Music

How does a composer suspend time? A fermata—a dot underneath a semi-circle—tells the musician that a note should be prolonged beyond its normal duration.

“If there’s one book about music that deserves to be read cover to cover this year it’s Kelefa Sanneh’s Major Labels. It’s bound to be a contemporary classic.”

“Drawing on Heylin’s many remarkable new discoveries in the Dylan Archive, The Double Life of Bob Dylan: A Restless, Hungry Feeling (1941–1966) makes phenomenally captivating readi

It’s not surprising that the jacket blurb compares this new memoir to Patti Smith’s Just Kids. Besides being a terrific book, that one sold really well.

In Mozart: The Reign of Love musical historian Jan Swafford dispels the myths and popular lore about Mozart in Peter Shaffer’s hit play and movie Amadeus.

Michael Oberman was the music columnist at the daily Washington Star, taking over from his older brother, Ron, from February 1967 to March 1973.

Philip Norman has tackled some interesting luminaries of the golden age of rock and roll.

“Guthrie, from what we learn, is part of a bigger picture, challenging the 'simple narrative' of individual freedom of expression."

“A small, fun, and insightful book, She Come By It Natural can be enjoyed on its own or as a perfect companion to Smarsh’s Heartland.”

“‘If I was the sky, Bobbie was the earth. She grounded me. Two years older, she also protected me.’”

French composer Francis Poulenc was one of the famed vanguard composers of Les Six and a bon vivant who enjoyed celebrity but privately suffered bouts of depression and self-doubt, all of which inf

Jeanine Basinger’s The Movie Musical! is an in-depth history of a distinctly American art form that combined cinematic arts with music, dance, theater, and design.