Chamber Music: Essays in Musical Analysis (Oxford Paperbacks)

Best-known for his Essays in Musical Analysis which he based on his famous program notes written mainly for his concerts with the Reid Orchestra in Edinburgh, Sir Donald Tovey achieved world-wide recognition as a pianist, composer, conductor, and writer on music. Originally published as six volumes from 1935-39, Essays in Musical Analysis reappeared in 1981 as two paperback volumes, Symphonies and Other Orchestral Works and Concertos and Choral Works, along with a supplementary volume, Chamber Music. Now available in new paperback editions, these three volumes contain the most famous works of musical criticism in the English language.
Symphonies and Other Orchestral Works contains 115 essays which cover Beethoven's overtures and symphonies, including Tovey's famous study of the Ninth Symphony, all of Brahms' overtures and symphonies, eleven of Haydn's symphonies, six of Mozart's, three each of Schubert's, Schumann's, and Sibelius', and four of Dvorák's, as well as many other works by composers from Bach to Vaughan Williams.
Concertos and Choral Works contains essays on fifty concertos, including nearly all of the concertos in the standard repertory from Bach's for two violins to Walton's for the viola. It also presents essays on Bach's B minor Mass, Beethoven's Mass in D, Brahms' and Verdi's Requiems, and Haydn's The Creation and The Seasons, along with other famous works.
Chamber Music contains some of Tovey's most important essays, including those on Bach's "Goldberg" Variations and Art of Fugue, and on key works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin, and Brahms.
Taken together, the three volumes reveal Tovey's unequalled acuteness, common sense, clarity, and wit, making ideal reading for anyone interested in the classical music repertory.