Great Classical Composers: Appreciating Their Lives and Music

Great Classical Composers: Appreciating Their Lives and Music

Great Classical Composers: Appreciating Their Lives and Music
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Book Summary Information

Editor: David Allen
Narrator: Richard Mayes
Narrator: John Ringham
Narrator: Rosemary Hughes
Edition: Audio Cassette
Format: Unabridged
Published: 2001-10-10
ISBN: 1572702389
Number of pages: 40
Publisher: Audio Partners

Book Reviews of Great Classical Composers: Appreciating Their Lives and Music

Book Review: Worth the Time
Summary: 4 Stars

"Great Classical Composers" is nearly seven hours in length, but you'll find the time well spent if you are interested in classical music. Beginning with Bach in the 17th century and ending at the dawn of the 20th with Verdi, Strauss and Tchaikovsky, the tapes cover over two hundred years and arguably the greatest composers who ever lived.

The stories are a combination of narraration, actors reading quotes from the composers, and excerpts from some of their most famous compositions. You will hear Handel's "Messiah," Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro," Beethoven's 5th and 9th Symphonies, Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" and much more. In addition, you will also learn the stories behind the works, often revealing details not commonly known.

Overall, this was a very good program. There was a slight echo when some actors were quoting the composers, but this does not detract much from the overall excellence of the production.

Four stars. Good stuff!

Summary of Great Classical Composers: Appreciating Their Lives and Music

The great composers of classical music have achieved exalted status because their music has universal appeal, but approaching them for the first time -- or trying to understand them in the context of their lives and times -- can be a daunting task. Great Classical Composers solves both problems for eight giants of classical music. Each of these composers -- Bach, Beethoven, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Strauss, Tchaikovsky, and Verdi -- was an innovator in his time. This collection intersperses musical vignettes with scenes from their lives, charting the struggles and glories they encountered and the public's response to their creations. Each cassette is devoted to a single composer, and offers background details and dramatizations from composers' lives, along with examples from their most famous works.

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