A PICTURE OF A HIGHLY CREATIVE MUSIC CRITIC, NOTABLE FOR HIS HUMANE
COMMENTARY, AS WELL AS HIS PROMOTION OF CONTEMPORARY FRENCH AND
BRITISH MUSIC.
The music critic Felix Aprahamian (1914-2005) was a remarkable
self-made man whose enormous influence in musical circles was deeply
founded in his practical experience of promoting music in London,
notably British and French composers. Early on he became interested in
the organ and was soon corresponding with the leading French names of
the day - André Marchal, Charles Tournemire, Maurice Duruflé and the
young Olivier Messiaen. In 1933, the nineteen-year-old Aprahamian
visited Frederick Delius in France, and while in Paris, met the aged
Charles-Marie Widor. The surviving diaries, published here complete
for the first time, document these events in detail.
During the Second World War he acted as concert director of the London
Philharmonic Orchestra, was the guiding spirit behind the influential
Concerts de Musique Française and became assistant to Sir Thomas
Beecham. After the liberation of Paris, a wide circle of outstanding
French musicians and composers including Francis Poulenc, Messiaen,
Pierre Bernac and Pierre Fournier became personal friends. Aprahamian
made his name as music critic on The Sunday Times, where from 1948to
1989 he was required reading. He helped numerous young musicians to
develop their careers and was associated with many musical
organizations, notably the Delius Trust and Society.
Prefaced by an illuminating biography, this collection sheds new light
on Aprahamian's life and work. His diaries and BBC broadcasts uniquely
illuminate London concert life from the 1930s to the 1960s, while his
articles on many composers and musicians - nearly all friends and
colleagues - testify to his promotion of French and British music.
Examples of his record and concert reviews are included, and the book
evokes the almost vanished world of a music criticism both humane and
strict, paying tribute to music's spontaneous and absolute qualities.
It will be of interest to anyone following London concert life in the
twentieth century; British and French music; writing about Debussy,
Poulenc, Messaien and, in particular,Delius; as well as organ music.
LEWIS FOREMAN is a writer on British music and the editor of _The John
Ireland Companion_ (The Boydell Press, 2011) and author of _Bax: A
Composer and His Times_.
SUSAN FOREMAN is author of various books on Whitehall and, together
with Lewis Foreman, _London. A Musical Gazetteer_ (2005).
Les mer
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781782045670
Publisert
2016
Utgave
1. utgave
Utgiver
Vendor
Boydell Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter