Stephen Walsh Books

Presents the lives and interactions of the Russian composers who made up the mid-1860s group known as the Five, who were taught composition by Mily Balakirev and who wrote some of the most influential classical music of the nineteenth century.

Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex is widely acknowledged as one of the most original musical theater works of the twentieth century. This clear and concise guide, the first ever written on the work, describes the plot, the music and the staging in close detail and provides a fully documented discussion of the origins of Oedipus Rex in Stravinsky's own work and thinking. By placing the work in its social context, the author paints a vivid picture of Parisian artistic politics in the twenties, from which emerged one of the richest and most suggestive works of modern times. The full libretto is provided, with a parallel translation.

In 1934, Igor Stravinsky was fifty-two, a Russian expatriate living in Paris and already regarded by many as the most important composer of his generation.

"A wife yearns to escape the tight-fisted confines of a package holiday. A boy dreams of footballing greatness as his mother mourns a loss. A man tries to assemble an absent child's playhouse, with impossible instructions and too much beer. A woman seeks clarity from automated voices. A father is distracted from Christmas tree shopping with his son by the looming pressure of quarterly sales targets. Shine/Variance captures the tiny crises and wonders of daily life with warmth, wit and decisive clarity. Ordinary people - commuters, call centre workers, children and parents - struggle for stability while craving more, and the schism between expectation and reality is only rarely bridged. Yet, amidst the faltering, recognition and bright moments of hope still illuminate their days. Fresh, tender and darkly funny, these stories are a window into the longings, frustrations and painfully human connections of ordinary life from a remarkable new voice in fiction."--Back cover

The German invasion of the Soviet Union was Hitler's biggest gamble in his quest for Lebensraum in the East - and it was at Stalingrad that his gamble failed. With battle maps, 170 photographs, and appendices, this is a fascinating account of the battle that bled the German army dry, and turned the war in the East decisively against Germany.

Brand New . PAPERBACK., FIRST PUBLISHED by VEGAN society, 2003.Binding is tight and intact. Boarders are clean, straight and edges sharp. Perfectly crisp corners.Pages are clean and unmarked, unused/unread , excellent condition overall. See photos for exact details.

Connects theory with real-life criminal cases in a clear and engaging way, providing a valuable companion to those studying forensic psychology.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE ROYAL PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY AWARD FOR STORYTELLING Claude Debussy was that rare creature, a composer who reinvented the language of music without alienating the majority of music lovers. He is the modernist everyone loves. How did he manage this? Was it through the association of his music with visual images, or was it simply that, by throwing out the rule book of the Paris Conservatoire where he studied, his music put beauty of sound above the spiritual ambitions of the German tradition from which those rules derived. Stephen Walsh's thought-provoking biography, told partly through the events of Debussy's life, and partly through a critical discussion of his music, addresses these and other questions about one of the most influential composers of the early twentieth century.

After his wife left him, Stephen Walsh took to the road in his camper-van in search of Britain's Country and Westerners, people who speak the language of heartache. What he found was a world of quirky characters, all busting to share tales of lost love, country music and big hats, and how to find the place where broken hearts are mended.

Osprey's examination of the situation on the United States home front during World War II (1939-1945). The outbreak of World War II in Europe in 1939 led to cautious attempts to raise volunteer organizations among American men and women, to back the armed forces in the event of the USA becoming directly involved in the conflict. The attack on Pearl Harbor caused a huge surge of patriotic response, and voluntary enlistment in a wide range of auxiliary and civilian support services, as well as the armed forces, swelled vastly. Looking first at the background and general character of wartime life in the States, Alejandro de Quesada covers the main services, providing an interesting comparison with the conditions on the British Home Front and the experiences of other countries caught up in the war, examining organizations from the Red Cross to the Coast Guard. Full-color artwork reconstructions of the uniforms of over a dozen services are a unique feature of this book.