-
By Instrumentation
Books on Music
-
-
-
Accessories
|
|
|
|
The Ambient Century: From Mahler to Trance: The Evolution of Sound in the Electronic Age | 
 enlarge | Author: Mark Prendergast
Creator: Brian Eno
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Category: Book
List Price: $32.95
Buy New: $7.50
You Save: $25.45 (77%)
New (5) Used (11) from $4.44
Avg. Customer Rating:  26 reviews
Sales Rank: 346573
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.3
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 6.3 x 1.9
ISBN: 1582341346
Dewey Decimal Number: 780.904
EAN: 9781582341347
ASIN: 1582341346
Publication Date: January 24, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
A comprehensive and absorbing look at the music of the twentieth century, with an introduction by Brian Eno.
The 20th Century saw two revolutionary changes in music. First music was deconstructed from its previously strict form, moving from formal constraints to more accessible melodies. Second, the way in which music was generated radically changed as new electronic equipment inspired experiments with sound divorced from traditional acoustic instruments.
More and more, innovative musical ideas became intertwined with technological change. Multi-track recording, editing, and improved microphones allowed for quieter, experimental elements to gain prominence. And with the advent of digital synthesizers, new music could be made by anyone and sound like almost anything.
The Ambient Century is the definitive chronicle of a century of musical change. It reveals the drift from composers to non-musicians, from the single note to the sample. Encyclopedic, yet with a strong narrative, The Ambient Century covers hundreds of artists, including such diverse artists as Gustav Mahler (the pioneer of modern music), Phillip Glass, New Order, and Moby. Lively, compelling, and authoritative-and boasting an unmatched discography. The Ambient Century is a treat for music lovers of all kinds.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 21 more reviews...
 A very detailed account of one man's taste November 28, 2007
Looking for an objective guide to ambient music?
Well, don't buy this book. It's a hell of a history lesson, an entertaining read (for music dorks like myself) and features some pretty comprehensive recommendation lists if you don't know where to start on an artist (particularly useful for starting with classical recordings) but it certainly isn't the guide it makes itself out to be. I enjoyed it, I read every word.
I can recommend it to anyone looking to see how music developed from the 19th century to today, but I can't recommend it as a serious guide to...well, anything. This isn't serious. This is subjectivity, taste and history. Scholars look elsewhere.
Who killed ambient music? May 19, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
First, must note that i have an earlier edition of the book (2000)- And i did find the book quite useful (till the end). There's a HUGE problem, as others have mentioned. He doesn't define 'ambient', and as others have said, seems to use it to mean stuff he likes or that serves his thesis. I just do not see how Satie and Debussy leads to techo (or whatever variant, it's all "Voomta, voomta, voomta" to me). [The idea i guess is: Satie to Eno, ((i'm fine with that)); Eno to voomta- ((sorta)). But the logical flaw is using Eno as the link. He makes ambient music sometimes, but that does not make everything he touches 'ambient'. He's hired to add 'texture' to U2 and Paul Simon, that doesn't make their music ambient. QED.] There are some definitions (of 'ambient music') on Wiki that are useful. The term has no meaning when used so casually, as happened quickly to the term 'virtual'. If i tell people i make ambient music, and they imagine voomtavoomtavoomta it's completely wrong. The list of "100 essential ambient recordings" is just SILLY! There is a book titled "Who killed classical music" and that's where my review title comes from.
 Probably the worst book I've ever bought December 9, 2005
7 out of 10 found this review helpful
I can't begin to describe how bad this book is, but I will try. Luckily, I bought it on sale. I would have immediately chucked it, but I held on to it for two reasons. First, I love a lot of the music discussed. Second, there are some decent photos. These are also the reasons why I bought it in the first place. I eventually got rid of it, but not before it gave me a few laughs. How did this author get a contract for this book? It's basically an incoherent collection of musings on his own record collection. His writing on the early 20th century masters (Mahler, Satie, Debussy, etc.) is spectacularly awful. If you are new to classical music, PLEASE do not read what this author has to say about it. How do Mahler's symphonies qualify as "Ambient"? The author attempts to label any music he finds "cool" as "ambient." His writing style represents the absolute worst in pop music criticism - not only is it vapid, but it's remarkably awkward, a fact he attempts to conceal by including many flowery adjectives and catch phrases. AVOID, PLEASE!
An unfocused encyclopedic reference on a theme that's never defined November 13, 2005
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
Mark Prendergast's THE AMBIENT CENTURY is an encyclopedia of the biggest names in "ambient music", a style that's never defined, but which might be a) music that the author digs, and b) music that the author doesn't like so much but which lends respectability to later figures.
Prendergast starts off all the way at the beginning of 1900s with innovative classical music figures such as Debussy, Mahler, and Ravel. There is little that these figures have in common with what came later, but Prendergast seems like he has to start early and so comes up with these guys. His inclusion of Schoenberg and the other Viennese composers is just crazy, since most of the minimalists (the real inspiration of techno, house, and drum & bass in the 80s and 90s) were trying as hard as possible *not* to write like that. Ditto for the inclusion of Pierre Boulez, although his friend Stockhausen merits inclusion.
Passing over the rock era (I'm not competent to comment much on this genre), I must take issue with his treatment of electronic music, which is somewhat US-centric. Sasha is presented as a minor figure that didn't achieve much until 1999, when his Ibiza compilation came out, when he had really be earning praise since 1990 (when the British press was calling him "The Man Like God"). The book then says that Sasha left the U.K. entirely for Australia, which is simply false. Frequent collaborator John Digweed is called "The James Brown of DJing", leading me to suspect that the author has never seen Digweed live.
This is a really disappointing and often-wrong book, and a bit of an odd duck because, expect for the "coolness" of it all, the people mentioned here have little in common. If you are interested in innovative classical music in the 20th century, try Griffith's MODERN MUSIC AND AFTER: Directions Since 1940 (Oxford University Press, 1995). Similarly, those interested in electronic music would do well to find a more focused guide.
 Don't Forget Your History October 5, 2005
3 out of 7 found this review helpful
I am neither a musician nor an historian, but this excellent book will make an informed music lover out of you. Before this book, I appreciated ambient dub/techno in an ahistorical vacuum; now I feel as if whole new worlds have been opened up to me b/c I know how we got to where we are today. This volume will probably stand out as THE definitive book on Twentieth Century music.
|
|
|
| |
