Essays and Diversions (v. 2) [Hardcover]

Robin Holloway (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 29, 2008

Following the success of On Music; Essays and Diversions Vol I Robin Holloway's collection of writings covers a wealth of new ground. Containing substantial studies on Wagner, Strauss and Britten, the collection includes a fascinating piece on Edward Elgar which will be of great interest in the 150th anniversary of his birth. Shorter pieces cover individual composers and particular works as well as individuals and issues in musical life, as Holloway considers the Twentieth Century as a contradictory yet unified whole.

Gathered from a wealth of published and unpublished work, including the popular Spectator columns, Robin Holloway brings together some of his highly entertaining accounts of travelling around the world with his music; of travel in America and Europe, a kaleidescope of festivals and of life as Professor of Music at Cambridge University.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"As ever, Holloway's prose is rich, dense and stylistically idiosyncratic."

Reviewed by Roger Nichols, BBC Music Magazine, 2008

"[S]timulation, amusement and enlightenment for anyone who cares about how music is made, heard and understood."

Reviewed by Geraint Lewis in Gramophone, 2008

"endlessly diverting and superbly readable. .. rare to find such combination of exuberance, clarity, erudition and humour. Holloway is incapable of writing a dull sentence... This volume is a model of lively, informed writing on all aspects of music, leaving most other practitioners' well and truly in the shade" - Classical Music

Reissue of previous review, Classical Music. 20 December 2008.

About the Author

Robin Holloway is well-known as a versatile and lyrical composer, who has written many chamber, orchestral and vocal works. As critic and teacher, a professor of Music and cambridge, his ground-breaking study of Debussy and Wagner has been praised for its insights into Debussy's harmonic language.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Continuum (January 29, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826497284
• ISBN-13: 978-0826497284
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,461,588 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very substantial, idiosyncratic compendium of Holloway's writings on music, June 13, 2011

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G.C. (St. Louis, MO, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: On Music: Essays and Diversions (Paperback)

In addition to being a composer and music professor, Robin Holloway is a noted writer on music, both for a relatively popular audience, as in his regular column in the British right-of-center magazine "The Spectator", and for more academic studies. This volume includes both, although leaning considerably more towards the popular writings that don't necessarily require a high technical background in music. He certainly is not shy about expressing his opinions, such as his low opinion of Shostakovich as vastly overrated because of the political circumstances of the composer's life, and his dismissal of Schoenberg, but also on the positive side, speaking up for Franz Schmidt (to the point of a somewhat questionable remark about Schmidt's final work, left unfinished at his death). His analysis of individual pieces, such as particular operas (Wagner's "Twilight of the Gods" and "Parsifal", Richard Strauss' "Capriccio" and "Salome), certainly provide much material and ideas to consider, as do his essays on composers, the latter often tied to a then-anniversary. He does indulge in wordplay and mannered word coinage at times, which can be occasionally distracting. Overall, however, Holloway provides plenty of musical food for thought.