Description

This outstanding book treating the three most beloved composers of the Vienna School is considered basic to any study of classical-era music. Drawing on his rich experience and intimate familiarity with the works of these giants, Charles Rosen presents his keen insights in clear and persuasive language. For this expanded edition of The Classical Style, Rosen provides an entirely new, 64-page chapter on the later years of Beethoven and the musical conventions he inherited from Haydn and Mozart. Rosen has also written an extensive new preface in which he responds to other writers who have commented on his ideas. Finally, readers are treated to a compact disc, recorded by Rosen in 1996 and produced especially to accompany this new edition of the book. The CD offers complete performances of two late sonatas of Beethoven that are discussed extensively in the text: the Opus 106 in B[flat] major (the Hammerklavier) and the Opus 110 in A[flat] major.