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.'

Featuring fascinating accounts from practitioners, this Companion examines how developments in recording have transformed musical culture.

The playback of recordings is the primary means of experiencing music in contemporary society, and in recent years 'classical' musicologists and popular music theorists have begun to examine the ways in which the production of recordings affects not just the sound of the final product but also musical aesthetics more generally. Record production can, indeed, be treated as part of the creative process of composition. At the same time, training in the use of these forms of technology has moved from an apprentice-based system into university education. Musical education and music research are thus intersecting to produce a new academic field: the history and analysis of the production of recorded music. This book is designed as a general introductory reader, a text book for undergraduate degree courses studying the creative processes involved in the production of recorded music. The aim is to introduce students to the variety of approaches and methodologies that are currently being employed by scholars in this field. The book is divided into three sections covering historical approaches, theoretical approaches and case studies and practice. There are also three interludes of commentary on the academic contributions from leading record producers and other industry professionals. This collection gives students and scholars a broad overview of the way in which academics from the analytical and practice-based areas of the university system can be brought together with industry professionals to explore the ways in which this new academic field should progress.

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.'