist Moment 26

8 Sight and Sound 29

9 'Fain Would I Change That Note' 32

10 New Notes for Old Instruments 37

11 Survival of the Soundest 41

12 But is it Mozart? (I) 45

Part 2 The Music of Words

1 Setting Words to Rights 51

2 Cross-talk 55

3 The Librettist's Lament 60

4 Notes on Auden 65

Part 3 Composing Mortals

1 After Bach 79

2 Haydn Alone 84

3 But is it Mozart? (II) 87

4 Wagner Takes the Stage 90

5 Brahms and Antipathy 95

6 Poulenc en collage 99

7 The Case of Ruth Crawford Seeger 104

8 In Search of Walton 108

9 The Once and Future Tippett 116

10 The Britten Aesthetic 121

11 Stravinsky's Britten 127

12 Carter's Relativity Rag 134

13 The 'Found Sounds' of Judith Weir 141

Part 4 The States of Music

1 Earlier Than Thou 147

2 Style or Idea? 150

3 Down with Classical Music 153

4 Behind Closed Doors 156

5 Hollywood and Bust 159

6 Blueprints for an Expanding Universe 163

7 Less Means Less 166

8 Reverberations of 1968 169

9 Fear and Loathing of Modern Music 173

10 Voices of the World, Unite! 176

11 Green and Prescient Land 179

12 Deteriorating Reception on the Third 182

13 It's a Cultural Revolution 185

14 Last Waltz? 188

Envoi: In Search of an Ending

1 In Search of an Ending 193

2 It Tolls for Thee 198

3 Echoes from Selborne 201

4 The Rest is Silence 204

Bibliographical Note 211

Index 215

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