Music Composition DUMmIES

composers or recordings. Each composer’s entry is divided into the types of

music the composer delved into, where his or her influence is most felt in

later composers’ works, and even the political pressures that made them

write the types of music they did.

Overall, the guidebook contains the biographies of more than 160 classical

composers, spanning from as far back as the 14th century to the present,

and offers print reviews of some of the most relevant recordings of each com-

poser’s work. The main performers on these recordings are also discussed

in brief, with an explanation of why the album being mentioned is the absolute

best one for you to pick up.

Fun to either read straight through or to jump around in as a reference book,

it’s an indispensable guide to anyone who wants to learn more about classi-

cal music without getting bogged down by the snobbery that can accompany

the genre.

American Mavericks ....................................................................................

edited by Susan Key and Larry Roethe, University of California Press

This book is gorgeous enough to be a coffee table book, and, if you’re as

obsessed with music as we are andyou have a coffee table, you really should

pick up a copy. It’s loaded with fantastic photographs of unique American

composers and their equally unique choices of instruments. It features in-

depth profiles of composers as varied and dissimilar as John Cage, Aaron

Copland, Steve Mackey, and Carl Ruggles. The book also comes with a CD

containing 18 tracks of music — one for every composer and several from

albums that are just about impossible to find in your local record store.

RE/Search #14 & #15: Incredibly Strange Music, Vols. I and II ...............

RE/Search Publications

Anyone familiar with the RE/Search books already knows they’re in for a treat

when they pick up either one of these books. For those not familiar with the

RE/Search series — well, you should be. They’re a lot of fun to read.

RE/Search #14 and #15are both filled with interviews with fringe performers

and radio personalities all about their personal record collections. In #14,

Vol. 1, Ivy and Lux from The Cramps talk about their collection of easy-

Chapter 22: Ten Recommended Books for Composers 277