Overview

Walter Aaron Clark's detailed and accurate account (the first in English) of one of the most intriguing figures of the Romantic period is now available in paperback. Isaac Albéniz (1860-1909), a renowned concert pianist, created a national style of Spanish piano music and also fostered the growth in Spain of the concerto, orchestral music, and opera. His career was to become the stuff of legend: a touring child prodigy who supposedly stowed away on a steamer to the New World, he later studied with Liszt, and eventually became ensnared in a 'Faustian pact' with the wealthy English librettist Frances Burdett Money-Coutts. Based on a wealth of new and previously overlooked documentary evidence, this biography debunks the mythology surrounding Albéniz's career--much of it spun by the composer himself--and reveals a complex individual who was able to capture the mystery of Spain in his music yet who in reality felt estranged from his homeland.

Full Product Details

9780199250523

Table of Contents

Reviews

This is not only the most but the first factually reliable biography of Alberniz ever published. Clark is not only entertaining but admirably concise. This is a book without waffle, without academic jargonese, without pretension of any kind. Clark calls it a 'portrait'. It is very much more. Bettina Neumann, Bookshelf Walter Clarke's book is so much more than a portrait. He makes this a journey thourhg the fascinating world of the great virtuoso, a journey to amaze, to shock and to impress. The photos are very interesting and the list of his works is staggering ... genius at work. Mr Clark is to be complimented for bringing to life this gigantic personality...Albeniz would today have been Hollywood material today. I am sure the book will sell and sell and sell. Neil Smith, Classical Guitar Magazine Clark makes a convincing case for a revision of received opinion in a clear, scholarly but readable narrative that is refreshingly untrendy ... Clark's biography has much to recommend it. I particularly enjoyed the depiction of fin-de-siecle European musical life that forms a kind of incidental accompaniment to the main story. Tess Knighton, Times Literary Supplement

`Review from previous edition Clark makes a convincing case for a revision of received opinion in a clear, scholarly but readable narrative that is refreshingly untrendy. ... Clark's biography has much to recommend it. I particularly enjoyed the depiction of fin-de-siecle European musical life that forms a kind of incidental accompaniment to the main story.' Tess Knighton, TLS Sept 1999 `Walter Aaron Clark, in his superbly researched and lucidly written book, is determined to set the record straight at last. ... Clark writes illuminatingly about Albeniz's music as well as his life.' BBC Music Magazine, September 1999

Author Information

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available