Music in the Late Twentieth Century: The Oxford History of Western Music

Front Cover
Oxford University Press, Aug 14, 2006 - Music - 610 pages
The universally acclaimed and award-winning Oxford History of Western Music is the eminent musicologist Richard Taruskin's provocative, erudite telling of the story of Western music from its earliest days to the present. Each book in this superlative five-volume set illuminates-through a representative sampling of masterworks-the themes, styles, and currents that give shape and direction to a significant period in the history of Western music. Music in the Late Twentieth Century is the final installment of the set, covering the years from the end of World War II to the present. In these pages, Taruskin illuminates the great compositions of recent times, offering insightful analyses of works by Aaron Copland, John Cage, Milton Babbitt, Benjamin Britten, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass, among many others. He also looks at the impact of electronic music and computers, the rise of pop music and rock 'n' roll, the advent of postmodernism, and the contemporary music of Laurie Anderson, John Zorn, and John Adams. Laced with brilliant observations, memorable musical analysis, and a panoramic sense of the interactions between history, culture, politics, art, literature, religion, and music, this book will be essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand this rich and diverse period.
 

Contents

Chapter 1 Starting from Scratch
1
Chapter 2 Indeterminacy
55
Chapter 3 The Apex
103
Chapter 4 The Third Revolution
175
Chapter 5 Standoff I
221
Chapter 6 Standoff II
261
Chapter 7 The Sixties
307
Chapter 8 A Harmonious AvantGarde?
351
Chapter 9 After Everything
411
Chapter 10 Millenniums End
473
Notes
529
Art Credits
555
Further Reading
559
Index
569
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

About the author (2006)

Richard Taruskin is professor of musicology at the University of California, Berkeley. In addition to this work, Taruskin is also the author of such books as Music in the Western World: A History in Documents (1985) , Text & Act (OUP, 1995), and Stravinsky and the Russian Traditions (1996). He is a frequent contributor to the New York Times , New Republic , and many other scholarly journals.

Bibliographic information