MUSIC BACHARACH’S MINE OF INFORMATION

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28530, 8 March 1958, Page 3

MUSIC BACHARACH’S MINE OF INFORMATION

[.Reviewed by J.A.R.]

The New Musical Companion. Edited by A. L. Bacharach. Gollancz. 782 pp. For over 20 years, Bacharach’s Musical Companion has remained the most useful and accessible source of information on music for students and layfolk alike. In addition to establishing the editor’s now considerable reputation, it has asserted convincingly the value of the developmental treatment of the history of music as opposed to the biographical. From an arbitrary division into orchestral music, opera, chamber music, the human voice and the solo instrument, a surprisingly comprehensive coverage was achieved which had the advantage of eschewing the blinding digressions which the composer-by-composer method labours under. Aided by an imposing list of contents and a 30-page index, there was something of the encyclopaedia about it which made for random browsing as a supplement to the continuous reading for which the text was clearly intended.

This new edition, following 19 impressions, alters none of the essential virtues of the In many matters there was much to be brought up to date. The symphonies of Rubbra and Nielsen have since come to the fore; Honneger’s “King David” has lent respectability to its erstwhile composer of sensational jeux d’esprits; the orchestra has recently found new masters; and Schoenberg techniques are commanding added respect. The spirit of the book moves with the times in most respects. Bartok, however, is strangely neglected. In the 1934 edition, his chamber music was dealt with in the following manner: “Bela Bartok, who, on the contrary sides with the left.” Now. with the aid of a delicate amendation, it reads: “Bela Bartok, who, on the contrary, was a great experimenter.” That is all. Colin Mason, who was responsible for adding to the late Edwin Evans’s section on chamber music, must be possessed of a considerable blind spot. Two lines for Bartok as against 13 for Spohr in a 100page essay is hardly keeping up

with recent events. It is interesting to note that the most recent publication to reach this country devotes as much space to the string quartets of Bartok as it does to those of Mozart. Another sizeable omission occurs in Edward Dent’s “Opera,” which

overlooks entirely the music of Benjamin Britten in this genre and fails to take cognisance of the contemporary preoccupation with chamber opera. But, except for slight alterations near the end, this contribution justifiably remains unchanged, which in itself is a testimony to the scholarship of the original. It is a model essay, clinging to the essence of the subject and only allowing social and economic digressions to exert their due weight when the logical resources of a full argument are necessary to reach a valid conclusion. Followers of the orchestra and its music will appreciate more the technique and literature from a reading of Julius Harrison’s clear exposition. He writes with authority. as becomes a well-known composer and conductor. The eventual stabilisation of the eighteenth century orchestra is traced as an evolutionary process, but the events of more recent times are wisely allowed to become a record of divergent styles, approaches and personal idiosyncracies. The incorporation of printed - illustrations has seldom been used to greater point. From concerto to fantasia, from Monteverde to Malipiero, this compilation is a remarkable harvest of information. Room is made for the recently rediscovered Franz Berwald, one of Schubert's contemporaries. Misprints arefew, and at least one of them, has a touch of humour. Masefield’s poem, set to music by William Walton.- was not “Where does the Unuttered Music go?” Had the poet been so illogical as to pen this as his opening line, it is quite probable that the musician would have declined to waste some of his finest music on it. And incidentally, was this composed in memory of Sir Henry Wood? We had thought it written for the unveiling of a memorial window in a Holborn church.

While it may 'seem that there do exist shortcomings in this new Musical Companion, it is only fair to point out that in view of its unusually wide coverage these are minor matters. They are noticeable to your reviewer because ne has had this volume at his side since earliest student days. For spending leisure time and for passing examinations it is ideal. It may not be a specialist’s- book in any one sphere of the art, but its comprehensiveness is permeated with the spirit of accuracy and pertinence which informs the best of research and with a consistent lucidity of style.