Great Music of the 20th Century
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
£0.00 for first 30 days
Buy Now for £30.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Professor Robert Greenberg PhD
About this listen
The 20th century was a hotbed of musical exploration, innovation, and transformation unlike any other epoch in history. Ranging across the century in its entirety, these 24 lectures present a musical cornucopia of astounding dimensions - a major presentation and exploration of the incredible brilliance and diversity of musical art across a turbulent century.
Using a chronological approach, you'll explore the fascinating gamut of 20th-century musical "isms", from impressionism and fauvism to serialism, stochasticism, ultraserialism, neoclassicism, neotonalism, and minimalism as well as the inclusivity and synthesis within concert music that embraced Western historical styles, folk and popular music, jazz, rock, Asian, Latin American, and other influences in the service of heightened musical expression. Through the panoramic view of the course, you'll discover the genius of composers such as Debussy, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Webern, Bartok, Ligeti, Riley, and many others.
Far more than simply a series of lectures, the program comprises a huge and many-sided resource for discovering the endless riches of 20th-century concert music across the globe. The phenomenal range of genres and composers covered and the wealth of suggestions for specific works make this a reference that could easily inspire years of musical exploration and glorious listening.
This remarkable inquiry opens the doors to an extraordinary spectrum of contemporary masterpieces that await discovery and deep listening. Within these unique and riveting lectures, Professor Greenberg offers you the keys to understanding and deep enjoyment of a revolutionary, visionary, and magnificent era in music. In Great Music of the 20th Century, you'll experience the living, evolving, and superlative musical art that so vividly and unforgettably speaks to the life of our times.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2018 The Teaching Company, LLC; 2018 The Great Courses (P)2018 The Great CoursesWhat listeners say about Great Music of the 20th Century
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- ColonelJames
- 20-03-18
A Wonderful Piece of Work
I am a big fan of Prof. Greenberg's courses. They aren't just entertainment - his enthusiasm, his knowledge, his ability to contextualise and to direct listening effectively have, simply, revealed to me a world of music that would have otherwise remained hidden. Spending many hours with him through these courses has made my life better. Anyway I have been absolutely busting to hear him do a 20th Century overview and here it is at last!
First off - there is very little actual music in these lectures; he explains at the start that the cost of licensing the work of not-long-dead composers means he can't play you the recorded excerpts as he goes along, as you will be used to in his other courses. However, he provides a wonderful coursebook in the PDF file with URLs to some brilliant videos - so the music (and more) is only a click away. I note that one reviewer above has declared that you don't get these with the course on Audible - this is incorrect; they are in the PDF file in your audible library alongside the course download link and it all works fine. So aside from some piano examples he plays himself (and a few snippets of his own music) - it is all Bob. That is why 'story' is only getting 4 stars up above; if the music had been in there it would have been incredible and, as it is, I found myself coming down on the side of Charles Ives - screw copyright, music belongs to everyone. Gimme!!! Anyway the links are there and they are great.
Prof. Greenberg's overview itself is, for my money, much better than Alex Ross 'The Rest is Noise' from the point of view of actually making the music accessible. There are a couple of reasons for this I think. Firstly, I love Greenberg's willingness to stick his neck out and tell you his opinion. He loves and he hates, and the ongoing drama of who or what will be celebrated, or, alternatively, given both barrels makes this worth the price of admission alone. Secondly, I think the music truly gets centre-stage here in a way that it does not in Alex Ross' very interesting book. There is cultural, historical, and biographical overview here as well but this course is principally about the music - which I think is borne out in what the course consciously omits (Shostakovitch for example) as well as what it devotes entire lectures to. It is selective. The selections for listening/watching in the links are obviously chosen with care and I was delighted to discover much of this music (most of it to be honest) for the first time. Thirdly, Greenberg's being a prolific contemporary composer himself feels more important in this course, than in any of his previous. This course brings us 'up to speed' and so there is more of a sense than ever that this stuff (from Stravinsky's Rite of Spring onwards) is what contemporary composers are still wrestling with as they try to figure out what it is that they do or should do next. I thought Prof. Greenberg's frank account of his career (nay, his life!) as a composer in one of the final lectures was great - very honest, very amusing, and quite moving.
Don't miss this course - it is special.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 05-08-20
Vivid and fascinating
This really is not the type of music I would normally get in to, but this open-minded and varied story of the development of modern literate music opened me up to a whole range of new influences, ranging from Gamelan music to Schoenberg and Bartok. It was s great experience. I wish though that it was easier accessing the many URLs to which Greenberg refers. They can be found in the pdf but accessing the right page in the pdf whilst listening on my phone is fidgety. Anyway, the many listening recommendations are essential for a full enjoyment of the course so make sure you actually access these.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- papapownall
- 29-06-18
Amazing sounds, astounding music brought to life
Professor Greenberg makes an interesting and profound point at the beginning of this book. It goes something along the lines of "we are now approximately one fifth of the way through the 21st century and most people haven't yet come to terms with the music of the 20th century". And how right he is. So much of it is bewildering and extraordinary and complex and obtuse. It is also beautiful and amazing and sublime and, yes, challenging and rewarding.
I listened to this having already heard the Professor's excellent "How to Listen to and Understand Great Music" and was particularly intrigued by the final chapters on 20th century music. I have been interested in 20th century music for a while and had already heard early Stravinsky works such as Right of Spring and Firebird and had tried to listen to Edgard Varese, Anton Webern and Pierre Boulez which I enjoyed but found "difficult" shall we say.
There is no doubt that it is a tough gig presenting this book. Not only is some of the music completely un-describable (Collon Nancarrow anyone!) but the Professor is further hindered in that, unlike his other courses, this one has no music. What? I hear you cry? No music! Well, the story is that because many of the composers on here have not been dead for 75 years (some of them are still alive) the royalty fees for putting excepts of music on the course would be prohibitively expensive. However, Professor Greenberg has helpfully put a series of URL links on his website with the pieces he describes in the course. This means that you do have to put a bit more effort in to fully appreciate what is going on here but, believe me, it is worth it.
I had never really listened to the music of Arnold Schoenberg before hearing this course thinking that it would be "too difficult". I am now converted. It has also opened my ears to the later works of Stravinsky and the "new pluralism" of Rouse, Ades and Kernis and for that I am thankful.
The only negative I can think of for this course is that it has cost me a fortune buying some of the recordings so I can have them to listen too. I have spent many pounds so far on the Complete Works of Schoenberg, the Complete Works of Webern and some Pierre Boulez that I had not heard before. I like the piece at the end where the Professor talks about his own musical tastes and it seems he is, after all, a fairly regular guy. Fairly.
This is a truly exceptional course covering some of the most extraordinary sounds.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ed berns
- 16-03-18
Best heard on great courses directly
It's not my type of music but as Mr Greenberg is one of my favourite professors at the great courses I thought I would give it a go. It starts very well and mid way I thought there would be more on rock and jazz but I had to give up on the last few lectures with the obscure composers. On audible one doesn't get the URL so listening to the music is more complicated but overall I still think he's very funny and entertaining
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Thomas
- 08-08-21
Another great course.
Dr. Robert Greenberg inspires again, but the lack of soundbites is a shame. Having to find the mentioned url's is annoying.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 30-03-18
Fabulous
As with all Dr Greenburg’s courses this is just superb.
Content delivery and indeed performance is just wonderful.
Highly recommended
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- amazoncustomer
- 18-06-18
Another stunningly good course!
This was unsurprisingly brilliant. Robert Greenberg's courses are so reliably first class. The connection between historical and musical development was enlightening.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Farmer karma
- 03-08-18
Very disappointing
I was really looking forward to this course but it was a massive disappointment. His choice of what to include was verging on bizarre. Nancarrow and other obscure Americans are given time but not Shostakovich (his argument for excluding Russians is very weak) or many other amazing composers who produced truly great music. This course should have a different title.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
11 people found this helpful