Review
Joan Peyser's The Music Of My Time profiles major 20th Century composers, performers and institutions in 50 incisive musical studies. From Schoenberg, Stravin-sky, Varese, Cowell and Bartok to new productions currently premiering on the stage of the New York City Opera, The Music Of My Time encompasses a colorful variety of musical styles and personalities including atonality and 12-tone writing; the Boulanger proteges Thomson, Carter, Diamond and Rorem; the vernacular idiom of Gershwin, Blitzstein, Bernstein, Morton Gould and the Beatles; the influence of American academic and independent musicians such as Babbitt, Sessions, Wolpe, Wyuorinen, Kirchner and Harbison; contemporary European composers Boulez, Berio, Henze, Stockhausen and Britten; and (throughout the period) the rise and fortunes of such institutions as the New York Philharmonic, the Lincoln Center, and the Santa Fe Opera; as well as memorable arts like Maria Callas, Richard Tucker, and Jose Quintero. The Music Of My Time is a magnificent, wide-ranging compendium of contemporary music history. Informative, challenging, entertaining, and fascinating reading. -- Midwest Book Review
