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How to be an Artist
Jul. 10th, 2011 03:53 pmJan 2011
Finishing the Hat - Stephen Sondheim - Virgin Publishing, 2010
* * * * *
Examine my CD collection and you would probably conclude that Stephen Sondheim is my favourite composer. While that isn't quite true, I do consider him to be a genius who has almost single-handedly developed the musical from a lightweight entertainment into a substantial art form with important things to say about human nature and society (in contrast to contemporary opera, which if anything has moved in the opposite direction). Many of his songs also have a strong emotional resonance for me, particularly the ones that he likes most himself: Finishing the Hat and Someone in a Tree, the last such a perfect evocation of the joy of being young, alive and in the moment that it regularly makes me cry. So a book by him was always going to be on my wish list.
( Read more... )
Finishing the Hat - Stephen Sondheim - Virgin Publishing, 2010
* * * * *
Examine my CD collection and you would probably conclude that Stephen Sondheim is my favourite composer. While that isn't quite true, I do consider him to be a genius who has almost single-handedly developed the musical from a lightweight entertainment into a substantial art form with important things to say about human nature and society (in contrast to contemporary opera, which if anything has moved in the opposite direction). Many of his songs also have a strong emotional resonance for me, particularly the ones that he likes most himself: Finishing the Hat and Someone in a Tree, the last such a perfect evocation of the joy of being young, alive and in the moment that it regularly makes me cry. So a book by him was always going to be on my wish list.
( Read more... )