The Robert Shaw Reader

About this book

Robert Shaw is considered to be the most influential choral conductor in American history. This is the first collection of his letters and notes about music ever publishedat another time it is the book Shaw would have written himself. The letters are an invigorating mix of music history and analysis philosophy inspiration and practical advice. Shaw examines technique but only as a means to an endhe moves beyond that delving into the essence of what music is and what it has to say to us. The heart of the book is composed of Shaws previously unpublished notes on fifteen major choral works ranging from Bachs B Minor Mass to Stravinskys Symphony of Psalms. Often inspiring and sometime hilarious these writings reveal the full breadth of Shaws knowledge intensity and humor.