Overview

A century of recording has fundamentally changed our experience of music-the way we listen to it and the way it is performed. This highly engaging book is the first thorough exploration of the impact of recording technology upon the art of music. Timothy Day chronicles the developments in recording technology since its inception and describes the powerful effects it has had on artistic performance, audience participation, and listening habits. He compares the characteristics of musical life one hundred years ago-before the phonograph-to those of today and offers a fascinating analysis of how performing practices, images of performers, the work of composers, and performance choices in concert halls and opera houses have changed. The book investigates the work of such great recording engineer-impresarios as Fred Gaisberg and Walter Legge; the recording history of conductors, orchestras, and soloists throughout the century; and the development of the great classical recording labels. Day also addresses a variety of questions raised by the study of recordings: What have people expected of a recorded performance? Do recordings constitute an art form in their own right? What is historical authenticity? What is moral authenticity? Are recordings that endow incompetent artists with flawless techniques somehow fraudulent? Why do artists re-record repertoire? This book will inform and engage a wide range of readers, from those who love music and recordings to performers and scholars and all readers with an interest in the social and artistic history of the twentieth century.

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9780300094015

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Reviews

Day is omnivorously interested in his subject, and has digested a huge quantity of material from sources of all kinds. The result is a minor classic, thought-provoking and informative on almost every page. Noel Malcolm, The Sunday Telegraph An excellent narrative history... Day shows how recordings both created and supplied a new market for classical music, how technology deepened the market, and how recordings now affect musicians and listeners alike. James Penrose, Wall Street Journal Essential reading... undoubtedly a major landmark. David Patmore, International Record Review A valuable book... and an important aid to broadening our understanding of classical music over the past 100 years. Malcolm Walker, Gramophone The book raises no barriers, for musical notation is absent and musical jargon minimal in it. The fascination it possesses for classical music lovers is enormous... Day is clear and precise throughout, and he has written what may come to be regarded as a music library cornerstone. Booklist Day's history is... an introduction - he claims no more - to a vast subject which has the potential to overturn ideals as much as prejudices... he writes about it as though he knows he is on to something, with verve and a profusion of detail. Peter Phillips, The Musical Times

Author Information

Timothy Day is curator of Western art music at the Sound Archive of the British Library, London, one of the largest collections of recorded sound in the world.

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