The British horn player Dennis Brain (1921-1957) is commonly described by such statements as "the greatest horn player of the 20th Century," "a genius," and "a legend." He was both a prodigy and popularizer, famously performing a concerto on a garden hose in perfect pitch. On his usual concert instrument his tone was of unsurpassed beauty and clarity, complemented by a flawless technique. The recordings he made with Herbert von Karajan of Mozart's horn concerti are considered the definitive interpretations. Brain enlisted in the English armed forces during World War II for seven years, joining the National Symphony Orchestra in wartime in 1942. After the war he filled the principal horn positions in both the Philharmonia and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras. He later formed his own wind quintet and began conducting. Composers including Benjamin Britten and Paul Hindemith lined up to write music for him. Even fifty years after his tragic death at the age of 36 in an auto accident in 1957, Peter Maxwell Davies was commissioned to write a piece in his honor. Stephen Gamble and William Lynch have conducted numerous interviews with family, friends, and colleagues and uncovered information in the BBC archives and other lesser known sources about recordings that were previously unknown. This volume describes Brain's life and analyzes in depth his musical career. Its appendices of information on performances will appeal to music historians, and its details on Brain's instruments and equipment will be useful to horn players.

Dennis Brain is recognized as perhaps the greatest horn player the world has known. He helped rescue the horn from the obscurity in which it had languished for over a century, and revived the public's faith in it as a major solo instrument. Brain restored to the concert platform concertos by Mozart and Haydn, and inspired contemporary composers to write for the horn, most notably the Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings by Benjamin Britten, composed during World War II, a piece which is now central to the repertoire of tenors and horn players. Brain died at the tragically young age of thirty-six in a car crash. The beauty of his playing and his untimely death captured the public imagination like no horn player before or since. This biography was reissued thirty years after his death, and includes a discography. The book also contains an appreciation by Benjamin Britten. 'A clear account of Dennis Brain's brilliant career ...' Times Literary Supplement '...an absorbing and extremely well-written account of the orchestral scene in England.'

Theoretical, experimental and clinical perspectives. Readership: Graduate students, postdocs and research scientists in Neuroscience.

Walter Legge was one of the greatest ever record producers. His many other activities included founding a great orchestra, the Philharmonia, which he ran for eighteen years as a 'benevolent dictator'. Music formed the central core of his life, but the printed word was also a vital source of inspiration and education. In his writings Walter Legge reveals clearly the many facets of his own remarkable personality, and from his correspondence with the great names of his day we gain rich insight into the musical world in which he played so great a part.

At 8,000 miles away from home, a business professional delivers a polished presentation to a group of executives. And within two hours, she forgets how to walk. Talking becomes too strenuous. She is struck by an odd series of neurological deficits that baffle her and a dozen doctors ... for 27 months. Brain Wreck is a must read for anyone who has witnessed the frustration of a mysterious illness. This is a story of determination and an unrelenting journey to save one's mind. With humor and unabashed honesty, the author restores a shattered spirit while striving to be "normal."

Infiltrating the world of neuroscience, Cass becomes a human guinea pig on a darkly comic journey to understand the human brain and find out what makes us who we are.