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Bio-Bibliography of Composer Warren Benson

Author: 
Year:
Pages:500
ISBN:0-7734-6241-4
978-0-7734-6241-0
Price:$279.95
Warren Frank Benson, a distinguished American composer, conductor, educator, performer and author, was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1924. Self-taught in composition, Benson has composed nearly 150 works for solo instruments and voice, chamber ensembles, choirs, bands, and orchestras. His compositional output ranges in difficulty from simple songs written for young children to music for professionals.

Reviews

“Alan Wagner's research and documentation of the life and artistic output of Warren Benson provides detailed insight into this unique and gifted artist. To conductors and performers faced with the significant challenge of realizing his music in rehearsal and performance, Professor Wagner's research provides a wealth of information that probes and illuminates Benson's life's experiences and artistic motivations. The process of grasping the sheer range, scope, complexity, and emotional content of his music demands a complete understanding of Warren Benson the man. Wagner's scholarship provides valuable insights that, heretofore, have not been available. The extraordinary value of this research, however, is in the revelation of the staggering impact that Warren Benson has had upon the fabric of artistic thought and arts education in this country and abroad for nearly five decades, apart from his creative output as a composer. Through Alan Wagner's scholarship we now have a comprehensive documentation of the magnitude of Benson's influence upon the thinking of myriad artists and educators.” – (from the Commendatory Preface) Professor Craig Kirchhoff, Director of Bands and Professor of Conducting, University of Minnesota School of Music

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Preface
Foreword
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
2. Biography I: 1924-1953
3. Biography II: 1953-2004
4. Wind Ensemble Music
5. Orchestra Music
6. Solo/Soli with Wind Ensemble
7. Instrumental Chamber Music
8. Solo Instrumental Music
9. Choral Music
10. Solo Vocal Music
11. Writings and Other Works
12. Musical Style and Language
13. Teaching, Significance, Interpretation, Philosophy and Other Thoughts
Appendices
Bibliography
Index