Tchaikovsky's Complete Songs

by Richard D. Sylvester

Release Date: 01 April, 2002

Edition: Hardcover

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Tchaikovsky's songs and so much more

This is a marvelous book which works on many levels at once. The way the author has mixed biographical with interpretive and background information on the songs is masterful - exactly because it isn't heavy handed or 'routine' in that the reader never feels he's following a template (such as first paragraph biography, second paragraph, info about song's origins, third paragraph interpretive discussion of music/lyrics/symbolism/emotive quality of song). Instead, all of these are present but in a never routinized blend. Gorgeous writing, a sympathetic portrait of Tchaikovsky as artist and a fascinating tour of a whole era of Russian (and world) high culture. The book portrays a huge international cast of characters, major and minor, that are interacting and influencing and supporting one another, with Tchaikovsky at the center of focus. It's a wonderful book - the kind that doesn't stop revealing its bounties after reading, it's a great reference work and lovely for just dipping into when one needs multi-sensory inspiration. Truly!