Joseph Straus, who has given us the classic text Introduction to Post-Tonal Theory, now provides a refreshingly diverse introduction to post-tonal repertoire. Concise multimedia analyses offer entry-points into pieces, composers, and analytical skills. These Graphic Music Analyses will be tremendously useful for teachers and students alike.
Daphne Leong, University of Colorado Boulder
Equal parts brass tacks and fudge brownies, these analyses will challenge and delight. The repertoire is appealingly varied, the musical instincts spot-on, and the prose clear and compact.
Julian Hook, Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University
Author of Introduction to Post-Tonal Theory (2016), Joseph Straus has gifted post-tonal pedagogues with this compendium that complements many of the concepts and analyses in his popular textbook. This text is unique in its assemblage of self-contained analytical vignettes, brought to life through multimedia. This last element-multimedia integration-makes the text particularly appropriate for use in the classroom. Those who engage this text without pedagogical intentions but, rather, for the pleasure of analysis itself will find Strausâs work enriching. He has placed great care into both selecting previously underappreciated works that provide opportunities for compelling interpretative arguments and reexamining familiar works through a fresh lens. There is something for everyoneâfrom the novice post-tonal instructor to the experienced analyst-to enjoy.
Gerardo Lopez, Integral
Straus is... a leading authority on disability studies, and some of the features of the book and accompanying website seem designed to accommodate different learning styles...He also consistently uses analysis to support issues of interpretation, particularly of text-setting.
Christian Carey, Tempo
Joseph N. Straus's most recent book is a masterclass in the pedagogical presentation of post-tonal analysis. Straus defines his approach within the domain of post-tonal theory, primarily focusing on pitch, through a lens that "could be loosely described as transformational".
David Floyd, Notes: the Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association 81:1