Exploring Twentieth-Century Music: Tradition and Innovation

In this wide-ranging book, Arnold Whittall explores the music of a group of important composers of the twentieth century, including Debussy, Webern, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Bartók, Janácek, Britten, Carter, Birtwistle, Andriessen and Adams. He moves skilfully between the cultural and the musical to explore the contexts and critical perspectives which illuminate certain works by these composers. In particular he demonstrates the continuum between the progressive and the conservative which can be shown to underpin the huge variety of styles and musical genres found in twentieth-century composition.