Intimate Voices: The Twentieth-Century String Quartet

Modern composers as diverse as Béla Bartók, Maurice Ravel, Benjamin Britten, and John Cage have confided some of their most personal and intense thoughts to the medium of the string quartet. The resulting repertoire has won the allegiance of string players-and of listeners in the concert hall and at home. Yet, until now, no book has addressed the language of these remarkable works, their interactions with the masterpieces of Beethoven and others, and their new approaches to musical expression. Intimate Voices, organized in rough chronological order, offers the observations and intuitions of twenty leading authorities on quartets by twenty-one composers from eleven countries. Its two volumes-available separately or together-comprise an indispensable guide to amateur and professional chamber musicians, scholars, students, and anyone seeking a deeper acquaintance with the great achievements of twentieth-century music.

Edited by Evan Jones, associate professor of music theory, Florida State University College of Music.

Contents and authors

Volume 1: Debussy and Ravel (Marianne Wheeldon); Sibelius (Joseph Kraus); Bartók (Joseph N. Straus); Hindemith (David Neumeyer); Schoenberg (Matthew R. Shaftel); Berg (Dave Headlam); Webern (David Clampitt); Villa-Lobos (Eero Tarasti); Prokofiev (Neil Minturn)

Volume 2: Shostakovich (Patrick McCreless); Britten (Christopher Mark); Ligeti (Jane Piper Clendinning); Berio (Richard Hermann); Xenakis (Evan Jones); Scelsi (Eric Drott); Cage (David W. Bernstein); Babbitt (Andrew Mead); Carter (Jonathan W. Bernard); Mel Powell (Jeffrey Perry); Shulamit Ran (Robert W. Peck)

Reviews

"Intimate Voices takes us on a kaleidoscopic ride through a century of string quartets. Players, historians, and theorists alike will appreciate the deeply musical commitment of twenty major writers exploring this medium, from Debussy to modern American, with composers such as Bartók and Scelsi in the same optic, through evidence-based music analysis in a social context. It is a Herculean project, superbly executed by editor Evan Jones." --Jonathan Dunsby, professor of music theory, Eastman School of Music

Details

First Published: 15 Nov 2009
13 Digit ISBN: 9781580463225
Pages: 366
Size: 9 x 6
Binding: Hardback
Imprint: University of Rochester Press
Series: Eastman Studies in Music
Subject: Music
BIC Class: AV

Details updated on 08 Sep 2010