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Searching... Musgrave Library | 780.92 MUSI | Non Fiction | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Worldwide in scope and covering the second half of the 20th century, this work provides biographies and discographies of some 500 conductors and composers in many aspects of light and popular orchestral music, including film, show, theatre, and mood music. This is the first time the lives and recordings of such artists as Kostelanetz, Faith, Gould, as well as the orchestral recordings of such great popular composers as Gershwin, Kern, Porter, Rodgers, Berlin, and Coward, have been adequately documented and consolidated in an encyclopedic fashion. Almost 5,000 records and CDs are listed. Of interest to scholars, students, disc jockeys, record and CD collectors, film music buffs, and mood and production music enthusiasts.
Popular orchestral music has been a neglected and often erroneously perceived and misunderstood genre in the 20th century. It has certainly not received the attention that it deserves and seems to be viewed as a Cinderella in relation to classical music and jazz. The genre, especially in the last 50 years, has been graced by exceptionally fine and highly esteemed conductors and arrangers, and also by a large number of highly regarded composers.
Author Notes
REUBEN MUSIKER is Professor Emeritus at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he was Professor of Librarianship and Bibliography and University Librarian. He is an inveterate collector of popular orchestral music and has contributed many articles on the subject to music journals.
NAOMI MUSIKER is a freelance book indexer of some seventy-five books by leading South African publishers. She has assisted her husband in the compilation and indexing of this book.
Reviews (2)
Booklist Review
Practitioners of popular orchestral music get the bio-bibliographical treatment usually afforded more so-called "serious" musicians in this title. The book covers the latter half of the twentieth century, with the main focus on the peak period for such music, the 1940s through the 1960s. Arranged alphabetically, more than 500 entries range from one or two paragraphs to several pages in length. Black-and-white photos accompany a few of the articles. Most of the subjects are from the U.S. and Great Britain, or became popular there. They include classically trained conductors (Morton Gould, Andre Kostelanetz), swing-era conductors and arrangers, composers for film and theater (Alfred Newman, John Williams), mood or background music composers, and relevant institutions (101 Strings, Reader's Digest). Classical, "light" classical, military and brass band, dance band, jazz, and vocal music are, for the most part, excluded. In addition to standard biographical details, the authors make interesting and evaluative comments about instrumentation and particular recordings. There are some surprises here--Charlie Chaplin gets a brief entry since he composed most of the music for his silent films. Some of the entries have short bibliographies. Names in small caps are cross-referenced to other biographical subjects. The authors have not attempted to be comprehensive in the sections that close each entry, but they provide selective discographies and, for composers, lists of selected works. However, entries for the more prolific artists still list dozens of recordings. Discographies, with LPs and CDs listed separately, note album title, record company symbol (a key is included), and record/CD number if available, but no date. Lists of compositions and scores give title and sometimes date. A separate discography-only section lists works by artists about whom the authors were unable to find biographical information; surprisingly, Frank Sinatra and Xavier Cugat are included here. The volume closes with a select bibliography of sources consulted by the editors, and a name index. While some of the more well-known names here can be found in other sources, this title will be a useful addition to larger music collections owing to its unique focus.
Choice Review
Musiker (emeritus librarian, Univ. of the Witwatersrand) focuses on light music conductors active during the 1940s to 1960s, while including "leading" light music composers and even a few orchestras (e.g., Boston Pops, Living Strings). The biographical sketches range in length from a few lines to three pages, and are drawn mostly from the literature of popular and film music. The appendix, a list of conductors "for whom it has not proved possible to find biographical information," includes the likes of Maurice Abravanel, Xavier Cugat, Norman Luboff, and Frank Sinatra (!), all of whom may be found in Baker's. Discographies list LPs and some CD reissues, giving only title, label, and catalog number. The lack of release dates is regrettable, but the omission of track lists is understandable due to space considerations. Some of the biographies include bibliographic citations, and a few are graced by autographed photos from the author's collection. The book, useful for drawing together information on a realm of music not served elsewhere and as a checklist for recording collectors, is recommended only for enthusiasts and libraries with a special interest in light music. M. D. Jenkins II; Wright State University
Table of Contents
| Foreword |
| Preface |
| Acknowledgments |
| Key to Record Symbols |
| Biographies and Discographies of Conductors and Composers |
| Select Discography of Conductors |
| Not Included in the Main Biographical Sequence |
| Select Bibliography |
| Index |