Three Questions for Sixty-Five Composers

Reviews / Votes

Revealing [new statements from] . . . the majority of the defining figures of Western music since 1945. . . . Extremely informative and carefully edited. . . . A broad panorama of contemporary music, showcasing many major artistic isssues and illustrating the enormous diversity of the international scene. -- Peter Laki * MUSIC LIBRARY ASSOCIATION NOTES * The responses vary greatly in length and complexity . . . [but] the variety, together with the lucidity of the responses, makes for a more engaging read. . . . One of the more thought-provoking books on modern music. -- Toby Deller * CLASSICAL MUSIC * The responses from . . . Mauricio Kagel, Helmut Lachenmann, and Iannis Xenakis . . . are as lucid an introduction to their musical preoccupations as could be hoped. Production values are as consistently high as one expects from the University of Rochester Press. . . . The most illuminating such symposium of composers cast 'in their own words.' Absorbing and highly pleasurable reading can be assured. -- Richard Whitehouse * GRAMOPHONE * Essential reading for anyone interested in contemporary music. * ON AN OVERGROWN PATH [http://www.overgrownpath.com/2011/06/into-great-noise.html] * In this rich book conceived by Balint Andras Varga, eminent composers of different generations converse with each other through their highly distinctive answers to three recurring, probing questions. Each page of this book is haunted by questions of memory -- -- not least, how a composer's specific style develops through time. --Frank Madlener, General Director, IRCAM [Centre Pompidou, Paris] * . * Typical of , to elicit such a multiplicity of responses to three deceptively simple questions. Necessary reading for all who care about the music of our time. * . * --Sir Simon Rattle, Chief Conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic and Artistic Director of the Berlin Philharmonie * . * This book presents a rich collection of personal statements by our most famous recent composers. . . A fascinating compendium of an important chapter in contemporary cultural history. * . * Franz Welser-Moest, General Music Director, Vienna State Opera * . *