Benjamin Britten: A Life in the Twentieth Century - Softcover

Kildea, Paul

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1846142334 ISBN 13: 9781846142338

Publisher: Penguin, 2014

Synopsis

Paul Kildea's Benjamin Britten: A Life in the Twentieth Century is the definitive biography of Britain's greatest modern composer - now in paperback

Benjamin Britten was Britain's greatest twentieth-century composer, who broke decisively with figures such as Elgar and Vaughan Williams and recreated English music in a fresh, modern, European form. Paul Kildea's biography has been acclaimed as the definitive account of Britten's extraordinary life, exploring his deeply held and controversial pacifism; his complex forty-year relationship with Peter Pears; and his creation of an artistic community in Aldeburgh. Above all, however, this book helps us understand the relationship of Britten's music to his life, and takes us as far into its unique alchemy as we are ever likely to go.

PAUL KILDEA is a writer and conductor who has performed many of the Britten works he writes about, in opera houses and concert halls from Sydney to Hamburg. His previous books include Selling Britten (2002) and (as editor) Britten on Music (2003). He was Head of Music at the Aldeburgh Festival between 1999 and 2002 and subsequently Artistic Director of the Wigmore Hall in London, and lives in Berlin.

'Must now rank as the standard work' Financial Times

'Indispensable ... This is a masterly, highly readable account and the most comprehensive to date of the life and work of one of the 20th century's great musical figures' Barry Millington, Evening Standard

'[A] wise, cautious, challenging book ... Kildea's verbal explorations of the music are done with level-headed sensitivity leavened by a quirky lightness of touch' Alexandra Harris, New Statesman

About this title

Review:

‘If you have ever been touched by the magic of Britten’s music, and want to perceive its alchemy, then don’t miss this book ... Kildea excels all Britten’s previous commentators in his grasp of performance history ... No other book has harmonised man and music better than this life of a quiet revolutionary’ Frances Spalding, Independent

‘Unquestionably the music book of the year’ Andrew Clarke, Financial Times

‘This is a fine piece of work. The musical judgements are balanced, succinctly illuminating. And it does what the title – Benjamin Britten: a Life in the 20th Century – says. It presents Britten as a phenomenon and in the context of his time ... All this is good: annoyingly good, to the extent that I’ve been carrying the book around with me like a bible for the past few days, wishing I’d written it myself’ Michael White, Telegraph

‘A seamless interweaving of life and works, the one always illuminating the other – must now rank as the standard work of reference’ Andrew Clark, Financial Times

‘Kildea is no sensationalist: he has given us the most authoritative, sensitive reading we have of Britain’s leading musician of the 20th century ... I will be returning to Kildea’s book for as long as I am listening to Britten’s music ‘ Eamonn Lawler, Irish Examiner

‘Totally compelling’ William Harston, Daily Express

‘Britten’s sound world has never been summed up in clearer terms. And for a composer who can appear all-too-fastidious, Kildea is not afraid of unmasking his subject’s foibles and inconsistencies’ Gavin Plumley, Classical Music

‘Paul Kildea’s 600-page warts and all biography is a major achievement, drawing a candid picture of this haunted man’ Michael Kennedy, Daily Mail

‘An excellent book ... Kildea is particularly strong on the musical side of Britten’s life and draws a multifaceted picture of his subject’ Economist

‘Extraordinary. Scholarly, thorough, eloquent and fascinating, and a true mixture of all four. In my view, it will never be bettered’ Tony Palmer

‘Thanks to the breadth of Kildea’s perspective there are many captivating images along the way ... his biography is also a compelling read ... As Kildea promised at the outset, this is a wide-angle picture of Britten’s life, which tells us not only who he was and what he did, but how his music came out of the world in which he lived and what it has to say about the history of his time’ Richard Fairman, Opera

‘Kildea writes particularly well about individual compositions, relying not on technical language but on vividly impressionistic accounts that make one immediately want to listen to the music again’ Peter Parker, Daily Telegraph

‘Compelling’ Philip Hensher, Guardian

‘Controversial revelations aside, this is a biography that successfully negotiates a difficult balance between scholarly insight and readability. It is illuminating, powerful and moving, and is a fitting birthday tribute to one of our greatest musicians’ Kate Kennedy, Times Higher Education

‘Kildea gets much closer than most to the nub of why Britten’s music endures ... engaging and erudite’ Igor Toronyi-Lalic, Sunday Telegraph

‘Well-researched and nuanced ... detailed and refreshing’ Jeffrey Tate, Australian Review of Books

‘Enthralling’ Richard Morrison, The Times

‘Indispensable ... this is a masterly, highly readable account ‘ Barry Millington, Evening Standard

‘It feels definitive’ Bryan Appleyard, Sunday Times

‘Writing with crisp urbane elegance, he displays an acute sense of his subject’s convoluted psychology ... His bracingly opinionated and beautifully articulated book brings all Britten’s complexities vividly to life’ Rupert Christiansen, Spectator

‘A compelling portriat of Britten not just as a brilliant composer, but a significant historical figure’ Adam Lively, Sunday Times, Books of the Year

‘A major achievement. And Paul Kildea is a dazzling writer ... There are a million brilliant, beautiful or striking sentences ... The book is researched to the nth degree, and Kildea is almost indecently learned. He stuffs this book with interesting facts, observations, and anecdotes’ Jay Nordlinger, Standpoint

‘Delightful and compelling’ Matthew Bell, Independent on Sunday

‘A rich, well-structured and written biography in which solid factual grounding is always well leavened with complementary debate and analysis’ Mike Ashman, Gramophone

‘It’s a little bit like Robert Hughes, that sort of very high-handed evaluation of a work of art. I really enjoy that. It’s a gritty read, I find ... The author of this book is very, very good at putting Britten into the context of the world, unlike any other book about him’ Toby Spence, The Review Programme, BBC 2

‘Kildea analyzes even Britten’s least recalled works with an unusually telling prose style’ R. J. Stove, American Spectator

‘This is surely the definitive biography ... with the benefit of erudition, hindsight, musicianship, patience and curiosity, [Kildea] has given us probably the most exhaustive and detailed account of the composer we are likely to read’ Michael Shmith, Sydney Morning Herald

‘Magisterial’ Philip Hoare, Independent

‘Virtually everything you need to know about him is undoubtedly included in Mr. Kildea’s exhaustive work’ Michael Feingold, Wall Street Journal

‘Simply put, Benjamin Britten: A Life in the Twentieth Century is one of the most interesting composer biographies I have encountered’ Philip Norman, ‘The 100 best books of 2013’, New Zealand Listener

‘Paul Kildea, Britten’s most authoritative biographer to date’ Alex Ross, The Rest is Noise

‘I cannot recall reading a better, more engrossing biography – and not just of a composer – for a very long time. Paul Kildea’s work deserves the highest accolade’ Derek Turner, Quarterly Review

‘Kildea offers an authoritative account’ James Wood, London Review of Books

‘Magisterial ... a meticulous, page-turning analysis of the evolution of a great composer in the centenary of his birth’ Jennifer Higgie, ‘Highlights 2013’, Frieze
Indispensable ... This is a masterly, highly readable account and the most comprehensive to date of the life and work of one of the 20th century's great musical figures Barry Millington, Evening Standard

[A] wise, cautious, challenging book ... Kildea's verbal explorations of the music are done with level-headed sensitivity leavened by a quirky lightness of touch (Alexandra Harris New Statesman)

About the Author:

Paul Kildea is a writer and conductor who has performed many of the Britten works he writes about, in opera houses and concert halls from Sydney to Hamburg. His previous books include Selling Britten (2002) and (as editor) Britten on Music (2003). He was Head of Music at the Aldeburgh Festival between 1999 and 2002 and subsequently Artistic Director of the Wigmore Hall in London, and lives in Berlin.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1846142334
• ISBN 13: 9781846142338
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 688