The Pimlico Dictionary of 20th Century Composers (Twentieth Century Composers) by MARK MORRIS

by Mark Morris

The Pimlico Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Composers surveys the entire field of twentieth-century music in the classical Western tradition, for newcomers and experts alike. Including over 500 composers and discussing in depth the music of 350 of them, this dictionary is arranged by country, from Argentina and Austria to the Ukraine and the USA. Each country has an introduction to its twentieth-century music, followed by entries on individual composers and lists of recommended works.Those fresh to modern music can find helpful information and discover new composers. For the expert, the sheer scope of the guide will introduce many an unfamilar but interesting work. Written with passion and extensive knowledge of the variety of modern music, The Pimlico Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Composers gives us a comprehensive overview and will be invaluable as a reference book for generations to come.

Mass Market Paperback

First published June 24, 1999

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Reviews

[Gijs Grob · Rating 5 out of 5]

'The Pimlico Dictionary 0f 20th Century Composers' simply is the guide to 20th Century classical music. It is all the more remarkable that Morris is the sole author. The amount of music he must have listened to to write this book is astounding. It's incomprehensible and very unjust that this book isn't more well-known.

True, Morris doesn't tell the story of this era, like e.g. 'The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century' (in fact he does, but only in a 13 page introduction), but this leaves room for composers that don't fit into the bigger picture, like Alberto Ginastera, Ildebrando Pizzetti or Vagn Holmboe, or who are downright obscure (Marin Goleminov, Ivo Malec, Marek Kopelent, Ferenc Farkas, anyone?).

Morris' book is an encyclopedia of composers, arranged by country. Morris himself is Welsh, and lives in Canada, and commonwealth composers are particularly well-presented. Least fortunate are the Romanian composers: their music apparently was not available at the time of writing, and understandably, but very unjustly they are hardly present in this book. Morris wrote his book in 1996, which is in fact a little too early, and from 1980 on his account becomes less reliable. For example, spectralism is completely absent from the book. The youngest composer present is Wolfgang Rihm (born in 1951).

Of course there are some odd choices: Enrique Granados, Alphons Diepenbrock and Morton Feldman are only mentioned, while Conlon Nancarrow and Erwin Schulhof are completely absent. But this is nitpicking. Likewise, it is a bit strange he calls Ireland 'Eire', but The Netherlands 'Holland'. And placing Maurice Ohana under Morocco may be defendible, it neglects the composer's overtly French idiom. But as said, these are very minor issues.

Morris has written a book that does justice to virtually all the composers and styles of the century. He writes equally enthusiastically about neo-romantic works as extremely intricate serialistic pieces. He clearly gives every composer a chance to shine, even if his work may be uneven, outdated or too experimental. Moreover, he really tries his best to describe a composer's style in prose. Morris clearly favors symphonies and orchestral music, but he certainly has an ear for good opera, vocal, chamber and keyboard music, and he finds masterpieces in every field.

One doesn't need to read this book from cover to cover, like I did, but if you want to discover some very surprising little known music, this is your guide. Without this book I'd never have found Percy Grainger's 'The Warriors', Alfredo Casella's 'Pagine di Guerra', Alberto Ginastera's 'Cantata para América mágica', Krzysztof Penderecki's 'Utrenja' or Arvo Pärt's third symphony, to name a few masterpieces.