Customer Reviews

The Norton Anthology of Western Music, Vol. 2: Classic to Modern, 4th Edition

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I find the 4th edition of the Norton Anthology of Music to be especially useful. I have no qualms about Vol. I, but I would have selected some different works and added others. I think a better choice for an orchestral work by Haydn in sonata form would have been an opening allegro from one of the "London Symphonies" rather than the first movement from the Symphony # 56. I would have replaced the slow movement from the Oxford Symphony with the adagio from the symphony # 102 in B flat. I think the first movement of the Opus 18 #1 in F major would have been a better example of a quartet movement by Beethoven rather than the opening movement from the Opus 131 in c# minor. I was surprised that Brahms is only represented by a selection from the German Requiem. The Vorspiel from Tristan und Isolde by Wagner would have been more valuable to study than a scene from the same opera. I've always considered Don Juan by R. Strauss to be his finest work contrary to what many critics think. It would have made more sense to print it in this volume than the other Don. I believe that Benjamin Britten was one of the outstanding composers of the 20th century and certainly deserves to be represented here, but I never cared for any of his operas unlike everyone else. I would have been delighted to see a movement from his Simple Symphony within these pages, say Playful Pizzicato, rather than a hackneyed aria from the grueling Peter Grimes. Why couldn't a piano piece like Voile by Debussy appear here along with the orchestral excerpt Nuage. I've always thought that Pierott Lunaire by A. Schoenberg was a boring catastrophe. I think that students would get a lot more out of studying a movement from the 5 orchestral pieces instead.
P.F. Lesses