Showing titles in History & Criticism

Popular music history collides with data analytics, charts, and numbers in this insightful and surprising look at the greatest hits and musicians, fads, forgotten artists, and much more. Data analyst and musician Chris Dalla Riva reframes everything you thought you knew about music. Coupling hard data with engaging anecdotes, Uncharted Territory is both a takedown and celebration of popular music and provides new ways to think about your favorite songs, genres, and artists from the last 6 decades using unexpected statistics and playful visualizations.

The surprising story of how iconic works of music sparked debate and action in the halls of Congress. In On the Record: Music That Changed America, Anna Harwell Celenza uncovers the sometimes–surprising influence of music on American politics and culture. From "The Star–Spangled Banner" and...

Mozart was chaos. A boy wonder. A broke genius. A man who joked about farts and wrote music that made kings weep. This book isn’t a textbook. It’s a story. From the powdered courts of Europe to the echo of his Requiem, MOZART: The Man Who Was Born in Tune follows the full arc. The prodigy, the rebel, the romantic, and the ghost. You’ll meet the father who pulled the strings, the wife who stayed through the madness, the enemies who envied him, and the symphonies that bent light.

This highly captivating audiobook takes listeners on a journey through the history of classical music. However, author and music educator Vincent Sneed demonstrates that this history does not begin in Europe, but instead, the origins of classical music reside in places such as Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Sneed details how the music of composers such as Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven would never have existed if it had not been the ingenuity and innovation of black and brown people.

From the chief architect of the Pandora Radio’s Music Genome Project comes a definitive and groundbreaking examination of how your mind, body, and upbringing influence the music you love. In this sweeping and authoritative audiobook, Dr. Nolan Gasser - a composer, pianist, and musicologist, and the chief architect of the Music Genome Project, which powers Pandora Radio - breaks down what musical taste is, where it comes from, and what our favorite songs say about us.

Alex Ross, renowned New Yorker music critic and author of the international best seller and Pulitzer Prize finalist The Rest Is Noise, reveals how Richard Wagner became the proving ground for modern art and politics - an aesthetic war zone where the Western world wrestled with its capacity for beauty and violence.  

This program is read by the author. "Indispensable [reading] about the feminine journey through a man's world" —USA Today An intimate look at the lives of our most celebrated female musicians—and their challenges with fame—from a legendary music journalist Over four decades, Lisa Robinson...

An Almost Famous–like memoir for the twenty-first century: Pitchfork’s founder opens up about running the most influential, and infamous, music publication of the internet age. In 1996, as legacy media slowly went digital, a nineteen-year-old Minneapolitan named Ryan Schreiber fired up his...

The Unlocked interviews was recorded over a period of six months with some of music's biggest stars including Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran who is featured in two separate interviews; the bonus one has never been heard before, as Simon takes you through their second album, Rio, and goes over each track in turn, describing the writing, recording and meaning — and even singing parts of them!

One of America’s leading music journalists on heartland rock’s glory days and its role in the populist politics of the 1980s. Hear “American Girl” or “Born in the U.S.A.” and, like it or not, chances are you begin to hum along. The soundtrack of grocery stores, pool halls, bowling...

'The masterpiece The Beatles deserved' Vox 'The finest piece of Fabs scholarship ever published' MOJO Revolution in the Head goes to the heart of The Beatles – their records. Drawing on his unique knowledge and experience to 'read' their tracks, Ian MacDonald offers a detailed examination of...

Choosing significant stops of the Springsteen and E Street Band 2023 Tour as a narrative guideline, the book presents a thorough analysis of Springsteen’s album conceptions, song lyrics, show rituals, and interviews. Based on a discussion of the ever-growing Springsteen scholarship, Pethes introduces artist-fan-communication as a notion that is not based on mere illusions but rather on actual emotions and practices.

Conscious rap, a subgenre of hip-hop music that engages in dialogue about social and political issues and often challenges systems of oppression, ascended with pioneers like Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Public Enemy, Ice Cube, A Tribe Called Quest, and other acts at the helm. But in recent decades, it lost much of its favor in pop culture and mainstream hip-hop.

يطرح هذا الكتاب أسئلةً أساسيةً حول طبيعة الموسيقى بوصفها ممارسةً بشريةً، فالعالم يمتلئ بأنواع مختلفة من الموسيقى: الشعبية، والكلاسيكية، والجاز، والروك، والبوب، والكثير غيرها. بيد أن الكتاب يركز على أبعادها الاجتماعية والثقافية، مستكشفاً تطورها عبر الحقب، وموضحاً تأثير التكنولوجيا فيها، ودورها في سياقات العمل الاجتماعي والسياسي. ويناقش الكتاب أيضاً وضع الموسيقى في زمن العولمة؛ من دورها في إنهاء الاستعمار إلى أهميتها بوصفها وسيلةً للتواصل بين الثقافات.

في هذا الكتاب، يستعرِض إيلايجا والد نوعاً موسيقياً هو في صميم الثقافة الأمريكية. ويتتبَّع جذورَ هذه الموسيقى في الحقول ومعسكرات العمل والأناشيد الدينية، ويُظهِر التحوُّلاتِ التي شهدتها على يدِ فنانين محترفين مثل وليام سي هاندي، الذي جعل موسيقى البلوز فناً شعبياً قبل قرنٍ مضى. ثم يتابع والد تطورَ هذه الموسيقى من ما رايني وبيسي سميث إلى بوب ديلان وجيمي هندريكس، ويوضِّح تأثير التسجيلات الريفية، ويستكشف دورَ البلـوز في تطوُّر موسيقى الكانتري وموسيقى الجاز، ويلقي نظرةً على اتجاهاتِ الإيقاع والبلوز التي راجت في أربعينيات القرن العشرين وخمسينياته. وأخيراً، ينتقل والد إلى الحاضر، ويتطرَّق إلى تأثيراتِ البلوز على الشِّعر الأمريكي وعلاقة هذا النوع الموسيقي بالأساليبِ الحديثة مثل الراب.

Un bambino come tanti: silenzioso, non bello, con grandi occhi pieni di domande. Dal momento in cui il mondo si accorge di lui, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart non avrà più pace. Per farlo dovrà però rinunciare alla spensieratezza, alle amicizie, agli amori e persino alla salute, mentre per restare nell'orbita della sua vita eccezionale coloro che lo amano, come la sorella Nannerl e la madre Anna, si sacrificheranno fino ad annullarsi.

Wie eng Emotionen mit Musik verbunden sind, das erleben die Moderatoren Falk und Ryll regelmäßig in ihrem beliebten Podcast „Mein Lieblingssong“. Im vorliegenden Album haben die beiden zwölf Geschichten an die 70er Jahre sorgfältig zusammengestellt. Im ersten Interview erzählt Andreas Bruhn, früheres Mitglied der Band „Sisters of Mercy“, warum „Heroes“ von David Bowie sein Lieblingssong ist und was er als Bandmitglied von „Sisters of Mercy erlebt hat. Mit dem „Song of the wind“ von 1972 hat Ferdinand Svaricek einen instrumentalen Leckerbissen von Santana ausgesucht.

Author and singer John Potter tells the European story of song. The form has captivated audiences and excited performers for centuries, from the music of the troubadours and the Christian liturgy through classical composers such as Bach and Schumann up to Britten, Berio, and the rise of popular music. Choosing twelve key works, Potter offers a personal tour through this vital tradition, from John Dowland's "Flow My Tears" to George Gershwin's "Summertime." Throughout, he reveals who wrote and sang these joyful masterpieces—and what they mean to singers and audiences today.

The Sugababes have made a huge impact in the music industry. Their influence is still felt and is stronger than ever now the original line-up reunited over ten years ago. Their hits are still played in many radio stations today.

Felix Mendelssohn was a child prodigy to rival Mozart and achieved great fame during his lifetime, fêted across Europe, and composing in the widest possible range of musical genres. However, his music has also been denigrated for its elegance, charm and symmetry. This insightful biography explores the breadth of his achievements, the complexities of his privileged upbringing, and the reasons for the fluctuating nature of his reputation. Musical excerpts include the Violin Concerto, String Octet and Elijah, as well as his choral works, symphonies, sonatas and songs.