The NPR Classical Music Companion: An Essential Guide for Enlightened Listening

Ever wondered what makes a conductor good or bad, or why a guitar has frets? The NPR Classical Music Companion answers these questions and many more in its 130 entries, which tackle the complicated lexicon of classical music from a capella all the way through zarzuela. Author Miles Hoffman defines basic terms, forms, and concepts while tracing major movements, providing context, and offering illustrative examples from well-known composers and works. A commentator on NPR's popular classical music program Performance Today, Miles Hoffman writes about music with clarity, humor, and grace. The result is a highly readable reference geared, as Hoffman writes, for the "ordinary listener."