The Cambridge Companion To The Clarinet

Written for students, performers, and music lovers.

This guide to the orchestra and orchestral life is unique in its breadth of coverage. It combinesorchestral history and repertory with a practical bias offering critical thought about the past, present and future of the orchestra. Including topics such as the art of orchestration, scorereading, conducting, international orchestras, recording, as well as consideration of what it means to be an orchestral musician, an educator, or an informed listener, it will be of interest to a wideranging readership of music historians and professional or amateur performers.

The perfect accompaniment to courses on eighteenth-century opera for both students and teachers, this Companion is a definitive reference resource.

The Cambridge Companion to the Saxophone, first published in 1999, tells the story of the saxophone, its history and technical development from Adolphe Sax (who invented it c. 1840) to the end of the twentieth century. It includes extensive accounts of the instrument's history in jazz, rock and classical music as well as providing practical performance guides. Discussion of the repertoire and soloists from 1850 to the present day includes accessible descriptions of contemporary techniques and trends, and moves into the electronic age with midi wind instruments. There is a discussion of the function of the saxophone in the orchestra, in 'light music' and in rock and pop studios, as well as of the saxophone quartet as an important chamber music medium. The contributors to this volume are some of the finest performers and experts on the saxophone.

Features suggestions about technique, musicianship, and musical interpretation, as well as guidelines for teaching, making your own reeds, and preparing for public performance. Discusses the history of the clarinet. Appendixes. Includes 7 black-and-white illustrations.

A Companion to the piano, one of the world's most popular instruments.

This Companion offers a concise and authoritative survey of the string quartet by eleven chamber music specialists. Its fifteen carefully structured chapters provide coverage of a stimulating range of perspectives previously unavailable in one volume. It focuses on four main areas: the social and musical background to the quartet's development; the most celebrated ensembles; string quartet playing, including aspects of contemporary and historical performing practice; and the mainstream repertory, including significant 'mixed ensemble' compositions involving string quartet. Various musical and pictorial illustrations and informative appendixes, including a chronology of the most significant works, complete this indispensable guide. Written for all string quartet enthusiasts, this Companion will enrich readers' understanding of the history of the genre, the context and significance of quartets as cultural phenomena, and the musical, technical and interpretative problems of chamber music performance. It will also enhance their experience of listening to quartets in performance and on recordings.

The clarinet has a long and rich history as a solo, orchestral, and chamber musical instrument. In this broad-ranging account Eric Hoeprich, a performer, teacher, and expert on historical clarinets, explores its development, repertoire, and performance history. Looking at the antecedents of the clarinet, as well as such related instruments as the chalumeau, basset horn, alto clarinet, and bass clarinet, Hoeprich explains the use and development of the instrument in the Baroque age. The period from the late 1700s to Beethoven's early years is shown to have fostered ever wider distribution and use of the instrument, and a repertoire of increasing richness. The first half of the nineteenth century, a golden age for the clarinet, brought innovation in construction and great virtuosity in performance, while the following century and a half produced a surge in new works from many composers. The author also devotes a chapter to the role of the clarinet in bands, folk music, and jazz.

This Companion gives a comprehensive view of the German composer Johannes Brahms (1833–97). Twelve specially-commissioned chapters by leading scholars and musicians provide systematic coverage of the composer's life and works. Their essays represent recent research and reflect changing attitudes towards a composer whose public image has long been out-of-date. The first part of the book contains three chapters on Brahms's early life in Hamburg and on the middle and later years in Vienna. The central section considers the musical works in all genres, while the last part of the book offers personal accounts and responses from a conductor (Roger Norrington), a composer (Hugh Wood), and an editor of Brahms's original manuscripts (Robert Pascall). The volume as a whole is an important addition to Brahms scholarship and provides indispensable information for all students and enthusiasts of Brahms's music.