The Companion To 20th-century Music - Softcover

Norman Lebrecht is the author of The Maestro Myth, The Book of Musical Anecdotes, and a number of other books on music, and is the editor of Mahler Remembered. He has made several documentaries and has covered the music world for London's Sunday Times, the Los Angeles Times, and other publications. He lives in London.

British music critic Lebrecht is well known to music lovers for his entertaining, gossipy book Discord ( LJ 5/1/83). The same droll, opinionated, and eminently quotable author makes a triumphant return with this encyclopedia on the personalities and ideas of this century's music. As with Nicolas Slonimsky's Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians ( LJ 1/92. 8th ed.), the stamp of an idiosyncratic, unabashedly partial mind can be found in every entry. Lebrecht professes a pluralistic, nonideological approach: He holds no allegiances, save to his own instincts and good judgment. The results are mixed; for the most part, readers will be greatly impressed by the insightfulness of his comments and the sheer scope of the project. Certain entries, though, are irritatingly flippant and lacking in useful information. One can also criticize Lebrecht for ignoring current technological developments (there is no entry for "MIDI" and a woefully inadequate one for "computers") and for being slightly behind the curve in listing contemporary American composers. These caveats aside, the book is terrific reading and should be included in most music reference collections.
- Larry Lipkis, Moravian Coll., Bethlehem, Pa.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.