Experiencing Schumann: A Listener's Companion - Hardcover

Ranging widely from David Bowie to Mozart, titles in `The Listener's Companion' series seek to present the societal world and historical place for the creation of the music. The basic premise of the series is to stay away from unusual, cutting-edge scholarship and instead examine the canon of the known and understood at the present point in time. In Sanders's volume on Robert Schumann (1810-56), readers get a strong sense not only of Schumann's intense life experiences but also of the composing styles that make his music fascinating. The book's extensive music analysis-written in the style of concert program notes-fleshes out the music itself. Sanders has captured a middle ground between musical analysis for experts and analysis for music lovers. Sometimes the recitations of motion from key to key are tedious and seem purposeless, but there is still much to learn from these basic analyses. Young performers and listeners who need guidance through Schumann's complexity would do well to study these oddities of pattern that make Schumann's music so charming and exciting. Performers and students new to Schumann will value this book. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; general readers; professionals. * CHOICE *

Sanders chronicles Schumann's life and work, analyzing the most significant and widely performed compositions from each of the genres in which Schumann composed. This volume gives readers an enhanced experience of key works by exploring the environments in which they were written and first performed as well as those in which they are enjoyed today.