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El libro del fantasma
by Alejandro DolinaPrólogo. Los fantasmas prosperan con las arquitecturas perseverantes y las memorias leales. Castillos milenarios y ofensas imprescriptibles los engordan. El progreso y el olvido, que son hábitos de estos tiempos y de estas tierras, no los auspician. Por eso son tan escasos los fantasmas criollos. El que habita este libro es, me temo, uno de los menos atrayentes. Pertenece quizá a esa raza de espectros que son una verdadera decepción para los amantes de los prodigios. Me refiero a los fantasmas interiores, a las creaciones alucinatorias e individuales de honrados burgueses incapaces ya de ver un espanto hecho y derecho. Los textos recopilados a pedido de esta modesta aparición han sido escritos en épocas diferentes. Algunos tienen más de veinte años. Los escritores suelen mentir que prefieren sus obras más recientes, acaso para producir sensación de progreso artístico. Yo sólo puedo decir que con el tiempo crecen los territorios de mis desagrados y me voy arrepintiendo de casi todo cuanto he escrito. El lector podrá rechazar estos trabajos por distintas razones, por ser variada la naturaleza de sus defectos. En la invención y en el recuerdo, cuando no en el saqueo, me han acompañado Daniel Narezo y Maria Laura Franco. En la ardua consumación del libro nombro a Ianina Trigo y a Nicolás Tolcachier.
Lick Me: How I Became Cherry Vanilla
by Cherry Vanilla Rufus WainwrightIn this sexually open and disarming account of her life and the era, Cherry Vanilla tells all about her personal successes and failures and in the process explores every aspect of the music industry during its most electrifying era--complete with detours through the sexual revolution, the women's liberation movement, and the theater of the ridiculous. From her rise from humble Irish Catholic beginnings to a Madison Avenue wunderkind in the swinging 1960s, an actress in Andy Warhol's Pork, David Bowie's publicist, and punk band diva to her notoriety as a groupie--known to have bedded musicians ranging from David Bowie and Leon Russell to Kris Kristofferson--her behind-the-scenes tale chronicles the highs and lows of her fast-lane existence. Far from a saccharine glamorization of a high-profile life, the memoir also candidly acknowledges the parallel downsides of the high-rolling days--unwanted pregnancies, poverty, sex addiction, and obsessive-compulsive disorder--and how she handled them.
The Lied at the Crossroads of Performance and Musicology
by Benjamin Binder Jennifer RonyakThere seems to be an essential relationship between the performance and the scholarship of the German Lied. Yet the process by which scholarly inquiry and performative practices mutually benefit one another can appear mysterious and undefined, in part because any dialogue between the two invariably unfolds in relatively informal environments – such as the rehearsal studio, seminar room or conference workshop. Contributions from leading musicologists and prominent Lied performers here build on and deepen these interactions to reconsider topics including Werktreue aesthetics and concert practices; the authority of the composer versus the performer; the value of lesser-known, incomplete, or compositionally modified songs; and the traditions, habits and prejudices of song recitalists regarding issues like transposition, programming and dramatic modes of presentation. The book as a whole reveals the reciprocal relevance of Lied musicology and Lied performance, thereby opening doors to fresh and exciting modes of interpretative artistry and intellectual discovery.
Life (Orion 20th Anniversary Editions Ser.)
by James Fox Keith RichardsAs lead guitarist of the Rolling Stones, Keith Richards created the riffs, the lyrics, and the songs that roused the world. A true and towering original, he has always walked his own path, spoken his mind, and done things his own way.Now at last Richards pauses to tell his story in the most anticipated autobiography in decades. And what a story! Listening obsessively to Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters records in a coldwater flat with Mick Jagger and Brian Jones, building a sound and a band out of music they loved. Finding fame and success as a bad-boy band, only to find themselves challenged by authorities everywhere. Dropping his guitar's sixth string to create a new sound that allowed him to create immortal riffs like those in "Honky Tonk Woman" and "Jumpin' Jack Flash." Falling in love with Anita Pallenberg, Brian Jones's girlfriend. Arrested and imprisoned for drug possession. Tax exile in France and recording Exile on Main Street. Ever-increasing fame, isolation, and addiction making life an ever faster frenzy. Through it all, Richards remained devoted to the music of the band, until even that was challenged by Mick Jagger's attempt at a solo career, leading to a decade of conflicts and ultimately the biggest reunion tour in history.In a voice that is uniquely and unmistakably him--part growl, part laugh--Keith Richards brings us the truest rock-and-roll life of our times, unfettered and fearless and true. Richards' rich voice introduces the audiobook edition of LIFE and leads us into Johnny Depp's performance, while fellow artist Joe Hurley bridges the long road traveled before Richards closes with the final chapter of this incredible 23-hour production, which includes a bonus PDF of photos.
Life
by Keith RichardsOnce-in-a-generation memoir of a rock legend - the No. 1 SUNDAY TIMES bestseller.'Electrifying' New York Times'A masterpiece' The Word'Funny, poignant, brutally honest' Sunday TelegraphWith the Rolling Stones, Keith Richards created the riffs, the lyrics and the songs that roused the world, and over four decades he lived the original rock and roll life: taking the chances he wanted, speaking his mind, and making it all work in a way that no one before him had ever done.Now, at last, the man himself tells us the story of life in the crossfire hurricane. And what a life. Listening obsessively to Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters records as a child in post-war Kent. Learning guitar and forming a band with Mick Jagger and Brian Jones. The Rolling Stones' first fame and success as a bad-boy band. The notorious Redlands drug bust and subsequent series of confrontations with a nervous establishment that led to his enduring image as outlaw and folk hero. Creating immortal riffs such as the ones in 'Jumping Jack Flash' and 'Street Fighting Man' and 'Honky Tonk Women'. Falling in love with Anita Pallenberg and the death of Brian Jones. Tax exile in France, wildfire tours of the US, 'Exile on Main Street' and 'Some Girls'. Ever increasing fame, isolation and addiction. Falling in love with Patti Hansen. Estrangement from Mick Jagger and subsequent reconciliation. Solo albums and performances with his band the Xpensive Winos. Marriage, family and the road that goes on for ever. In a voice that is uniquely and intimately his own, with the disarming honesty that has always been his trademark, Keith Richards brings us the essential life story of our times.
Life
by Keith RichardsOnce-in-a-generation memoir of a rock legend - the No. 1 SUNDAY TIMES bestseller.'Electrifying' New York Times'A masterpiece' The Word'Funny, poignant, brutally honest' Sunday TelegraphWith the Rolling Stones, Keith Richards created the riffs, the lyrics and the songs that roused the world, and over four decades he lived the original rock and roll life: taking the chances he wanted, speaking his mind, and making it all work in a way that no one before him had ever done.Now, at last, the man himself tells us the story of life in the crossfire hurricane. And what a life. Listening obsessively to Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters records as a child in post-war Kent. Learning guitar and forming a band with Mick Jagger and Brian Jones. The Rolling Stones' first fame and success as a bad-boy band. The notorious Redlands drug bust and subsequent series of confrontations with a nervous establishment that led to his enduring image as outlaw and folk hero. Creating immortal riffs such as the ones in 'Jumping Jack Flash' and 'Street Fighting Man' and 'Honky Tonk Women'. Falling in love with Anita Pallenberg and the death of Brian Jones. Tax exile in France, wildfire tours of the US, 'Exile on Main Street' and 'Some Girls'. Ever increasing fame, isolation and addiction. Falling in love with Patti Hansen. Estrangement from Mick Jagger and subsequent reconciliation. Solo albums and performances with his band the Xpensive Winos. Marriage, family and the road that goes on for ever. In a voice that is uniquely and intimately his own, with the disarming honesty that has always been his trademark, Keith Richards brings us the essential life story of our times.
Life After Dark
by Dave HaslamNightclubs and music venues are often the source of a lifetime's music taste, best friends and vivid memories. They can define a town, a city or a generation, and breed scenes and bands that change music history. In Life After Dark Dave Haslam reveals and celebrates a definitive history of significant venues and great nights out. Writing with passion and authority, he takes us from vice-ridden Victorian dance halls to acid house and beyond; through the jazz decades of luxurious ballrooms to mods in basement dives and the venues that nurtured the Beatles, the Stones, Northern Soul and the Sex Pistols; from psychedelic light shows to high street discos; from the Roxy to the Hacienda; from the Krays to the Slits; and from reggae sound systems to rave nights in Stoke. In a journey to dozens of towns and cities, taking in hundreds of unforgettable stories on the way, Haslam explores the sleaziness, the changing fashions, the moral panics and the cultural and commercial history of nightlife. He interviews clubbers and venue owners, as well as DJs and musicians; he meets one of the gangsters who nearly destroyed Manchester's nightlife and discusses Goth clubs in Leeds with David Peace.
The Life and Death of Classical Music
by Norman LebrechtIn this compulsively readable, fascinating, and provocative guide to classical music, Norman Lebrecht, one of the world's most widely read cultural commentators tells the story of the rise of the classical recording industry from Caruso's first notes to the heyday of Bernstein, Glenn Gould, Callas, and von Karajan. Lebrecht compellingly demonstrates that classical recording has reached its end point-but this is not simply an expos? of decline and fall. It is, for the first time, the full story of a minor art form, analyzing the cultural revolution wrought by Schnabel, Toscanini, Callas, Rattle, the Three Tenors, and Charlotte Church. It is the story of how stars were made and broken by the record business; how a war criminal conspired with a concentration-camp victim to create a record empire; and how advancing technology, boardroom wars, public credulity and unscrupulous exploitation shaped the musical backdrop to our modern lives. The book ends with a suitable shrine to classical recording: the author's critical selection of the 100 most important recordings-and the 20 most appalling.Filled with memorable incidents and unforgettable personalities-from Goddard Lieberson, legendary head of CBS Masterworks who signed his letters as God; to Georg Solti, who turned the Chicago Symphony into " the loudest symphony on earth"-this is at once the captivating story of the life and death of classical recording and an opinioned, insider's guide to appreciating the genre, now and for years to come.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Life and Death on the New York Dance Floor, 1980-1983
by Tim LawrenceAs the 1970s gave way to the 80s, New York's party scene entered a ferociously inventive period characterized by its creativity, intensity, and hybridity. Life and Death on the New York Dance Floor chronicles this tumultuous time, charting the sonic and social eruptions that took place in the city's subterranean party venues as well as the way they cultivated breakthrough movements in art, performance, video, and film. Interviewing DJs, party hosts, producers, musicians, artists, and dancers, Tim Lawrence illustrates how the relatively discrete post-disco, post-punk, and hip hop scenes became marked by their level of plurality, interaction, and convergence. He also explains how the shifting urban landscape of New York supported the cultural renaissance before gentrification, Reaganomics, corporate intrusion, and the spread of AIDS brought this gritty and protean time and place in American culture to a troubled denouement.
Life and Def
by Russell SimmonsRussell Simmons, the original and eternal hip-hop mogul, is one of the most innovative and influential figures in modern American business and culture. When no one outside of inner-city New York had even heard of hip-hop, Simmons saw the seeds of a global force that would change the way people talk, dress, listen to music, and choose the heroes they hang on their walls. Today, he oversees a sprawling, multimillion-dollar empire of culture-defining businesses in everything from music to fashion, advertising to film, and media to visual art. At the same time he's broadened his interests and influence and pushed hip-hop to new plateaus of power and relevance. Life and Def is a one-of-a-kind tale that interweaves the remarkable journey of Russell Simmons with the story of the culture he's transformed and been transformed by. In his own brash, compelling voice, Simmons chronicles his numerous business successes and occasional failures. He tells the story of the founding of the legendary Def Jam Records, whose roster stretches from original rap icons like L.L. Cool J, Public Enemy, and the Beastie Boys to today's top stars, including Jay-Z and DMX. He traces the launching of Def Comedy Jam, the long-running hit television series that introduced a new generation of black comedic stars to America, from Martin Lawrence and Bill Bellamy to Bernie Mac and Chris Rock. He spins hilarious tales of his adventures in Hollywood, where he's produced hit movies like Eddie Murphy's The Nutty Professor and worked with quirky geniuses like Abel Ferrara. He also tells the story of Phat Farm, the wildly successful pioneering urban clothing label whose origins lay in Russell's longtime fascination with fashion (and fashion models).Simmons's story is also one of personal transformation, from the driven man who in the heady days of early success indulged himself with drugs, sex, and world-class decadence to the husband and father he is today, a man who has found meaning in activism, philanthropy, and spiritual practice while never losing his passion for the social, political, artistic, and commercial potential of hip-hop.Through it all he relates telling anecdotes about the characters he's dealt with: models and gangsters, street poets and gurus, and major players like Donald Trump, Sean Combs, Jon Peters, and Tupac Shakur. Full of advice, opinions, and behind-the-scenes scoop, Life and Def is the story of the quintessential hip-hop life.From the Hardcover edition.
Life and Legacy of B. B. King: A Mississippi Blues Icon (American Heritage)
by Diane WilliamsThis biography of the iconic blues musician features interviews with family members, fellow musicians, and those who knew his best.Born on a cotton plantation in 1925, Riley B. King would grow up to be one of the most influential blues musicians of all time, being crowned &“The King of the Blues.&” Never wavering from his vocation, King gathered other musicians together and melded them into the unique blues sound that would become his signature. In this intimate portrait of B. B. King, author Diane Williams offers a brief account of the monumental blues man's life before settling in for a series of interviews with his bandmates and beloved family members. The Life and Legacy of B. B. King offers an intimate view of the man behind the music.
Life and Liszt: The Recollections of a Concert Pianist (Dover Books On Music: Composers)
by Theodore L. Bullock Arthur FriedheimIn this profound and scholarly study, Liszt's friend, favorite pupil, and secretary presents an intimate portrait of the composer's private and professional life. Its vibrant, richly textured prose recaptures a golden age of music during the 1870s and 80s, an era populated by giants of the keyboard and the podium, as well as scholars, writers, soldiers, and statesmen.
The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt: A Novel
by Tracy FarrRecounting the remarkable life of Dame Lena Gaunt—music’s most modern musician as the first theremin player of the 20th century—this novel about an octogenarian and former junkie is as geographically diverse as it is culturally and musically rich. An offer to play her unusual instrument, where sounds are produced not through touch but instead through hand movements in the air, leads Lena to revisit her life—from her discovery of music to falling in love and from Southeast Asia to Australia and Europe. Vignettes of growing up, the glittering years on the world stage, melancholy, war-time periods, and growing old all compose the story of a woman whose life is made and torn apart by those she gives her heart to.
The Life and Music of Booker "Bukka" White: Recalling the Blues (American Made Music Series)
by null David W. JohnsonBooker “Bukka” White (1905–1977) was one of the most important blues musicians of the twentieth century. The twelve songs he recorded in Chicago in 1940 are considered to be among the finest in country blues. In The Life and Music of Booker “Bukka” White: Recalling the Blues, David W. Johnson traces the trajectory of White’s life from his early years in Chickasaw and Grenada Counties, Mississippi, through his imprisonment in the notorious Mississippi State Penal Farm in the late 1930s, to making a new life for himself in Memphis, Tennessee. For years only a name on old 78 records—and believed by some to be dead—White was “rediscovered” by John Fahey and ED Denson in the summer of 1963. He went on to have a productive second career, playing venues and festivals throughout the United States and in Canada, and touring Europe and Great Britain with the American Folk Blues Festival. In 1975, he was invited to Bremen, Germany, for a solo concert that was released as his final album. In July 1976, the author interviewed White shortly before his discharge from a Massachusetts hospital where he was recovering from a stroke. After spending eight days in the intensive care unit and three weeks in rehabilitation, White was ready to talk about his life. Recalling stories of “slavery time,” White told the author, “. . . some of the [formerly enslaved] guys were wise enough to hold that in their head where they could tell a young pants, where it would go down in history, you know. Just like you doing that now—something happen to you, somebody else will carry that on.” The product of years of research, The Life and Music of Booker “Bukka” White is the first full-length biography of this remarkable country blues performer. Interviewing those who knew White, including his second cousin B. B. King, Johnson has written a detailed and sometimes surprising account of how a young Black man born in the first decade of the twentieth century—the grandson of a slave—found a way to rise above his circumstances and maintain a decades-long career as a musician.
The Life and Music of Eric Coates
by Michael PayneEric Coates (1886-1957) is perhaps the most familiar name associated with British light music. Sir Charles Groves said that 'his music crackled with enthusiasm and vitality. He could write tunes and clothe them in the most attractive musical colours'. Coates won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, and from 1912 to 1919 he was principal viola of the Queen's Hall Orchestra under Sir Henry Wood. He also played under such conductors as Elgar, Delius, Richard Strauss, Debussy, and Beecham. It was, however, as a composer of orchestral music that he found his greatest success. Beginning with the Miniature Suite, written for the 1911 Promenade Concerts, he forged an enviable reputation as a composer. By the 1920s and 1930s, he was one of the most popular and highest-paid British composers, with a string of popular works flowing from his pen. Coates' music has become indelibly entwined with such popular radio programmes as the BBC's In Town Tonight, which was introduced by the 'Knightsbridge' March and Desert Island Discs whose signature tune for the past forty years has been By the Sleepy Lagoon. Perhaps his most memorable work was his march for the Dam Busters film. Michael Payne traces the changing fortunes of the career of the man who composed some of Britain's best-known music. In many ways, Coates' story is the story of British light music, and Payne's study offers a fascinating insight into the heyday and decline of the British light music tradition.
The Life and Music of Graham Jackson
by David CasonA groundbreaking Black artist and his career in the Jim Crow South This book is the first biography of Graham Jackson (1903-1983), a virtuosic musician whose life story displays the complexities of being a Black professional in the segregated South. David Cason discusses how Jackson navigated a web of racial and social negotiations throughout his long career and highlights his little-known role in events of the twentieth century. Widely known for an iconic photo taken of him playing the accordion in tears at Franklin D. Roosevelt’s funeral, which became a Life magazine cover, Jackson is revealed here to have a much deeper story. He was a performer, composer, and high school music director known for his skills on the piano and organ. Jackson was among the first Black men to enlist in the Navy during World War II, helping recruit many other volunteers and raising over $2 million for the war effort. After the war he became a fixture at Atlanta music venues and in 1971, Governor Jimmy Carter proclaimed Jackson the State Musician of Georgia.Cason examines Jackson’s groundbreaking roles with a critical eye, taking into account how Jackson drew on his connections with white elites including Roosevelt, Coca-Cola magnate Robert Woodruff, and golfer Bobby Jones, and was censured by Black Power figures for playing songs associated with Confederate memory. Based on archival, newspaper, and interview materials, The Life and Music of Graham Jackson brings into view the previously unknown story of an ambitious and talented artist and his controversial approach to the politics and culture of his day. Publication of this work made possible by a Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The Life and Music of John Field 1782-1837: Creator of the Nocturne
by Patrick PiggottThis title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1973.
The Life and Music of Oliver Mtukudzi: Reconstruction and Identity
by Ezra Chitando Pauline Mateveke Munyaradzi Nyakudya Bridget ChinouririThis book is a critical reflection on the life and career of the late legendary Zimbabwean music icon, Oliver “Tuku” Mtukudzi, and his contribution towards the reconstruction of Zimbabwe, Africa and the globe at large. Mtukudzi was a musician, philosopher, and human rights activist who espoused the agenda of reconstruction in order to bring about a better world, proposing personal, cultural, political, religious and global reconstruction. With twenty original chapters, this vibrant volume examines various themes and dimensions of Mtukudzi’s distinguished life and career, notably, how his music has been a powerful vehicle for societal reconstruction and cultural rejuvenation, specifically speaking to issues of culture, human rights, governance, peacebuilding, religion and identity, humanism, gender and politics, among others. The contributors explore the art of performance in Mtukudzi’s music and acting career, and how this facilitated his reconstruction agenda, offering fresh and compelling perspectives into the role of performing artists and cultural workers such as Mtukudzi in presenting models for reconstructing the world.
The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr (Penguin Classics)
by E. T. A. HoffmanTomcat Murr is a loveable, self-taught animal who has written his own autobiography. But a printer's error causes his story to be accidentally mixed and spliced with a book about the composer Johannes Kreisler. As the two versions break off and alternate at dramatic moments, two wildly different characters emerge from the confusion - Murr, the confident scholar, lover, carouser and brawler, and the moody, hypochondriac genius Kreisler. In his exuberant and bizarre novel, Hoffmann brilliantly evokes the fantastic, the ridiculous and the sublime within the humdrum bustle of daily life, making The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr (1820-22) one of the funniest and strangest novels of the nineteenth century.
The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah: The Autobiography
by Benjamin Zephaniah*BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week* Benjamin Zephaniah, who has travelled the world for his art and his humanitarianism, now tells the one story that encompasses it all: the story of his life. In the early 1980s when punks and Rastas were on the streets protesting about unemployment, homelessness and the National Front, Benjamin&’s poetry could be heard at demonstrations, outside police stations and on the dance floor. His mission was to take poetry everywhere, and to popularise it by reaching people who didn&’t read books. His poetry was political, musical, radical and relevant. By the early 1990s, Benjamin had performed on every continent in the world (a feat which he achieved in only one year) and he hasn&’t stopped performing and touring since. Nelson Mandela, after hearing Benjamin&’s tribute to him while he was in prison, requested an introduction to the poet that grew into a lifelong relationship, inspiring Benjamin&’s work with children in South Africa. Benjamin would also go on to be the first artist to record with The Wailers after the death of Bob Marley in a musical tribute to Nelson Mandela.The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah is a truly extraordinary life story which celebrates the power of poetry and the importance of pushing boundaries with the arts.
The Life and Twelve-Note Music of Nikos Skalkottas: A Study Of His Life And Twelve-note Compositional Technique
by Eva MantzouraniNikos Skalkottas is perhaps the last great 'undiscovered' composer of the twentieth century. In the 1920s he was a promising young violinist and composer in Berlin, and a student of Schoenberg, who included him among his most gifted pupils. It was only after his return to Greece in 1933 that Skalkottas became an anonymous and obscure figure, working in complete isolation until his death in 1949. Most of his works remained unpublished and unperformed during his lifetime, and although he is largely known for his folkloristic tonal pieces, Skalkottas in fact concentrated predominantly on developing an idiosyncratic dodecaphonic musical language. Eva Mantzourani provides here a comprehensive study of this fascinating yet under-researched composer. The book, lavishly illustrated with musical examples, is divided into three parts. Part I comprises a critical biography that, by drawing extensively on his letters and other writings, reappraises the image of Skalkottas with which we are often presented. The main focus of the book, however, is on Skalkottas's twelve-note compositional processes, since these characterize the majority of his output, and are neither well-known nor fully understood. Part II presents the structural and technical features of his twelve-note technique, particularly the different types of sets and their manipulation, and his approach to musical forms. Part III consists of analytical case studies of several works, presented chronologically, which thus provide a diachronic framework within which Skalkottas's dodecaphonic compositional development can be more effectively viewed. This book underlines Nikos Skalkottas's importance as a composer with a distinctive artistic personality, whose work contributed to the development of twelve-note compositional practice, and who deserves a more significant position within the Western art music canon than that to which he is often assigned.
The Life and Work of William and Philip Hayes: 1708-1777--1738-1797 (Outstanding Dissertations in Music from British Universities)
by Simon HeighesFirst Published in 1996. William and Philip Hayes, father and son, between them occupied the Heather Chair of Music at the University of Oxford for over half a century (1741-97). Although they lived and worked largely outside the mainstream of London's cosmopolitan musical life, their outlook was surprisingly broad. The present study reveals them to have been two of the most important provincial musicians of their age, who as composers contributed to all the main genres of the time except opera.
The Life and Works of Andrzej Panufnik (1914-1991)
by Beata Boles?awskaSir Andrzej Panufnik was born in Warsaw and studied in the newly independent Poland in the 1930s, as well as in Vienna and Paris just before the outbreak of the Second World War. During the German occupation he formed a piano duo with his friend and fellow composer Witold Lutoslawski, and they performed in caf�around Warsaw. After the war, Panufnik quickly established himself as a leading Polish composer, and as a conductor he played a significant role in the re-establishment of first the Krak�nd then the Warsaw Philharmonic. Although he was considered Poland�s leading composer for some years after the war, Panufnik was subsequently put under intolerable pressure both musically and politically. Frustrated by the continuing rejection of his compositions and the unending political demands inflicted on him by the country�s post-war Communist regime, he made a daring escape to England in 1954. He briefly became Principal Conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, a post he relinquished after two years to devote all his time to composition. His works were in demand by major figures such as Leopold Stokowski who conducted the first performances of Sinfonia Elegiaca, Katyn Epitaph and Universal Prayer, Yehudi Menuhin who commissioned the Violin Concerto, Seiji Ozawa in Boston and Sir Georg Solti in Chicago who both commissioned symphonies for the centenaries of their famous orchestras; also Mstislav Rostropovich with the London Symphony Orchestra, who together commissioned the Cello Concerto. Beata Boleslawska has written the first book on the life and artistic output of Panufnik, setting his significance alongside the political and cultural scene of twentieth-century Europe. The account of the composer�s life is based on numerous archival documents, as well as the personal accounts contributed by his family and friends. Panufnik�s compositional style and techniques are also analysed. This book will be of interest not only to those devoted
A Life Apart
by Mariapia VeladianoRebecca's parents were born to very different families. One wealthy, one all but destitute, they were united only by their striking mutual beauty. But the sole child to bless their great romantic fairy tale is a daughter of startling ugliness. The shock of having given birth to such a monster leads the mother to withdraw both herself and her daughter from the world. Only by keeping her child indoors, away from strangers' eyes, can she protect her from their disgust. But against all odds, with a little help from some remarkable friends, Rebecca discovers a talent for music that proves that inner beauty can outshine any other. A Life Apart is an irresistible modern fable that will resonate with anyone who has ever felt that they don't belong.
A Life Apart
by Mariapia VeladianoRebecca's parents were born to very different families. One wealthy, one all but destitute, they were united only by their striking mutual beauty. But the sole child to bless their great romantic fairy tale is a daughter of startling ugliness. The shock of having given birth to such a monster leads the mother to withdraw both herself and her daughter from the world. Only by keeping her child indoors, away from strangers' eyes, can she protect her from their disgust. But against all odds, with a little help from some remarkable friends, Rebecca discovers a talent for music that proves that inner beauty can outshine any other. A Life Apart is an irresistible modern fable that will resonate with anyone who has ever felt that they don't belong.