Enriched by biographical detail, historical background, musical examples, and many finely nuanced observations, this volume is a treasury of insight and information. Readers will find illuminating discussion of the complete symphonies of Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms, Sibelius, and Mahler, as well as of the most loved symphonic works of Schubert, Bruckner, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, and others. We learn how to listen more sharply for Haydn’s humor, to Mozart’s singular combination of pathos with grace, and to the evolution of Beethoven’s musical ideas in his nine symphonies. This remarkable range and variety of composers are illuminated by Steinberg’s deft, inviting, and intensely personal essays, which give such a vivid portrait of each composer’s personality that the reader gets an immediate sense of how the work is a direct expression of the person from whose soul and brain it has sprung. Tracing the ways in which composers have dealt with the musical challenges that have engaged them throughout the centuries, Steinberg takes us through the revolutions of expression, sound, and form that have shaped the symphony’s remarkable history. Whether beginners or veterans, music lovers will listen to the symphony with enlivened interest and deeper understanding with Steinberg’s masterful guide in hand.
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Anyone compiling a guide to the symphony faces two problems: impartiality versus personal enthusiasm and detailed musical analysis versus help for the newcomer. Michael Steinberg succeeds brilliantly at the task, as he has with his guide to the concerto. He has pared this vast repertory down to 118 entries (Franck and Bizet being the surprising omissions), thus keeping room for music by Schmidt, Hartmann, Harbison, Piston, and Tippett. Many of the chapters have helpful general introductions; the brief one on Mendelssohn and the longer one on Schubert are ideal. The Mahler chapter is superb, with consideration of the original version of the First Symphony and the unfinished Tenth Symphony framing a chronological discussion of the works. Steinberg includes all texts and translations of vocal movements and places even isolated works (such as Górecki’s wholly atypical Third Symphony) in context. Absent is the clubby tone that infects classical music programming on public radio, and readers will not need to follow scores to understand Steinberg’s points. There are some great but peripheral tidbits in the footnotes, as well as frequently trenchant quotations from various composers’ letters. Best of all, Steinberg has clear concerns and enthusiasms: orchestral seating plans for the violins and the reasons that repeats in first movements are so often disregarded become refrains. The descriptions of William Schuman’s Sixth Symphony and Bohuslav Martinu’s Fantaisies Symphoniques may send readers rushing to listen, and the overly familiar Beethoven Eroica and Schubert “Unfinished” are once again fantastical, odd, and fresh in these pages. In Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony, we read, “the oboe is the sweetest and most seductive of tour guides.” Steinberg might well have been describing himself. –William R. Braun
Review
“The Symphony may be recommended warmly to music lovers on all levels of interest and expertise…. The writing is wonderfully clear, personal, and specific.” —The Washington Post
“Lucid, witty, and composed by a master stylist, Steinberg’s essays offer a magnificent blend of biographical detail, accessible musical analysis, subjective reflection, and entertaining whimsy. Whether he is guiding a reader through the intricacies of a Mahler symphony, unearthing new treasures in a familiar Beethoven score or correlating the strange performance history of Charles Ives’s symphonies with his own concert-going life, Steinberg’s writing is both authoritative and deeply personal. His immense knowledge of music, and the ease with which he deploys it, have made him the acknowledged master of this particular form.”–San Francisco Chronicle
Book Description
A monumental guide to the most celebrated of musical forms–the symphony
About the Author
Michael Steinberg is the program annotator of the San Francisco Symphony and the New York Philharmonic and earlier served the Boston Symphony in the same capacity. He has been on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music and the New England Conservatory, has lectured and taught widely in America and Europe, and was the music critic for The Boston Globe for twelve years.
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