Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 (Cambridge Music Handbooks) [Hardcover]

Benjamin M. Korstvedt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0521632269 | ISBN-13: 978-0521632263

Anton Bruckner's Eighth Symphony (1890), one of the last of the great Romantic symphonies, is a grandly complex masterpiece. This book explores this many-faceted work from several angles. It documents the complicated and often misunderstood history of the symphony's composition and revision and provides an accessible guide to its musical design. It demonstrates, by means of a study of well-known recordings, how performance styles have evolved in this century. It also revisits the conventional wisdom about the various versions and editions of the symphony and comes to some provocative new conclusions.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'What [this book] does reveal is enough to keep Bruckner-enthusiasts agonising and arguing for decades.' BBC Music Magazine

Book Description

Bruckner's Eighth Symphony (1890), one of the last of the great Romantic symphonies, is a grandly complex masterpiece. This book explores this many-faceted work from several angles. It documents the complicated and often misunderstood history of the symphony's composition and revision and provides an accessible guide to its musical design. It demonstrates, by means of a study of well-known recordings, how performance styles have evolved in this century. It also revisits the conventional wisdom about the various versions and editions of the symphony and comes to some provocative new conclusions.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 146 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (May 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521632269
• ISBN-13: 978-0521632263
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,121,477 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #32 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Theory, Composition & Performance > Sheet Music & Scores > Composers > Bruckner

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great book,a must read, April 2, 2004

By 

Barnard D. Sherman (Iowa City, IA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 (Cambridge Music Handbooks) (Paperback)

If you care at all about this symphony or this era, do not miss this book - one of the best Cambridge handbooks (a superb series). Korstvedt not only clarifies the murky question of revisions, and helps us understand the creative process in this work and the structure and meaning - he also explodes what has become the conventional wisdom about editions. He makes a powerful case for the supposedly "corrupt" edition published in the composer's lifetime, showing how it profoundly changes our understanding of the meaning of the work, and discussing great early recordings based on this edition (and comparing them to some distinguished modern recordings). The chapter on performance traditions by itself is worth the price (only $10 used - what a deal!) A must-read, which I hope will be read not only by listeners but by Bruckner performers.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars An uninspired thesis retread, October 24, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 (Cambridge Music Handbooks) (Paperback)

The substantive content of this slender volume is in absolute contrast to the greatness of this monumental symphony, arguably the most imposing symphony of the second half of the 19th century. The small book still manages to be stuffed with filling, but of the wrong kind: intricate and tedious academic harmonic analyses and self-proclaimed 'controversial' findings with regard to the various editions of the symphony. Thus, despite its short length, the book overstays its welcome by failing to balance its technical minutiae with any larger musical issues such as where the symphony could proceed after Wagner or the sublime solution of Bruckner. All-in-all, it resembles an unfocussed and undigested doctoral thesis (which doubtless was its unfortunate genesis). IMHO, one of the weaker titles in the otherwise fine Cambridge Press series, and a disappointment for those hoping for a long-overdue addition to the sadly empty bookshelf on this extraordinary composer.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good work - but, oh, the price!?!, January 26, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 (Cambridge Music Handbooks) (Hardcover)

I've just borrowed this book from a university library. Professor Korstvedt has written a fine treatise on the Bruckner Eighth and is apparently planning a full-length biography on the composer and this is certainly something to look forward to, especially as it will, I think, be the first such work by an American author. This book undertakes a detailed analysis of the masterwork - its form and genesis and all of the relevant background material. But for a very thin hardcover volume with just over a hundred pages of text? You've got to be kidding me! Borrow this book from your library unless money is no object.