Norman Lebrecht

From the author of The Song of Names (winner of the 2002 Whitbread First Novel Award), a powerful new novel that explores the reverberations of love and hate in the story of one man's unlikely survival.In an unnamed country at the end of a world war, Paul Miller escapes from a labor camp, collapsing after running only a few hundred feet. He is taken in by a young woman named Alice, and by the time she has nursed him back to health, the war has ended. With no one to return to and learning to love the woman who saved him, Paul decides to stay where he is. Over time he marries Alice, has a family, helps to rebuild the village, and, eventually, becomes its mayor.But Paul is inescapably haunted by his life before the war, by his time in the camp, and by the fact that the people who are now his friends ignored for years the labor camp in their midst. When the camp's commander returns to the village, Paul is at last faced with the moral dilemma that will force him to choose between vengeance and forgiveness. The Game of Opposites tells a universal tale of good and evil with extraordinary humanity and poignancy. It is a stunning evocation of the capability for both within all of us.From the Hardcover edition.

In this compulsively readable, fascinating, and provocative guide to classical music, Norman Lebrecht, one of the world's most widely read cultural commentators tells the story of the rise of the classical recording industry from Caruso's first notes to the heyday of Bernstein, Glenn Gould, Callas, and von Karajan. Lebrecht compellingly demonstrates that classical recording has reached its end point--but this is not simply an expos? of decline and fall. It is, for the first time, the full story of a minor art form, analyzing the cultural revolution wrought by Schnabel, Toscanini, Callas, Rattle, the Three Tenors, and Charlotte Church. It is the story of how stars were made and broken by the record business; how a war criminal conspired with a concentration-camp victim to create a record empire; and how advancing technology, boardroom wars, public credulity and unscrupulous exploitation shaped the musical backdrop to our modern lives. The book ends with a suitable shrine to classical recording: the author's critical selection of the 100 most important recordings--and the 20 most appalling.Filled with memorable incidents and unforgettable personalities--from Goddard Lieberson, legendary head of CBS Masterworks who signed his letters as God; to Georg Solti, who turned the Chicago Symphony into " the loudest symphony on earth"--this is at once the captivating story of the life and death of classical recording and an opinioned, insider's guide to appreciating the genre, now and for years to come.From the Trade Paperback edition.

The close friendship between Martin Simmonds and violin prodigy Dovidl Rappoport, two Jewish boys living in London between the 1930s and the end of World War II, is threatened by the unexpected disappearance of Dovidl on the eve of his debut performance.

"From 1732 until World War II, London's privately owned and operated Royal Opera House (ROH) at Covent Garden was reflective of the country it served - the rich and noble enjoyed performances in the luxury of the theatre and concert hall while the rest of the classes viewed the shows from the dimly lit top gallery. In 1945, with Britain in financial crisis, its cities in ruins, and its citizens living on strict food and fuel rations, Covent Garden was reborn as a public company after the economist Maynard Keynes called for state money to support an Arts Council and Royal Opera House, under his own chairmanship, that would resurrect the nation's fortunes and spirit through the preservation of English culture and performing arts. From that point on, says Norman Lebrecht, the ROH, with its Royal Opera and Royal Ballet companies, purported to conduct this postwar national mission while attaching itself to the social elite, creating a recipe for disaster that finally exploded half a century later when the world-class Covent Garden was pushed to the brink of bankruptcy." "In this history, Lebrecht explains the astonishing failure of an institution that was designed to define a nation. Four chief executives came and went in eighteen months, and the off-stage dramas, catastrophes, misadventures, and infighting became comic fodder for the press and Parliament. Lebrecht's illuminating account of the rise, decline, and fall of the ROH during the second half of the twentieth century is situated within the broader context of upheavals and changes in English cultural life that have eroded the very notion of "Englishness" and transformed the country from heroic poverty to heartless wealth." "With unprecedented access to private archives and key players, Lebrecht recounts an intriguing tale of special relationships between arts councils, hidden public cash, corruption, anti-Semitism, and campaigns against homosexuals. He also provides colorful details about the many celebrated performers and personalities, including Maria Callas, Rudolf Nureyev, Margot Fonteyn, Georg Solti, and Kiri te Kanawa, who helped shape Covent Garden's storied traditions." "Lebrecht concludes by offering thoughts on what the future holds for this notable institution, arguing that Covent Garden should be privatized along the same lines as the Metropolitan Opera."--Jacket.

Here is the start-to-finish history of the classical music business: its heroes, villains, lions, and legends. Controversial, polemical, and rich with inside information, this is a successor to Lebrecht's widely acclaimed The Maestro Myth, in which the author illuminated the hidden crisis in the conducting profession. In unfolding this current tale, the author has tracked down the first concert agent and the man who invented hype. He highlights the forces behind the career of megastar Luciano Pavarotti and exposes the double dealings of record master Walter Legge, the follies of Leonard Bernstein, and the networks of Isaac Stern. In revealing detail the author lays bare the poignant fate of classical music, an art that has sold its soul and lost control of its future.

"There is no profession which an imposter could enter more easily," wrote the violinist Carl Flesch of conducting. The truth may be that "great conductors" exist primarily because we demand mythical heroes, visible leaders, cultural icons. In this vigorous anatomy of power on the podium, Norman Lebrecht argues that the great conductor's musical purpose is secondary to his commercial necessity. Lebrecht traces the rise of the orchestra conductor from Bulow, Richter and Nikisch in the nineteenth century, when composers abdicated responsibility for directing their increasingly unwieldy scores, to the stars of today, masters of the musical world and the media. Lebrecht contends that the supreme example of the omnipotent conductor was Herbert von Karajan, the richest musician in history. With the aid of previously inaccessible material, he exposes the roots of Karajan's career in the Third Reich and on New York's 57th Street. He reassesses the mercurial Arturo Toscanini, looks behind Sir Thomas Beecham's wit and patrician charm, dissects the myriad legends surrounding Leonard Bernstein and examines the fierce professional rivalry between Riccardo Muti and Claudio Abbado. Portrayed here, too, are the obstacles faced by black, female or openly gay conductors. The author also highlights the phenomenon of the "semi-conductor" in the newly fashionable world of "early music" and lays bare the mounting crisis in a profession where real talent grows ever scarcer--with rare exceptions like Simon Rattle. Finally, he probes the awesome power of Ronald Wilford, who singlehandedly masterminds the careers and fortunes of the world's top conductors through the largest classical music agency, Columbia Artists Management Inc. A lively chronicle of individual ambition and achievement, The Maestro Myth delves into conducting's social, psychological, political and economic dynamics. For music lovers who enjoy having their opinions and prejudices challenged, here is a refreshing iconoclastic history of a profession which has too often been the object of sycophantic reverence [Publisher description]

Noise is a widely recognized problem and health concern in the modern world. Given the importance of managing noise levels and developing suitable "soundscapes" in contexts such as industry, schools, or public spaces, this is an area of active research for acousticians. But noise, in the sense of dissonance, can also be used positively; composers have employed it from Baroque music to Rock feedback; medicine harnesses it to shatter kidney stones and treat cancer; and even the military usesit in (real and rumoured) weapons. Mike Goldsmith looks back at the long history of the battle between people and noise - a battle that has changed our lives and moulded our societies. He investigates how increasing noise levels relate to human progress, from the clatter of wheels on cobbles to the sound of heavy machinery; he explains how our scientific understanding of sound and hearing has developed; and he looks at noise in nature, including the remarkable ways in which some animals, suchas shrimps, use noise as a weapon or to catch prey. He concludes by turning to the future, discussing the noise sources which are likely to dominate it and the ways in which new science and new ideas may change the way our future will sound.

"Alma Mahler-Werfel was one of the most fascinating ... of twentieth-century women. Her book Gustav Mahler: Memories and Letters (1940) includes 159 of Mahler's letters, yet only 37 of these were published in their original, unedited form." "This new edition restores the original texts, and includes a further 188 letters as well as other, hitherto unpublished documents. The letters are supplemented by commentaries..."-- BOOK JACKET.