Download or read book The Penguin Companion to Classical Music written by Paul Griffiths and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2004-10-07 with total page 1400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This superbly authoratitive new work provides a comprehensive A-Z guide to some 1000 years of Western music. It explores in detail the lives and achievements of a vast range of composers, as well as looking at such key topics as music history (from medieval plainchant to contemporary minimalism), performers, theory and jargon. Throught Griffiths skilfully blends lightly worn scholarship with personal insight, whether examining the emotional colouring that different musical keys achieve or charting the rise and development of the symphony.