Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2014 -

With this book, Grant (Wesleyan Univ.) sets groundwork for resolving the longstanding division in music theory between music perception and the history of theory, and he does so in ways music scholars at all levels should note.  Hitherto, the subject of rhythmand the related subjects musical time, meter, beat, and tempohas been addressed either in terms of experimental psychology or as the subject matter of historical treatises.  Seldom has the bridge between the two been made and never with Grant's excellent skill.  His capacity for making connections between modern scholarship and historical music treatises is nothing short of remarkable.  Though Grant's emphasis is on the historical record, his facility with recent thought in music perception and cognition allows him to pull a very detailed synopsis of the history of rhythmic thought forward in service of present-day theoretical problems.  This book will appeal to advanced scholars, principally music theorists, but it will also be readily appreciated by music historians.  Its clarity of style recommends it even to clever undergraduates.  That said, the book requires a familiarity with musical notion that may rule out lay readers.Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals.

Swafford (Boston Conservatory) drops no biographical bombshells in this ambitious production, which is just a tad shorter than the indispensableThayer's Life of Beethoven (CH Sep'64)written by Alexander Thayer in German, English edition rev. and ed. by Elliot Forbes (1964)and nearly half again as long as Swafford'sJohannes Brahms: A Biography (1997).  Like the Brahms book, the present volume covers life plus music; Swafford's reflections on various Beethoven works and the currents and notions exposed in those works are interspersed with the biographical material.  The tone is resolutely nonacademic, although some of the (excellent, convincing) musical talk will lie beyond the reach of readers without grounding in music theory.  The research behind the text appears to be copious, albeit mostly from English-language sources.  Though Swafford is not afraid to speculate on some critical issues, he stops well short of Solomon-style psychoanalysiscf. Maynard Solomon'sBeethoven (CH, Jan'99, 36-2676).  Readers looking for more compact coverage will be content with Lewis Lockwood's fineBeethoven: The Music and the Life (CH, May'03, 40-5129).  Nonetheless, every institution with a music collection should have Swafford's volume.  Despite an idiosyncratic index, this is the big Beethoven book of our time and not to be missed.Summing Up: Essential. All readers.

In this first major history of Claude Debussy in more than 20 years, Jensen brings to life France's iconic, influential, and complex son.  This comprehensive account incorporates the most current scholarship and newly discovered compositions with fresh perspective and critical analysis.  The work is organized into biographical and musical sections that are clearly written and comprehensible for musicians of all levels.  Jensens engaging chapters illuminate Debussys complex personality and relationships, including the notoriety and scandal that surrounded him.  Of particular note, Jensen provides convincing new insights and supporting evidence with regard to historys confining label of Debussy as an impressionist or a symbolist.  Jensen also explores Debussys critical workhe was regarded as one of the finest music critics of his timerevealing the composers musical preferences and views on the role and function of music.  The book concludes with an updated catalog of Debussys complete works.  Not since François Lesures critical biography on Debussy (1994) and the first annotated edition of his letters (2005) has there been a publication on Debussy such as Jensens.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty/professionals.

Brodbeck (Univ. of California, Irvine) pulls together recent research in areas outside musicology to address fin-de-siècle (approximately 18601910) problems of politics and music in the mid-European lands.  Words are given their proper values, especially the termsotherandnationalhere meaning Jewish, Czech, Hungarian, Moravian, and German populations.  The complexities of these issues are starkly and carefully described, and Brodbecks presentation of complex detail is impressive.  Studying music reviews that reflect the Viennese concert scene of the period, Brodbeck traces a terrifyingly prophetic network of ideas as they emerged, grew, and ultimately led to the disastrous results of WW II.  He deals only with music reviews in the newspapers of the periodwhich he has carefully readanalyzing and soberly reporting on large quantities of material.  In so doing, he brings new clarity to this difficult chapter of history.  Brodbeck's documentation of the merging of political ideology and music has lessons for all readers.  This excellent book is not to be missed.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.

Taking a somewhat chronological approach to the subject, Gioia has used his extensive knowledge of love songs throughout time and human history to write an unorthodox examination of this topic.  Rather than following the traditional historical methodfocusing on important movements, composers, and places, with each new development as an advancement or progress forwardthe author examines the effect of love songs throughout the human experience as a whole.  He focuses on the "faceless" population rather than the small number of stars who are well-known and have been written about.  What surfaces is the importance of love songs throughout human history in combating censorship; challenging authoritarian and patriarchal institutions; and providing a voice for the disenfranchised and young, in particular women, to establish their sense of personal autonomy and identity.  In addition, the innovations that love songs developed over time came from the marginalized populations and fringes of society, not the stars of that day and time.  The reader is transported from bird song to ancient Rome, from the troubadours to folk songs, from crooners to contemporary rappers.  This is a fascinating approach to the topic.Summing Up: Essential. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers.

Fosler-Lussier (Ohio State Univ.) offers a detailed, heavily researched history of the US governments diplomatic use of music during the 1950s and 1960s.  She begins with two chapters on classical music and devotes the remaining five chapters to jazz, African American performers, religious styles, popular music, and "music, media, and cultural relations between the United States and the Soviet Union."  The US governments "cultural presentations" program, which was a joint effort with local sponsors throughout the world, began in 1954 and survived into the early 1970s.  In the introduction, Fosler-Lussier writes that musical diplomacy fostered complex relationships between the United States, as a mythologized sender of music, and listeners who liked or disliked its music" and between various other constituencies.  Some musical styles and performers became popular, others not so much, as the Cold War seemed to wind down.  As the author deftly notes, musical diplomacy did serve as a propaganda tool but had other functions.  In making this point, she draws on a wide range of sources, among them Walter Hixson'sParting the Curtain: Propaganda, Culture, and the Cold War (CH, Jun'97, 34-5889) and Penny Von Eschen'sSatchmo Blows Up the World: Jazz Ambassadors Play the Cold War (2004).Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers.

This thought-provoking work explores a fascinating intersection of public history and popular culture.  Jones amassed and analyzed 1,079 songs published about the South between 1898 and 1958.  These songs, Dixie tunes to use his characterization, contributed to the popular culture of the first half of the 20th century.  As he writes in the preface, the songs provide a "20th-century version of the moonlight and magnolias vision of an idyllic South.  In nine topical chapters, the author examines the songs lyrics, analyzes the mythic impressions of the contemporary South they helped create and sustain, and provides relevant cultural and historical context for the songs.  Jones indicates in the preface that he targeted the general reading audience.  The book has, however, great academic potential.  Much like George Brown Tindalls The Emergence of the New South 19131945 (CH, Mar'68), published nearly 50 years ago, this work is chock full of factoids and observations that could stimulate theses and dissertations for a generation to come.  Those interested in popular culture or southern history will want this book.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

In The History of Rock 'n' Roll in Ten Songs, longtime rock critic Greil Marcus seeks nothing less than an upending of conventional histories.  Rather than looking at traditional chronologies, evolution, and influences, Marcus focuses on blips on the radar: songs that constitute "a field of expression ... a web of affinities."  Asserting that traditional rock history is a "constructed story that has been disseminated so comprehensively that people believe it," the author dismantles cultural memory and the commercial history of popular music touted by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  He takes idiosyncratic, individual songse.g., Flamin' Groovies's "Shake Some Action" (1976), Joy Division's "Transmission" (1979)and posits them as just that: singular and remote, with little relationship to a historical paradigm.  He interrogates these songs, these moments, for their metaphysical potential, with all of the suggestiveness of Cormac McCarthy.  Marcus also weaves together disparate insights from the musical and the literary (William Faulkner and cultural critic Leslie Fiedler, the latter a frequent keynote for Marcus).  This book offers the freshest of angles across what has become too-familiar terrain: Marcus is unorthodox and wildly associative while remaining readable, insightful, and eloquent.  The relationship of this razor-sharp book to conventional history is like that of Sonic Youth feedback to an Eric Clapton solo.Summing Up: Essential. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.

Shank (comparative studies, Ohio State Univ.) does a fantastic job of discussing ways that music has been effective in political arenas.  His chapter on the use of musical anthems is particularly groundbreaking: he scrutinizes the Star-Spangled Banner, Lift Every Voice and Sing, and We Shall Overcome in novel ways.  His discourse on the role of music in the political landscape of Japan in the early 20th century, and of Toru Takemitsu and Yoko Ono as polarizing figures of music in Japan, is invigorating.  Droning in the music of the Velvet Underground and in Indian classical music receives attention as well, making comparisons of two styles using a similar technique.  Shank explores authenticity in rock, a topic certainly explored by others, but considers the topic in the context of both Patti Smith and the District of Columbia hardcore punk scene, including Bad Brains.  Furthermore, he situates the music of 1969 in varying types of landscapes then prevalent in society, ranging from Stockhausen and Reich to the Beatles.  In short, this book is very well researched and abounds with fresh ideas.Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

In his conclusion to this superb study of the Lorenz HartRichard Rodgers musical theater partnership (which lasted from 1919 to 1931), Symonds (Univ. of Lincoln, UK) summarizes his intent, which was to consider how the two worked together to develop the way in which music and words unite; how a part of that creativity was guided by the exigencies of the industry; and how their own sense of self both informed and grew from their work.  The author succeeds in all respects and provides devotees of the evolution of musical theater of the 1920sand of Rodgers and Hart (and frequently librettist Herbert Fields, whose name could have been in the subtitle) in particulara fulsome balance of history, biography, musicology, and analysis that will help readers understand the two men's contribution to the establishment of an integrated musical form.  The numerous examples of songs and musical phrases provide excellent insights into Hart and Rodgers's methods (a rudimentary knowledge of musical composition would help in understanding Symondss analyses).  This outstanding volume will be a required resource for those interested in musical theater.Summing Up: Essential. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty/professionals; general readers.

Following up on his excellentShow Boat: Performing Race in an American Musical (CH, May'13, 50-4902), Decker (Washington Univ., St. Louis) now examines the performance history of its most popular number, Ol Man River, and what singers from pop to jazz to rock to soul to doo-wop to opera did with and to this famous song.  Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein originally wrote the number for Paul Robeson, and Decker discusses in detail how Robeson lived with the song, performing it on stage, in film, and in concerts for a half century.  Over the years Robeson and other performers made their own changes to the song, especially the lyrics, to reflect changing social sensibilities or political and social movements.  Decker even devotes a chapter to parodies. Revealing his own devotion to the song, Decker adds a personal dimension.  He supports the text with numerous illustrations, a selective chronology of recordings, and bibliographical references in the endnotes.  Most important, a companion website features sound extracts of many performances.  This jewel of a volume will be valuable to all who are interested in performing arts or African American studies.Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals; general readers.