(Maks Ra’-ger) 1873–1916 German composer A student of Hugo Riemann (1849–1919), Reger bridged the divide between nineteenth-century Brahmsian academicism and Liszt’s ‘New German School’, with music that combined Bachian counterpoint and Wagnerian chromaticism. Reger was among the most frequently performed composers at Schoenberg’s Society for Private Musical Performance. After army service, he worked in Munich (1901) then as a professor at ...
(Maks Brookh) 1838–1920 German composer Bruch studied first with his mother, a soprano, and then with Ferdinand Hiller (1811–85) in Cologne. He held conducting posts across Germany, as well as with the Liverpool Philharmonic Society (1880–83), and a professorship at the Berlin Academy from 1891. Late in his career he received honorary doctorates from the universities of Cambridge and ...
(Folklorists, John Avery Lomax 1867–1948; Alan Lomax 1915–2002) John Lomax was born in Goodman, Mississippi and raised near Fort Worth, Texas. Although his initial interest lay in cowboy songs, a pre-teen friendship with a servant named Nat Blythe sparked an interest in black music. With the 1910 publication of Cowboy Songs And Other Frontier Ballads, his ...
(Drums, b. 1924) Along with Kenny Clarke, Max Roach shares the credit for inventing bebop drumming. When Clarke found himself drafted in 1943, it was Roach who emerged as the leading activist in the search for a drum style to suit the emerging melodic and harmonic complexities of the new music. He developed an approach that was both ...
b. 1934 English composer Early use of serialism (Trumpet Sonata, 1955) led Davies to a less systematic method of composing with smaller sets of pitches (Prolation, 1958). Alongside this grew a fascination for the pre-Baroque. Davies makes particular use of plainsong themes, which he then subjects to quasi-serial transformations. A peculiar leaning towards parody was central to Davies’s ...
b. 1974 Russian violinist Vengerov gave his first recital when he was five, and played his first concerto at the age of six. Since winning the Carl Flesch competition in 1990 he has given recitals and played concertos in Europe, America and the Far East. He gave the first performance of Rodin Shchedrin’s Concerto cantabile in 1998. His many ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 2003–present) Signed to Sheffield’s Warp Records, a label more synonymous with ambient dance acts like Boards of Canada, Newcastle’s Maxïmo Park – Paul Smith (vocals), Duncan Lloyd (guitar), Archis Tiku (bass), Lucas Wooller (keyboards) and Tom English (drums) – deliver a view of the north-east of England that is refreshingly different to the sterilized slants on ...
Often regarded as the country cousin (and hence the bumpkin) of the organ family, the harmonium did add a touch of warmth to many nineteenth-century rural homes, where the purchase of a piano would have been an unaffordable luxury. But the two instruments often cohabited, too. Harmonium Compositions Today, unlike the piano, the harmonium is a ...
(Sâr’-ga Va-sil-ya’-vech Rakh-ma’-ne-nof) 1873–1943 Russian composer Rachmaninov studied with Arensky and Taneyev in Moscow, graduating with the Great Gold Medal in 1892. The same year, he composed his famous Prelude in C sharp minor. In 1897, the premiere of his First Symphony had a hostile reception and he ceased composing for three years. However, he was able to ...
There are many different instrumental interfaces through which it is possible to control synthesized or sampled sounds – the most common being the piano-style keyboard. The electronic musician is also able to access a wide range of sounds through electric guitar, string, percussion and wind instruments. These devices are, to a large extent, quite recognizably conventional, ...
Computer music can be defined as music that is generated by, or composed and produced by means of, a computer. The idea that computers might have a role to play in the production of music actually goes back a lot further than one might think. As early as 1843, Lady Ada Lovelace suggested in a published article that ...
The Modern Age was characterized by rapid and radical change and political turmoil. By 1918 the Russian tsar, the Habsburg emperor and the German kaiser had lost their thrones. The two Russian revolutions of 1917 resulted in a Communist government led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was fragmented to allow self-determination to the newly formed countries of Czechoslovakia ...
Rock, jazz, soul; each of these genres, while containing a multiplicity of various offshoots, is defined by some kind of unifying theme. But this miscellaneous section, as any record collector will know, is where everything else ends up. Most of the styles within this ‘genre’ have little in common save the fact that they do ...
This section encompasses styles that were, at least initially, designed to work in tandem with other forms of expression, deepening or enhancing their impact. The scores of musical theatre are woven into stories played out by the characters on stage. A film soundtrack is composed to interlock with the action on a cinema screen, while cabaret songs ...
The schools of naturalism and realism had an immediate effect in Italy. With scant literary tradition to draw on from this period, Italian writers in the second half of the nineteenth century seized upon Zola’s beliefs as a potent dramatic source. The style they developed came to be known as verismo and was exemplified by writers such as Giovanni Verga ...
AUTHORITATIVE
An extensive music information resource, bringing together the talents and expertise of a wide range of editors and musicologists, including Stanley Sadie, Charles Wilson, Paul Du Noyer, Tony Byworth, Bob Allen, Howard Mandel, Cliff Douse, William Schafer, John Wilson...
CURATED
Classical, Rock, Blues, Jazz, Country and more. Flame Tree has been making encyclopaedias and guides about music for over 20 years. Now Flame Tree Pro brings together a huge canon of carefully curated information on genres, styles, artists and instruments. It's a perfect tool for study, and entertaining too, a great companion to our music books.
David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
his life, music, art and movies, with a
sweep of incredible photographs.