The Art-Music, Literature and Linguistics Forum
March 28, 2024, 03:28:31 pm
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?

Login with username, password and session length
News: Here you may discover hundreds of little-known composers, hear thousands of long-forgotten compositions, contribute your own rare recordings, and discuss the Arts, Literature and Linguistics in an erudite and decorous atmosphere full of freedom and delight.
 
  Home Help Search Gallery Staff List Login Register  

Wanted: works of analysis of symphonic music

Pages: [1]   Go Down
  Print  
Author Topic: Wanted: works of analysis of symphonic music  (Read 1184 times)
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
calyptorhynchus
Level 3
***

Times thanked: 42
Offline Offline

Posts: 213


View Profile
« on: August 01, 2016, 10:42:14 am »

I know Tovey's Essays in Musical Analysis, Robert Simpson's books on Nielsen and Bruckner and Malcolm MacDonald's three volumes on Havergal Brian's symphonies.

Can anyone recommend similar works which give blow-by-blow accounts of symphonic music?
Report Spam   Logged

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

guest54
Guest
« Reply #1 on: August 02, 2016, 08:26:44 am »

As a youth in the fifties of the last century I gained most of my musical knowledge from two books;

1) The Symphony, edited by Ralph Hill (1949). 458 pages full of serious detailed analysis of, and musical examples from, particular works by the composers Haydn, Mozart, van Beethoven, Schubert, Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Liszt, Franck, Bruckner, Brahms, Borodin, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Mahler, Elgar, Sibelius, Vaughan-Williams, Rachmaninov and Bax, as well as an essay on the development of the symphony down the years. A different author for each composer.

Available from Abebooks for a pound or two.

2) The Concerto, edited by Ralph Hill (1952). 448 pages full of serious detailed analysis of, and musical examples from, particular works by the composers J.S.Bach, Haydn, Mozart, van Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Brahms, Saint-Saens, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Grieg, Elgar, Delius, Sibelius, Busoni, Rachmaninov, Medtner, Ravel, Bloch, Bartok, Szymanowski, Berg, Prokofiev, and Walton, as well as essays on the virtuoso concerto, on "some English concertos", on "variation forms", and on the development of the concerto down the years. A different author for each composer.

Also available from Abebooks for a pound or two.

I highly recommend these two volumes.
Report Spam   Logged
Gauk
Level 7
*******

Times thanked: 58
Offline Offline

Posts: 1125



View Profile
« Reply #2 on: August 03, 2016, 08:17:04 am »

Trouble is, those don't go into a lot of detail on individual works. I have both sitting on my shelf and they are definitely worth reading, but I would still like to find the equal of Robert Simpson's analyses. I suspect one would have to trawl back issues of the Musical Times to find the like - not collected into books.
Report Spam   Logged
calyptorhynchus
Level 3
***

Times thanked: 42
Offline Offline

Posts: 213


View Profile
« Reply #3 on: August 03, 2016, 10:06:23 am »

Thanks Sydney, I think Penguin later published two volumes to replace The Symphony and I have the later one covering C20 symphonies (edited by Robert Simpson)... but I'll check out the concerto volume.

Gauk, I know what you mean, you'd think there'd be multiple volumes in that genre.
Report Spam   Logged
Gauk
Level 7
*******

Times thanked: 58
Offline Offline

Posts: 1125



View Profile
« Reply #4 on: August 09, 2016, 07:13:50 pm »

I finally got my copy of Malcolm MacDonald's opus on Havergal Brian - I've been after it for years. Secondhand hardbacks in good condition at a reasonable price. Just in time to go with the new Dutton release of #2 and #14.
Report Spam   Logged
Dundonnell
Level 8
********

Times thanked: 137
Offline Offline

Posts: 4081


View Profile WWW
« Reply #5 on: August 11, 2016, 04:02:06 pm »

I finally got my copy of Malcolm MacDonald's opus on Havergal Brian - I've been after it for years. Secondhand hardbacks in good condition at a reasonable price. Just in time to go with the new Dutton release of #2 and #14.

 I treasure the copies of each of the three volumes which Malcolm sent to me when they were published-free of charge but more importantly signed by him. Volume One is inscribed "To Colin-In Ancient Friendship". :) There is not often that I listen to one of the symphonies without the relevant volume to hand. No books on music that I have ever come across combine such detailed technical analysis with the incredible ability to enhance one's understanding and appreciation of the music through the vivid power of the writing. It undoubtedly helps that I knew him so well as a young man but when I read his descriptions I can still hear his voice. What a loss he was :( But he lives on through these and his other books :)
Report Spam   Logged
guest145
Guest
« Reply #6 on: October 15, 2016, 09:53:33 pm »

Quote
I treasure the copies of each of the three volumes which Malcolm sent to me when they were published-free of charge but more importantly signed by him. Volume One is inscribed "To Colin-In Ancient Friendship". Smiley There is not often that I listen to one of the symphonies without the relevant volume to hand. No books on music that I have ever come across combine such detailed technical analysis with the incredible ability to enhance one's understanding and appreciation of the music through the vivid power of the writing. It undoubtedly helps that I knew him so well as a young man but when I read his descriptions I can still hear his voice. What a loss he was Sad But he lives on through these and his other books Smiley

This set is among the best musical analyses I know of. I bought the first volume in the late 1970s, soon after it was published, when I was in the throes of my initial passion for Brian's music. His insightful, musically erudite, and engagingly written analyses helped me greatly in gaining a better understanding of the works and Brian's style.

I had a brief correspondence with him when I was preparing the American premiere of Brian's "By the Waters of Babylon," fifteen years ago. He didn't really have much to contribute to the rather little that was known about the work, but was kindly encouraging and appreciative of my efforts.

The chapter on Brian in the Penguin 2-volume set of "The Symphony," mentioned in another post on this thread, was actually my initial introduction to Brian in the early 1970s. The information in that chapter was incredibly tantalizing, and I read and re-read it in anticipation of actually hearing some of the music. When I finally managed to hear a work by Brian it was the "Gothic" on the Aries pirate LP set, and it blew me away. Forty-plus years later, the work still does!
Report Spam   Logged
calyptorhynchus
Level 3
***

Times thanked: 42
Offline Offline

Posts: 213


View Profile
« Reply #7 on: December 10, 2018, 07:43:25 pm »

I've found another work that is similar in approach to Tovey, Simpson &c.

Cuthbert Girdlestone, Mozart and his Piano Concertos, 2nd Ed 1958

 :D
Report Spam   Logged

Pages: [1]   Go Up
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by EzPortal
Bookmark this site! | Upgrade This Forum
SMF For Free - Create your own Forum


Powered by SMF | SMF © 2016, Simple Machines
Privacy Policy