THE OXFORD COMPANION TO MUSIC

Latham, an editor of musical reference works, offers a new edition of this popular volume, which first appeared in a quite different form in 1938 and was last updated in 1983. Latham spruces up this edition with over 1,000 new entries; more than 70% of the book is essentially new material, not just about Western classical music, but also jazz, pop and dance music. Long articles are devoted to the most famous composers, while the approximately 8,000 short entries show a decided British bias—there is almost as much space devoted to eccentric English composer Lord Berners as to Leonard Bernstein. There are also, perhaps inevitably, some omissions: while 20th-century German composer Boris Blacher is included, his arguably more original contemporary Wilhelm Killmayer is left out. Some readers may be frustrated with Latham's fondness for qualifying phrases, such as the observation that American composer Libby Larsen's music is "generally bold, clear, and colorful" or that the work of another Yank composer, Vincent Persichetti, "normally [keeps] some relation to tonal centres." Others may disagree with the value judgments assigned here, such as the praise of Gian Carlo Menotti's famously reviled 1970 opera, The Most Important Man in the World. Such provocative choices aside, the compendium is solidly researched, with useful biographical information and lists of suggested reading. Priced reasonably, given the book's size, this title may find its way not only into reference collections, but into the hands of music lovers who want an up-to-date browsing tome. (July)