Book details

Why is Mozart the best known and most popular of all the great Western classical composers? As the 250th anniversary of his birth approaches, his reputation stands higher than ever before. This lively new Pocket Guide assesses what Mozart means to us today, and explores why his music is so enduringly valued by listeners. The Guide aims to tell the general reader and listener in concise form all they need to know in order to listen to and enjoy Mozart's music - it will introduce a new generation of concert-goers and record-listeners to all his key works in forms from opera to symphony, concerto to song. In a crisp, sharp style, with extensive recommendations of good performances and recordings, Nicholas Kenyon shows how Mozart has turned a different face to every age that has performed his music and has communicated with unique. Separating the Mozart myth and the Mozart industry from the realities of his superb music, the book also asks key questions: How did Mozart compose? What did he look like? What did he think? How should we perform his music today? There will also be a brief calendar of Mozart's life, a musical glossary and a who's who of key figures in his life.

Nicholas Kenyon has been Director of the BBC Proms since 1996. He was a music critic for The New Yorker, Times and Observer, and was Controller, BBC Radio 3, from 1992 to 1998. In 2001 he wrote a highly praised new edition of his biography of Simon Rattle (Faber). He is now Controller, BBC Proms, Live Events and Television Classical Music, and was appointed a CBE in 2001.