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First English-language publication of fascinating interviews with world-renowned musicians: composers (György Ligeti), conductors (Claudio Abbado), singers (Elisabeth Schwarzkopf), instrumentalists (Yehudi Menuhin, Alfred Brendel), and more.
Bálint András Varga makes available here for the first time in English nineteen extended interviews with some of the most notable figures in music from the past fifty years, as well as lively snippets from interviews Varga conducted with thirteen other equally renowned musicians. The interviewees include singers Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Cathy Berberian; pianists Alfred Brendel and Arthur Rubinstein; violinists Isaac Stern and Yehudi Menuhin; conductors Claudio Abbado and Sir Neville Marriner; composers György Ligeti and Karlheinz Stockhausen; and legendary pedagogue Nadia Boulanger. Of special interest is an interview with the reclusive composer György Kurtág, here published for the first time in any language.
From Boulanger to Stockhausen concludes with a poignant memoir by Varga of his experiences growing up in a Jewish family in Hungary during World War II and the early years of Communist rule. Varga's recollections also include details about his many interviews with some of these remarkable musicians, and about his employment at the Hungarian state radio station and then in the music-publishing industry, which brought him to, among other places, Vienna, where he now lives.
Interviewees: Claudio Abbado, Georges Auric, Cathy Berberian, Nadia Boulanger, Ernest Bour, Alfred Brendel, Aaron Copland, Sir Neville Cardus, Antal Doráti, Adám Fischer, Iván Fischer, Géza Frid, Sir William Glock, Sylvia Goldstein, Alois Hába, Ralph Kirkpatrick, György Kurtág, Walter Legge, György Ligeti, Witold Lutoslawski, Sir Neville Marriner, Yehudi Menuhin, Eugene Ormandy,Vladlemuter, Arthur Rubinstein, György Sándor, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Isaac Stern, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Wolfgang Stresemann, Walter Susskind, Hans Swarowsky, Joseph Szigeti, Tibor Varga.
Bálint András Varga has spent morethan forty years working for and with composers. His previous books include György Kurtág: Three Interviews and Ligeti Homages and Three Questions for Sixty-Five Composers, both published by the University of Rochester Press.
Bálint András Varga makes available here for the first time in English nineteen extended interviews with some of the most notable figures in music from the past fifty years, as well as lively snippets from interviews Varga conducted with thirteen other equally renowned musicians. The interviewees include singers Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Cathy Berberian; pianists Alfred Brendel and Arthur Rubinstein; violinists Isaac Stern and Yehudi Menuhin; conductors Claudio Abbado and Sir Neville Marriner; composers György Ligeti and Karlheinz Stockhausen; and legendary pedagogue Nadia Boulanger. Of special interest is an interview with the reclusive composer György Kurtág, here published for the first time in any language.
From Boulanger to Stockhausen concludes with a poignant memoir by Varga of his experiences growing up in a Jewish family in Hungary during World War II and the early years of Communist rule. Varga's recollections also include details about his many interviews with some of these remarkable musicians, and about his employment at the Hungarian state radio station and then in the music-publishing industry, which brought him to, among other places, Vienna, where he now lives.
Interviewees: Claudio Abbado, Georges Auric, Cathy Berberian, Nadia Boulanger, Ernest Bour, Alfred Brendel, Aaron Copland, Sir Neville Cardus, Antal Doráti, Adám Fischer, Iván Fischer, Géza Frid, Sir William Glock, Sylvia Goldstein, Alois Hába, Ralph Kirkpatrick, György Kurtág, Walter Legge, György Ligeti, Witold Lutoslawski, Sir Neville Marriner, Yehudi Menuhin, Eugene Ormandy,Vladlemuter, Arthur Rubinstein, György Sándor, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Isaac Stern, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Wolfgang Stresemann, Walter Susskind, Hans Swarowsky, Joseph Szigeti, Tibor Varga.
Bálint András Varga has spent morethan forty years working for and with composers. His previous books include György Kurtág: Three Interviews and Ligeti Homages and Three Questions for Sixty-Five Composers, both published by the University of Rochester Press.
Price: $55.00
Pages: 410
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Inc.
Imprint: University of Rochester Press
Publication Date:
15 October 2013
Trim Size: 9.00 X 6.00 in
ISBN: 9781580464390
Format: Hardcover
BISACs:
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Music, Biography: arts and entertainment, MUSIC / Genres & Styles / Classical, MUSIC / Individual Composer & Musician, Composers and songwriters, Musicians, singers, bands and groups, Art music, orchestral and formal music
There are wonderful gems between the covers. Serious musicians -- professionals and otherwise -- are apt to find Varga's conversational approach refreshing. Equally welcome are the many informative footntotes. The memoir, covering both personal and professional aspects of Varga's life, is as touching as it is informative.
Keeping us in touch with now-deceased public figures [Strauss, Elgar] and their memories is a significant part of this book. . . The dialogues cover a nice mix, ranging from internationally renowned musicians who have been kindly treated by posterity to those who will be known but whose standing, even when alive, was somewhat peripheral. To have Alois Haba, Ernest Bour and Hans Swarowsky in their own words makes this hardback of particular value. It all helps light up the past. The way Varga sets the scene for each interview . . . helps the reader 'eavesdrop' on the conversation. Varga's own reminiscences, occupying some 100 pages, make for interesting reading.
This selection of interviews from 1966 to 2008 includes material of value for piano lovers, such as an account from the violinist Tibor Varga of Bartók's performances of Bach: Intriguing book.
Covering 50 years of great music-making, [. . .] essential reading. [Five stars: highest rating]
A living link with the 20th century's leading composers and musicians.
An important document for new generations of musicians and music lovers. --Riccardo Chailly, Gewandhauskapellmeister, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
This is a book of voices. We hear great musicians speaking with fresh immediacy, each of them introduced by a pen-portrait at once incisive and sympathetic. But we hear also the intimate voice of the one who observes and listens, the author of this astonishing book, in a moving memoir of a childhood in communist Budapest and a working life promoting the music he loves.
— Paul Griffiths, author of The Substance of Things Heard: Writings about Music (URP 2005)
Bálint András Varga is one of the great listeners in the recent history of music. Surging toward sound on every silent page, this book is a major document both of the century now past and of the century unfolding. --music critic, The New Yorker
— Alex Ross, music critic, The New Yorker
Keeping us in touch with now-deceased public figures [Strauss, Elgar] and their memories is a significant part of this book. . . The dialogues cover a nice mix, ranging from internationally renowned musicians who have been kindly treated by posterity to those who will be known but whose standing, even when alive, was somewhat peripheral. To have Alois Haba, Ernest Bour and Hans Swarowsky in their own words makes this hardback of particular value. It all helps light up the past. The way Varga sets the scene for each interview . . . helps the reader 'eavesdrop' on the conversation. Varga's own reminiscences, occupying some 100 pages, make for interesting reading.
This selection of interviews from 1966 to 2008 includes material of value for piano lovers, such as an account from the violinist Tibor Varga of Bartók's performances of Bach: Intriguing book.
Covering 50 years of great music-making, [. . .] essential reading. [Five stars: highest rating]
A living link with the 20th century's leading composers and musicians.
An important document for new generations of musicians and music lovers. --Riccardo Chailly, Gewandhauskapellmeister, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
This is a book of voices. We hear great musicians speaking with fresh immediacy, each of them introduced by a pen-portrait at once incisive and sympathetic. But we hear also the intimate voice of the one who observes and listens, the author of this astonishing book, in a moving memoir of a childhood in communist Budapest and a working life promoting the music he loves.
— Paul Griffiths, author of The Substance of Things Heard: Writings about Music (URP 2005)
Bálint András Varga is one of the great listeners in the recent history of music. Surging toward sound on every silent page, this book is a major document both of the century now past and of the century unfolding. --music critic, The New Yorker
— Alex Ross, music critic, The New Yorker
Part One: Interviews
Part Two: Memoir
Introduction
Ancestors
On Being Jewish
Growing Up in Postwar Socialist Hungary
Margit
Tapespondence
Birth and Demise of a (Counter)revolution: A Boy's-Eye View
Broadcasting 1
Broadcasting 2
Editio Musica Budapest
Interviewing: An Obsession
Ich war ein Berliner
Moving to Vienna
Universal Edition
Back Catalogue
The Psychology of Promotion
Farewell and After
Notes in Retrospect
Index
Part Two: Memoir
Introduction
Ancestors
On Being Jewish
Growing Up in Postwar Socialist Hungary
Margit
Tapespondence
Birth and Demise of a (Counter)revolution: A Boy's-Eye View
Broadcasting 1
Broadcasting 2
Editio Musica Budapest
Interviewing: An Obsession
Ich war ein Berliner
Moving to Vienna
Universal Edition
Back Catalogue
The Psychology of Promotion
Farewell and After
Notes in Retrospect
Index