Winner of the 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism A New York Times Book Review Top Ten Book of the Year Time magazine Top Ten Nonfiction Book of 2007 Newsweek Favorite Books of 2007 A Washington Post Book World Best Book of 2007 In this sweeping and dramatic narrative, Alex Ross, music critic for The New Yorker, weaves together the histories of the twentieth century and its music, from Vienna before the First World War to Paris in the twenties; from Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia to downtown New York in the sixties and seventies up to the present. Taking readers into the labyrinth of modern style, Ross draws revelatory connections between the century's most influential composers and the wider culture. The Rest Is Noise is an astonishing history of the twentieth century as told through its music.

The first book dedicated to the breakthrough work by one of the most acclaimed composers today, Arvo Pärt's Tabula Rasa tells the story of its composition and premiere against the backdrop of late Soviet culture and the end of the Cold War.

Arvo Pärt is one of the most influential and widely performed contemporary composers. Around 1976 he developed an innovative new compositional technique called 'tintinnabuli' (Latin for 'sounding bells'), which has had an extraordinary degree of success. It is frequently performed around the world, has been used in award-winning films, and pieces such as Für Alina and Spiegel im Siegel have become standard repertoire. This collection of essays, written by a distinguished international group of scholars and performers, is the essential guide to Arvo Pärt and his music. The book begins with a general introduction to Pärt's life and works, covering important biographical details and outlining his most significant compositions. Two chapters analyze the tintinnabuli style and are complemented by essays which discuss Pärt's creative process. The book also examines the spiritual aspect of Pärt's music and contextualizes him in the cultural milieu of the twenty-first century and in the marketplace.

The ECM label and its founder Manfred Eicher have altered musical history.

This collection of essays and interviews is an ideal guide to the work and thought of one of the world's greatest and most original living composers. In Enzo Restagno's extensive interview, P'rt gives an intimate description of his work and life in Soviet Estonia, his emigration, his artistic odyssey, and his worldview. Then, Arvo P'rt's compositional technique is the focus of a musicological essay by Leopold Brauneiss. Finally, Saale Kareda explores the spiritual aspects of the composer's approach to his works. Two acceptance speeches, delivered by P'rt on receiving major European prizes, complete this fascinating and illuminating portrait.

Statistically the most performed and listened to contemporary composer in the world, Arvo Pärt is a musical and cultural phenomenon. This book is an essential resource for anyone interested in his extraordinarily innovative and uniquely appealing music. Andrew Shenton surveys the full scope of Pärt's oeuvre, providing context and chronological continuity while concentrating in particular on his text-based music, analysing and describing individual pieces and techniques such as tintinnabulation. The book also explores the spiritual and theological contexts of Part's creativity, and the challenges of performing his work. This volume is the definitive guide for readers looking to engage with the form, content, and context of Pärt's compositions, as Shenton situates Pärt in the narrative of metamodernism and suggests new ways of understanding this unique and beautiful music.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957) was the last compositional prodigy to emerge from the Austro-German tradition of Mozart and Mendelssohn. He was lauded in his youth by everyone from Mahler to Puccini and his auspicious career in the early 1900s spanned chamber music, opera, and musical theater. Today, he is best known for his Hollywood film scores, composed between 1935 and 1947.