Choral Masterworks: A Listener's Guide
Steinberg, program annotator for the San Francisco, Boston, and New York Philharmonic orchestras, describes some 50 works for accompanied chorus. For each, he begins with the composer's statistics, continues to the voices and instruments in the piece, sketches its genesis and first performances and how it fits into its creator's compositional history, and leads the reader through its sections, noting what to listen for. The big boys--Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Haydn, and Stravinsky--are represented by their major works, but the less-well-known likes of John Adams'Harmonium, based on poems by Donne and Dickinson; Luigi Dallapicola'sCanti di prigionia, settings of writings from prison by Mary Queen of Scots, Boethius, and Savonarola; and Arthur Honegger'sLe Roi David, the story of David and Saul, also appear. Steinberg's most personal essay is on Sir Michael Tippett's oratorioA Child of Our Time, whose genesis lies in the infamous Kristallnacht of 1938, and whose structure is based on Handel'sMessiah. Well-written, concise introductions that record collectors, concertgoers, and chorus members alike should enjoy.Alan HirschCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.