Books by Jan Swafford and Complete Book Reviews
Jan Swafford, Author Alfred A. Knopf $40 (736p) ISBN 978-0-679-42261-7
His music has never ceased to be played and loved in the century since his death (a fact that would have much surprised the composer, who imagined he would quickly go out of fashion); nevertheless, Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) has remained an elusive
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Jan Swafford, Author W. W. Norton & Company $30 (0p) ISBN 978-0-393-03893-4
Charles Ives (1874-1954) was the first great composer of American serious music (though he would have hated that phrase) and also, paradoxically, a pioneer in the nascent life insurance industry around the turn of the century, whose approaches are...
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Jan Swafford. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $40 (1,088p) ISBN 978-0-618-05474-9
In this brilliant, exhaustive story, biographer and music historian Swafford (Johannes Brahms) brings new life to Beethoven, animating the composer’s immersion in music and his tenacious grip on his ideas related to music’s ability to deepen the...
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Jan Swafford. Basic, $27 (304p) ISBN 978-0-465-09754-8
In this delightful primer to classical music, composer and music scholar Swafford (The Vintage Guide to Classical Music) conducts us breathlessly on a tour of the highlights of the history of classical music, from the beginnings of music up through...
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