Michael Steinbergs highly successful listeners guides--The Symphony and The Concerto--have been universally praised for their blend of captivating biography; crystal clear musical analysis; and delightful humor. Now Steinberg follows these two greatly admired volumes with Choral Masterworks; the only such guide available to this most popular of musical forms.Here are more than fifty illuminating essays on the classic choral masterworks; ranging from Handels Messiah; Bachs Mass in B Minor; and Beethovens Missa solemnis; to works by Haydn; Brahms; Mendelssohn; and many others. Steinberg spans the entire history of classical music; from such giants of the Romantic era as Verdi and Berlioz; to leading modern composers such as Elgar; Rachmaninoff; Vaughan Williams; and Stravinsky; to contemporary masters such as John Adams and Charles Wuorinen. For each piece; Steinberg includes a fascinating biographical account of the works genesis; often spiced with wonderful asides. The author includes an astute musical analysis of each piece; one that casual music lovers can easily appreciate and that more serious fans will find invaluable. The book also provides basic information such as the various movements of the work; the organization of the chorus and orchestra; and brief historical notes on early performances.More than twenty million Americans perform regularly in choirs or choruses. Choral Masterworks will appeal not only to concert goers and CD collectors; but also to this vast multitude of choral performers; an especially engaged and active community."What sets Steinbergs writing apart is its appealing mixture of impregnable authority (he knows this music) and purely personal asides (by the end of the book; we know this man). Choral Masterworks can be read by anybody; from a professional musician to any young listener newly braced by the stoic pessimism of the Brahms German Requiem." --Washington Post Book World
#780172 in eBooks 2011-04-05 2011-04-05File Name: B004QZA050
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Great beginners book - has been very useful to meBy A.SingerI have a bit of a background in working with digital cameras and with Photoshop Elements. I recently acquired Lightroom though and I had never used the RAW format (I have a Nikon D70). This book is out of date a bit. it is based on older versions of Photoshop Elements. Photoshop. and Lightroom. but I have not found that to be a problem at all. For the special price of $10 I find it to be a real bargain and I have really learned quite a bit as I work through it.If you are new to Camera RAW. or have just worked with it a bit. I would definitely recommend this book as a great starter. Later on Ill pick up something a little more advanced. but right now I feel like there is plenty of learning to be achieved from this book and Im happy with it and happy for the great price since so many of the books in dvds in this genre are thrice as much. or more.13 of 13 people found the following review helpful. If you shoot RAW... and who doesnt this book is very helpfulBy Stan BrodeckiGreat - I have read this book from cover to cover and used it and refered back to it when I download my photos from RAW into PhotoShop I find that you should make as many if not all corrections you need to make in RAW before saving the photo to another format. This book can help you achive your best photos ever. Highly recommended to all who shoot in RAW or to those who want to shoot in RAW but are not sure what to do with the photos after you have taken them.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Excellent Raw Editing ReferenceBy Jerome FarnsworthI use Adobe Photoshop Elements. This book helped me understand and improve my use of this softwares RAW module; at the same time this book explains the features of the more advanced RAW modules in Lightroom and CS4 which is very useful information should I wish to upgrade in the future. Until reading this book. I captured all images in both RAW and JPG formats; now I have the confidence to capture only RAW images except for those situations where the levels tools of JPG are needed such as to add labels to a particular image. Very helpful book!
