{"title":"Harvey Sachs","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHarvey Sachs\u003c\/strong\u003e offers a deep exploration of the lives and works of some of the most influential figures in music history. His writing balances scholarly insight with accessible storytelling, making complex musical ideas and biographies engaging for both enthusiasts and newcomers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eReaders can expect richly detailed narratives that illuminate the artistic and cultural contexts of his subjects, whether delving into individual masterpieces or the personal journeys of renowned composers and musicians. His books belong within \u003cem\u003eArts \u0026amp; Culture\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eBiography \u0026amp; Memoir\u003c\/em\u003e, merging historical research with compelling human stories.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"schoenberg-by-harvey-sachs-9781324096191","title":"Schoenberg","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn his time, the Austrian American composer Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) was an international icon. His twelve-tone system was considered the future of music itself. Today, however, leading orchestras rarely play his works, and his name is met with apathy, if not antipathy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith this interpretative account, the acclaimed biographer of Toscanini finally restores Schoenberg to his rightful place in the canon, revealing him as one of the twentieth century's most influential composers and teachers. Sachs shows how Schoenberg, a thorny character who composed thorny works, raged against the \"Procrustean bed\" of tradition. Defying his critics—among them the Nazis, who described his music as \"degenerate\"—he constantly battled the anti-Semitism that eventually precipitated his flight from Europe to Los Angeles.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eYet Schoenberg, synthesising Wagnerian excess with Brahmsian restraint, created a shock wave that never quite subsided, and, as Sachs powerfully argues, his compositions must be confronted by anyone interested in the past, present, or future of Western music.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46855831322860,"sku":"9781324096191","price":37.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/11646303482659.jpg?v=1759280222"},{"product_id":"ten-masterpieces-of-music-by-harvey-sachs-9781631495182","title":"Ten Masterpieces of Music","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this penetrating volume, Harvey Sachs, acclaimed biographer and historian of classical music, takes readers into the hearts of ten extraordinary works of classical music in ten different genres. He shows both the curious novice and the seasoned listener how to recognise, appreciate, and engage with these masterpieces on a historical and compositional level.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFar from what is often thought, classical music is neither dead nor dying. As a genre, it is constantly evolving, its pieces passing through countless permutations and combinations yet always retaining that essential élan vital, or life force. The works collected here, composed in the years between 1784 and 1966, are a testament to this fact. As Sachs skillfully demonstrates, they have endured not because they were exceptionally well-made or interesting but because they were created by composers—Mozart and Beethoven; Schubert, Schumann, Berlioz, Verdi, and Brahms; Sibelius, Prokofiev, and Stravinsky—who had a particular genius for drawing music out of their deepest wellsprings. \"Through music,\" Sachs writes, \"they universalized the intimate.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn describing how music actually sounds, \u003cem\u003eTen Masterpieces of Music\u003c\/em\u003e seems to do the impossible, animating the process of composing as well as the coming together of disparate scales and melodies, trills and harmonies. It tells us, too, how particular compositions came to be, often revealing that the pieces we now consider \"classic\" were never intended to be so. In poignant, exquisite prose, Sachs shows how Mozart, a former child prodigy under constant pressure to produce new music, hastily penned Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major, one of his finest piano concertos, for a teenage student, and likewise demonstrates how Goethe's Faust, Part One, became a springboard for the musical imagination of the French composer Berlioz.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs Sachs explains, these pieces are not presented as candidates for a new \"Top Ten.\" They represent neither the most well-known nor the most often-performed works of each composer. Instead, they were chosen precisely because he had something profound to say about them, about their composers, about how each piece fits into its composer's life, and about how each of these lives can be contextualised by time and place. In fact, Sachs encourages readers to form their own favourites, and teaches them how to discern special characteristics that will enhance their own listening experiences.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith \u003cem\u003eTen Masterpieces of Music\u003c\/em\u003e, it becomes evident that Sachs has lived with these pieces for a veritable lifetime. His often-soaring descriptions of the works and the dramatic lives of the men who composed them bring a heightened dimension to the musical perceptions of all listeners, communicating both the sheer improbability of a work becoming a classic and why certain pieces—these ten among them—survive the perilous test of time.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46855856718060,"sku":"9781631495182","price":56.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/24285103482768.jpg?v=1759280927"},{"product_id":"schoenberg-by-harvey-sachs-9781631497575","title":"Schoenberg","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn his time, the Austrian American composer Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) was an international icon. His twelve-tone system was considered the future of music itself. Today, however, leading orchestras rarely play his works, and his name is met with apathy, if not antipathy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith this interpretative account, the acclaimed biographer of Toscanini finally restores \u003cem\u003eSchoenberg\u003c\/em\u003e to his rightful place in the canon, revealing him as one of the twentieth century's most influential composers and teachers. Sachs shows how Schoenberg, a thorny character who composed thorny works, raged against the \"Procrustean bed\" of tradition.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDefying his critics—among them the Nazis, who described his music as \"degenerate\"—he constantly battled the anti-Semitism that eventually precipitated his flight from Europe to Los Angeles. Yet Schoenberg, synthesizing Wagnerian excess with Brahmsian restraint, created a shock wave that never quite subsided, and, as Sachs powerfully argues, his compositions must be confronted by anyone interested in the past, present, or future of Western music.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47383988011244,"sku":"9781631497575","price":56.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/24309033482768.jpg?v=1773392970"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.pro\/collections\/harvey-sachs.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}