paul griffiths

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The Penguin Companion to Classical Music / The New Penguin Dictionary of Music 

Penguin, London, 2004     ISBN: 9780141009247
Penguin, New York, 2005     ISBN: 9780140515596
Penguin, London, 2006     ISBN: 9780141009254

‘ ... by some distance the best single-volume reference I have ever encountered ... there is enough of Paul’s own wit in the book to make it a bedside-reading delight.’ (Alan Rich, L.A. Weekly)

‘This is a remarkable feat. Griffiths writes perceptively and accessibly about the language of music, composers and conductors, as well as giving thumbnail sketches of important ballets and operas . . . He also includes entries on performers, musically involved writers, musical cities, countries and periods for good measure, all succinctly and stylishly explained. Concision poses no strain for him, even if, as any musicologist knows, it is far harder to capture the essence of Mozart in four rather than forty pages, and Griffiths does so without resort to familiar clichés, with an approach that remains fresh throughout.’ (Robert Orledge, Times Literary Supplement)

‘ . . . belongs in every musician’s library.’ (Joseph Kerman, New York Review of Books)



addenda  
    
    

Adams, John

www.earbox.com
Stage: ... Doctor Atomic (opera: Peter Sellars), f.p. San Francisco, 2005; A Flowering Tree (Adams and Sellars, after Indian sources), f.p. Vienna, 2006
Orchestral: ... My Father Knew Charles Ives, 2003; The Dharma at Big Sur, amplified vn, orch, 2003; Son of Chamber Symphony, 2007; City Noir, 2009
Chamber: ... String Quartet, 2008
Piano: ... American Berserk, 2001    
     

ApIvor, Denis

d. Robertsbridge, East Sussex, 27 May 2004    
    

Arnold, Malcolm

d. Norwich, 23 Sep 2006
www.malcolmarnold.co.uk  
    

Babbitt, Milton

Orchestral: ... Concerti, 2004    
    

Ballif, Claude

d. Poissons, Haute-Marne, 24 Jul 2004   
   

Becker, Günther

d. Bad Lippspringe, 24 Jan 2007   
   

Benjamin, George

Theatre: Into the Little Hill (Martin Crimp), s, mez, ens, 2005-6
Orchestral: ... Dance Figures, 2004; Duet, pf, orch, 2008
Instrumental: ... Shadowlines, pf, 2001; Piano Figures, 2004  
    

Bergman, Erik

d. Helsinki, 24 Apr 2006   
   

Berman, Lazar

d. Florence, 6 Feb 2005  
    

Birtwistle, Harrison

Operas: ... The Minotaur (Harsent), 2005-7
Music theatre: ... The Corridor (Harsent), s, t, 6 insts, 2008; Semper Dowland, semper dolens (Dowland, Campion), t, 8 insts, 2009
Orchestral: ... Three Brendel Settings, bar, orch, 2000-04 [includes There is something between us]; Night’s Black Bird, 2004
Ensemble: ... Cantus iambeus [title changed from Passing Measures], 13 insts, 2004; Virelai (Sus une fontayne), 12 insts, 2008
Choral: ... The Gleam (Plaice), ch, 2003; Neruda madrigales, ch, 7 insts, elec, 2004-5
Chamber: ... Today Too (Tanko), t, fl, gui, 2004; Crowd, hp, 2005; The Mouse Felt... (Brendel), bar, pf, 2005; Lied, vc, pf, 2006; Song of Myself, bar, db, perc, 2006; Variations, vc, pf, 2007; The Tree of Strings, str qt, 2007; Double Hocket, pf trio, 2007; The Message, cl, tpt, drum, 2008; Bogenstrich (Rilke), bar, vc, pf, 2006-9; Roddy's Reel, b cl, 2009
    

Bolcom, William

www.bolcomandmorris.com   
    

Brant, Henry

d. Santa Barbara, Cal., 26 Apr 2008    
    

Buller, John

d. Sherborne, 12 Sep 2004   
  

Caldwell, Sarah

d. Portland, Maine, 23 Mar 2006   
  

Carter, Elliott

Orchestral: ... 3 Illusions (More’s Utopia, 2003; Fons juventatis, 2003; Micomicón, 2002); Dialogues, pf, orch, 2003; Réflexions, chbr orch, 2004; Soundings, 2005; Horn Concerto, 2006; Interventions, pf, orch, 2007; Sound Fields, str, 2007; Flute Concerto, 2007-8
Vocal with orchestra/ensemble: ... Of Rewaking (William Carlos Williams), s, orch, 2002; In the Distances of Sleep (Wallace Stevens), mez, ens, 2005-6; On Conversing with Paradise (Pound), bar, ens, 2008
Other works for 4-8 instruments: ... 2001; Mosaic, 8 insts, 2004; Clarinet Quintet, 2007; Tintinnabulation, 6 perc, 2008
Duos and Trios: ... Call, 2 tpt, hn, 2003; Due Duetti, vn, vc, 2008-9
Solos: ... Figment III, db, 2007; Figment IV, va, 2007; HBHH, ob 2007; Figment V, mar, 2009
Piano: ... Retrouvailles, 2000; Intermittences, 2005; Caténaires, 2006; Matribute, 2007; Fratribute, 2008; Sistribute, 2008
Choral: ... Mad Regales (Ashbery), 6 v, 2007
Songs: La Musique (Baudelaire), mez, 2007; Poems of Louis Zukofsky, cl, s, 2008  
  

Casken, John

Orchestral: ... Symphony ‘Broken Consort’, 2003-4  
    

Cooke, Arnold

d. Five Oak Green, Kent, 13 Aug 2005  
    

Eben, Petr

d. Prague, 24 Oct 2007  
    

Feldman, Morton

www.cnvill.demon.co.uk/mfhome.htm  
   

Ferneyhough, Brian

Other larger works: ... Plötzlichkeit, orch, 2006; Chronos-Aion, large ens, 2007-8
String quartets: ... No.5, 2006; Dum transisset I-IV, 2007; Exordium, 2008
Other chamber works: ... No Time (At All), 2 gtr, 2004; O Lux, 10 insts, 2005; Renvoi/Shards, gtr, vib, 2008
   

Freedman, Harry

d. Toronto, 16 Sep 2005  
    

Glass, Philip

Operas: ... Appomattox (Christopher Hampton), 2007
Orchestral: ... Symphony ... No.6 ‘Plutonian Ode’ (Allen Ginsberg), s, orch, 2002; No.7 ‘A Toltec Symphony’, choir, orch, 2005; No.8, 2005   
Other chamber: Sonata, vn, pf, 2008     
     

Goehr, Alexander

Operas: ... Promised End (Shakespeare), 2008-9
Orchestral: ... Overture with Handelian Air, 2000-01; Adagio, Op.75, 2002; Broken Lute, Op.78b, a fl, ob, str, 2008
Ensemble: ... Idées fixes, Op.63, 1997; Marching to Carcassonne, Op.74, pf, ens, 2002; Overture, Op.82, 2008  
Chamber and instrumental: Five Objects Darkly, Op.62, vn, va, b cl, hn, pf, 1996; Piano Quintet, Op.69, 2000; ...around Stravinsky, Op.72, vn, 4 ww, 2001; Composition of A’s and G’s, s sax, 2004; Fantasie, Op.77, vc, pf, 2005; Broken Lute, Op.78, vn, 2006; Clarinet Quintet, 2007; Since Brass, nor Stone, Op.80, str qt, perc, 2008; manere, Op.80, cl, vn, 2008
Songs: ... Three Sonnets and Two Fantasias, Op.68, ct, viol qt, 1999-2000; Dark Days, Op.76 (Hesiod, Homer), mez/bar, pf, 2004
Piano: ... Symmetry Disorders Reach, Op.73, 2002 
   

Goossens

Sidonie (1899-2004)  
    

Górecki, Henryk

Chamber: ... String Quartet ... No.3, Op.67, 1993  
     

Haefliger, Ernst

d. Davos, 17 Mar 2007  
     

Harbison, John

Orchestral: Symphony ... No.4, 2004  
      

Harvey, Jonathan

Chamber: String Quartet ... No.4, str qt, elec, 2003  
      

Harwood, Basil

d. 3 Apr 1949  
     

Helffer, Claude

d. Paris, 27 Oct 2004  
      

Henze, Hans Werner

Operas: ... Phaedra, 2007
Choral orchestral: ... Elogium musicum amatissimi amici nunc remoti, 2008
Other orchestral works: ... Sebastian im Traum, 2004 
     

Hoddinott, Alun

d. Swansea, 12 Mar 2008  
     

Ifukube, Akira

d. Tokyo, 8 Feb 2006  
     

Kagel, Mauricio

d. Cologne, 18 Sep 2008 
     

Khrennikov, Tikhon

d. Moscow, 14 Aug 2007  
      

Kirchner, Leon

Ensemble and chamber: String Quartet ... No.4, 2006
Piano: For the Left Hand, 1995; Sonata No.2, 2003; etc 
      

Kurtág, György

String quartets: ... Six Moments musicaux, Op.44, 2005
Other chamber works: ... Hipartita, Op.43, vn, 2005   
     

Kyburz, Hanspeter

Works: ... String Quartet, 2003-4


Lachenmann, Helmut

Ensemble: ... Concertini, 2005
Vocal: ...got lost..., s, pf, 2007-8  
      

Lieberson, Lorraine Hunt

d. Santa Fe, 3 Jul 2006


Ligeti, György

d. Vienna, 12 June 2006


Liszt, Franz

FINAL PARAGRAPH: He died in Bayreuth shortly after attending performances of Parsifal and Tristan, and...     

                                             
Los Angeles, Victoria de

d.Barcelona, 15 Jan 2005


Lympany, Moura

d. Menton, 28 Mar 2005


Mahler, Gustav

b. ... 7 Jul 1860


Martino, Donald

d. Antigua, 8 Dec 2005


McFerrin, Robert

d. St. Louis, 24 Nov 2006   
       

Menotti, Gian Carlo

d. Monaco, 1 Feb 2007   
       

Mensurstrich (Ger., pl. Mensurstriche). Vertical line placed between bars, not intersecting them (as barlines do). This notational device was introduced by editors of medieval and Renaissance music to show the coordination of parts while reminding readers that the original notation had no barlines and the music may not be metrical.   
       

m.s. left hand          
       

Nigg, Serge

d. Paris, 12 Nov 2008    
       

Nilsson, Birgit

d. Västra Karup, 25 Dec 2005   
       

Nørgård, Per

Other works: 10 string quartets   
        

Paik, Nam June

d. Miami, Florida, 29 Jan 2006   
  

Pavarotti, Luciano

d. Modena, 6 Sep 2007  
       

Penderecki, Krzysztof

Orchestral: Symphony ... No.7 ‘Seven Gates of Jerusalem’, soli, ch, orch, 1996; No.8 ‘Lieder der Vergänglichkeit’, soli, ch, orch, 2004-5; ... Concerto grosso No.1, 3 vc, orch, 2000-01; No.2, 5 cl, orch, 2004; Largo, vc, orch, 2003; Horn Concerto, 2008     
Other works: 3 str qts (1960, 1968, 2008)
    

Pousseur, Henrid. Brussels, 6 Mar 2009                   
           

 

Reich, Steve

Orchestral: ... Variations for Vibes, Pianos and Strings, 2005
Large ensemble: ... Double Sextet, 2007; 2 x 5, 10 insts, 2009
Vocal: ... You Are (Variations), ch, orch, 2004; Daniel Variations, 6 v, 16 insts, 2006


Rihm, Wolfgang

Operas: ... Das Gehege (Botho Strauss), s, orch, f.p. Munich, 2006
Ensemble: ... Jagden und Formen, 1995-2001  
     

Rochberg, George

d. Bryn Mawr, Penn., 29 May 2005  
       

Rostropovich, Mstislav

d. Moscow, 27 Apr 2007


Ruders, Poul

Opera: ... Kafka’s Trial (Bentley, after Kafka), f.p. Copenhagen, 2005


Saariaho, Kaija

Operas: ... Adriana Mater (Maalouf), f.p. Paris, 2006
Oratorio: La Passion de Simone (Maalouf), 2005-6
Orchestral: ... Orion, 2002


Schwarzkopf, Elisabeth

d. Schruns, Vorarlberg, Austria, 3 Aug 2006


Shostakovich, Dmitri

d.  Moscow, 9 Aug 1975


Sills, Beverly

d. New York, 2 Jul 2007


Stockhausen, Karlheinz

d. Kürten, 5 Dec 2007

Ensemble: ... Klang, 24 compositions for various forces, 2004-7


Tebaldi, Renata

d. San Marino, 19 Dec 2004


Tenney, James

d. Valencia, Cal., 24 Aug 2006


Ustvolskaya, Galina

d. St Petersburg, 22 Dec 2006


Weinzweig, John

d. Toronto, 24 Aug 2006


Wood, Hugh

five quartets