Author Description

Product Description In Composers’ Letters, the voices of the great figures of classical music come alive through their correspondence. Set against the music we know and love, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, and many more talk openly about their music, their hopes and fears, their love, their sadness, and their struggles in realizing their artistic hopes in a commercial world. Poignant, funny, revealing, informative, and so often direct and honest, these letters offer a fascinating insight into the personalities that created our Western musical tradition. Review "In a perfect and perfectly delightful use of the audio format, this offering pairs accomplished and well-cast actors with letters written by famous composers. The letters are given chronologically, from J. S. Bach's writing about career and money difficulties in the seventeenth century through the letters of Hayden, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, and others up to Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky in the twentieth. A brief and helpful historical note precedes each composer's section, and, best of all, the music he's writing about accompanies and illuminates the words. Age-appropriate actors voice composers writing in old age while lighter, boyish voices bring us young Mozart or Chopin as a determined and very broke youth writing home from Paris...Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award."-- "Audiofile" About the Author Jeremy Nicholas is an award-winning broadcaster, Olivier-nominated actor, a respected writer, and classical music critic. He is a busy voice-over artist, regular reviewer for Gramophone magazine, author of two biographies and four music reference books, and composer of several published works. In his spare time he runs a church choir and is president of the Jerome K Jerome Society. Daniel Philpott trained at London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts and, after success in the prestigious Carleton Hobbs Awar