This original, graphic-led book explores and explains the key ideas underpinning the world's greatest classical compositions and musical traditions, defines their importance to the musical canon, and places them into their wider social, cultural, and historical context. The nineteenth title in DK's bestselling Big Ideas series, The Classical Music Book combines accessible, authoritative text with bold explanatory graphics to make the subject of classical...

Presents color-illustrated overviews of a variety of music topics, all including the addresses of related Internet sites. Covers various types of music; historical periods in music; instruments; composers; how to read music; and related aspects including ballet, opera, soundtracks, and sound reproduction.

With a lifetime of experience, profound knowledge and understanding, and heartwarming appreciation, an internationally celebrated conductor and teacher answers the questions: Why should I listen to classical music? How can I get the most from the listening experience?

What is music in the age of the cloud? Today, we can listen to nearly anything, at any time. It is possible to flit instantly across genres and generations, from 1980s Detroit techno to 1890s Viennese neo-romanticism. This new age of listening brings with it astonishing new possibilities--as well as dangers. --Publisher. What does it mean to listen in the digital era? Today, new technologies make it possible to roam instantly and experimentally across...