Anton Rubinstein A Life in Music [Hardcover]

The first modern biography in English of Russian composer-pianist Anton Rubinstein, this book places Rubinstein within the context of Russian and western European musical culture during the late 19th century, exploring his rise to international fame from humble origins in Bessarabia, as well as his subsequent rapid decline and marginalization in later musical culture. Taylor provides a balanced account of Rubinsteins life and his career as a piano virtuoso, conductor, composer, and as the founder of Russias first conservatory. Widely considered the virtuosic heir to Liszt, and recognized internationally as an equivalent cultural icon, he performed with most leading musicians of the day, including Liszt himself, Joachim, Clara Schumann, Vieuxtemps, Wieniawski, Saint-Saens, and Ysa?e.

. . . Taylor has gathered hundreds of letters, official papers, reviews, and reminiscences. If Rubinstein remains a baffling figure, a least now there is a proper account of his paramount achievement - the establishment of the St. Petersberg Conservatory in 1862.Vol. 53.2 Summer 2009. . . Intended for the lay reader, this densely footnoted but readable book features no musical analysis. It is a triumph of modern musicological scholarship recommended for all music libraries.All too often composers who are out of favor are given cursory scholarly attention or sometimes only a brief tome asserting the need for a revival of interest. British scholar Philip Taylor takes a great leap beyond this with his thorough, engaging account of the life of the unjustly forgotten composerpianist Anton Rubinstein (182994). . . . [T]his book will appeal as much to the music scholar as to the music lover seeking to learn more about a unique and understudied artist. . . . Highly recommended.

Philip S. Taylor, who died in 2007, was a member of the Institute of Translating and Interpreting, United Kingdom.

Taylor writes with fluency, economy, precision and judgement, although he is characteristil#z