[ebooks] The Avant-Garde and American Postmodernity: Small Incisive Shocks by Philip Nel in Arts-Photography

Description

In this compulsively readable; fascinating; and provocative guide to classical music; Norman Lebrecht; one of the worldrsquo;s most widely read cultural commentators tells the story of the rise of the classical recording industry from Carusorsquo;s first notes to the heyday of Bernstein; Glenn Gould; Callas; and von Karajan. Lebrecht compellingly demonstrates that classical recording has reached its end pointndash;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 authorrsquo;s critical selection of the 100 most important recordingsndash;and the 20 most appalling.Filled with memorable incidents and unforgettable personalitiesndash;from Goddard Lieberson; legendary head of CBS Masterworks who signed his letters as God; to Georg Solti; who turned the Chicago Symphony into ldquo; the loudest symphony on earthrdquo;ndash;this is at once the captivating story of the life and death of classical recording and an opinioned; insiderrsquo;s guide to appreciating the genre; now and for years to come.From the Trade Paperback edition.