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"Comprehensive and superlative."--Choral Journal
Product Description
This is the authoritative account of Vaughan Williams's musical life - the story of a great composer's career, and at the same time the story of music in England over half a century and more. Kennedy considers the principal works in chronological order, outlining the main features of each and discussing details of the music's structure, often illuminating his point with a musical quotation. He also provides a good deal of biographical data, and so builds up a picture of the composer, as well as providing thumbnail sketches of many of Vaughan Williams's friends and colleagues. Kennedy's extensive knowledge of Vaughan Williams's output also enables him to refer back and forth across the works to pick out lines of development and influence. The book includes a full classified list of Vaughan Williams's works. Michael Kennedy has provided a new preface.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I was looking forward to reading this book, albeit having read previous reviews on Amazon.
The reviews were accurate - Kennedy is an ardent disciple and whatever problems there were in the musical world they were avowedly not Vaughan Williams'. Having said that Vaughan Williams is a unmistakeable - surely the mark of a great composer. A musical hero in the same way as is Sibelius.
The book sticks fairly strictly to Vaughan Willams' published works - one only gets a glimpse of the rest of his life.
The book now available in paperback is a copy of the second edition; a third might be advisable. The Amazon paperback is actually a facsimile, printed for Amazon,by the look of it, and at £28 plus for a paperback is not cheap. There are a number of typographical errors I would not have expected, together with idiosyncratic spelling which a more compelling editor might have queried and some of the lettering is missing in places.
Perhaps these are small details and minor quibles, but not at that price. Even the paper has the feel of a facsimile printing - it needs looking at. An interesting book, then, but on reflection I would have chosen to buy an original secondhand edition. I felt short-changed by the product, rather than the content.
I shall have to read the biography by Ursula VW, his second wife, to give another perspective on his life.
The reviews were accurate - Kennedy is an ardent disciple and whatever problems there were in the musical world they were avowedly not Vaughan Williams'. Having said that Vaughan Williams is a unmistakeable - surely the mark of a great composer. A musical hero in the same way as is Sibelius.
The book sticks fairly strictly to Vaughan Willams' published works - one only gets a glimpse of the rest of his life.
The book now available in paperback is a copy of the second edition; a third might be advisable. The Amazon paperback is actually a facsimile, printed for Amazon,by the look of it, and at £28 plus for a paperback is not cheap. There are a number of typographical errors I would not have expected, together with idiosyncratic spelling which a more compelling editor might have queried and some of the lettering is missing in places.
Perhaps these are small details and minor quibles, but not at that price. Even the paper has the feel of a facsimile printing - it needs looking at. An interesting book, then, but on reflection I would have chosen to buy an original secondhand edition. I felt short-changed by the product, rather than the content.
I shall have to read the biography by Ursula VW, his second wife, to give another perspective on his life.
2 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The book is in a good condition.
Unfortunately it did not have the full appendix which gives all the collected works of RVW.
Fortunately I have a friend who can let me see his copy which does have the full collected works included.
Unfortunately it did not have the full appendix which gives all the collected works of RVW.
Fortunately I have a friend who can let me see his copy which does have the full collected works included.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
35 of 35 people found the following review helpful
*The* standard study of Vaughan Williams's music.
3 April 1997
Format:Paperback
I've known this book for over thirty years. Kennedy approachesVaughan Williams's catalogue both widely and deeply, with plenty ofmusical examples. Since I'm a Vaughan Williams headbanger, a book like this is my equivalent of hagiography. Kennedy assumes (correctly) that Vaughan Williams is one of the major composers of this century, and not just in England, and thus discusses works in a clear-eyed way, without special pleading, emotional ginger-up, or hysterical proselytizing. He gives us the musical "facts" of a work and shows, in purely compositional terms, why it's wonderful -- the most convincing argument of all. I've almost worn out my copy through reading and re-reading. When I listen to a Vaughan Williams work, I usually have the book handy. A classic of music writing.--Steve Schwartz
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