Masterpieces of Western Music

by Jeffrey D. Lependorf

PORTABLE PROFESSOR TM is a series of exciting and informative lectures recorded by some of today's most renowned university and college professors. Each course introduces listeners to fascinating, and sometimes startling, insights into the intellectual forces that shape our understanding of the world. Each package includes 14 riveting lectures presented by notable professors as well as a book-length course guide.

From the "Spring" of Vivaldi's Four Seasons to Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring, our appreciation of musical masterpieces can be deeply enhanced by an understanding of what makes them great. In this dynamic, melody-filled series of lectures, Professor Jeffrey D. Lependorf guides listeners through the styles and structures, terms and techniques, that unlock the secrets of dozens of Western music's most renowned works, while highlighting the intriguing biographies of music's immortal masters.

COURSE LECTURES

The Red Priest and His All-Girl Orchestra (Vivaldi's "Spring" from Four Seasons) The Case of Runaway Soloist (Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 5) All Rise and Sing Hallelujah! (Handel's Messiah) More Than Just a Little Night Music (Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik) Magnificent Obsession: The World in Four Notes (Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C Minor) Romanticism with a Capital "R," or Be Careful What You Wish For (Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique) How to Make a Piano Sing (Chopin's Nocturne in D-flat) Going Forward by Looking Back (Brahms's Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel) A Tale of Love and Death (Wagner's Tristan und Isolde) It Takes Two, Baby (Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition) A Quiet Revolution (Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun) Modernism with a Bang! (Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring) Kid Stuff (Ravel's Mother Goose) The Prairies of Brooklyn (Copland's Appalachian Spring) Since 1986, Jeffrey Lependorf has been teaching the Masterpieces of Western Music course at Columbia University, where he received his Ph.D. in music composition. Dr. Lependorf's musical works, which include operas, chamber music, film scores, and a new repertoire of music for the shakuhachi (an ancient Japanese bamboo flute on which he is a certified master), have been performed in the United States, Italy, Ireland, Japan, and even in outer space, when a recording of his work "Night Pond" was played aboard the Russian space station Mir.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Art

Audio CD

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting lectures by a wonderful professor. He explains clearly and in layman's terms why each of the fourteen pieces he reviews are considered masterpieces.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good introduction to some of the classics of Western music. It's easy to listen to, basic enough that someone without any formal music education can understand it, and Dr. Lependorf's enthusiasm is palpable.

I previously went through Robert Greenberg's 4 part DVD course on How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, which is one of my favorites from the Teaching Company. But this course is a good complement to Greenberg's since it covers different masterpieces.

I hope to hear some live performances of the following works that I learned about in Dr. Lependorf's course:

Brahm's Concerto in D Major
Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition
Debussy's Prelude a l'apres-imdi d'un faune
Ravel's Mother Goose Suite (especially "Little Ugly, Empress of the Pagodas"
Copland's Appalachian Spring

[Manuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favourite audiobooks so far. It fits perfectly into the medium.

As contents goes, it's also one of the best I've heard in the Modern Scholar series. Somehow, the passionate and detailed descriptions of each masterpiece made me remember Mozart's music described by Salieri in the movie Amadeus, and I must say that these descriptions was I loved best in that movie.

I must point out that I do not have any musical background and as such I might not be the most suitable person to comment on the contents of the book. All I can say is that I understood the concepts and loved each masterpiece along with its description. Most of them were known to me, but after hearing this lecture I feel that only now I started to really understand what is going on.

[Persephone · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a series of recorded lectures and very similar to a course I took eons ago in "Listening to Music" at university. It features many of the same masterpieces, some different, and a couple new to me, at least. Lependorf sounds like a young and dorky professor, with plenty of enthusiasm, expertise, and a nice helping of humour. I listened through twice.

[Meter]

Technical enough that I learned new things. Biographical insights a bonus.

[Sydney Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I'm definitely more into classics, loved this at first.