by Elizabeth Wilson (1994)
Shostakovich: A Life Remembered is a unique study of the great composer Dimitri Shostakovich drawn from the reminiscences and reflections of his contemporaries. Using much material never previously published in English, as well as personal accounts from interviews and specially commissioned articles, Elizabeth Wilson has built up a fascinating chronicle of Shostakovich's life. Elizabeth Wilson sheds light on the composer's creative process and his working life in music, and examines the enormous and enduring influence that Shostakovich has had on Soviet musical life. Essential reading for anyone interested in the composer, the book also offers a fascinating perspective on the social and political history of Soviet Russia.
Harrison Gradwell Slater
"Stranded in Milan by a train strike, a down-on-his-luck music scholar finds a mysterious document. Could it be the diary Mozart kept when he was an adolescent, traveling through Europe with his father? If authentic, the diary could catapult Matthew Pierce into wealth and fame."--Jacket.
Martin Bookspan & Ross Yockey
Authorized biography of musician/conductor/composer, Andre Previn, focusing on the various aspects of Previn's musical talent.
Carolyn Gianturco
Alessandro Stradella was one of the most important composers of seventeenth-century Italy, contributing significant works to almost every contemporary genre. However, his precise position within the Italian musical baroque has never been properly evaluated, while his biography has long been enshrouded in myth and legend, following his murder in Genoa in 1682. This book is the definitive life and works study of this crucially important composer. The biographical section is the result of extensive documentary research over many years, and presents a clear account of Stradella's career and colorful personal life in all the cities where he lived--Rome, Venice, Turin, and Genoa--as well as information on his patrons and the poets whose words he set. The musical discussion offers a clear exposition of Stradella's 308 extant compositions, illustrated with nearly fifty music examples.
Clay Eals
Intimate and touching, this biography captures the warmth and wit of Steve Goodman, one of the most respected songwriters of the 1970s and early 1980s. Diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 20, this portrait tells how Goodman strove to be a model husband and father while juggling experimental medical treatments with a career he found irresistible. Often strained for commercial success, Goodman found solace in performances for audiences from the tens to the tens of thousands. Drawing from more than 850 interviews—including those with family members, Jimmy Buffett, Steve Martin, Willie Nelson, Studs Terkel, Roger Ebert, and Carl Reiner—this book verifies the universality of his work, replete with Goodman’s themes on the fleeting nature of human existence. A 17-song tribute CD is included.