The Classical Style ─ Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven

Winner of the 1972 National Book Award. A reissue of a masterpiece by a world-class pianist and top-rank thinkernow expanded and with a compact disc. This outstanding book focusing on the three most-beloved composers of the Vienna School is considered basic to any study of the music from their era. Drawing on his rich experience and intimate familiarity with the works of these giants, Charles Rosen presents his keen insights in language that is clear, persuasive, and nontechnical. For this reissue of The Classical Style, Rosen provides a comprehensive new introduction that incorporates ideas he has formulated in the past twenty-five years and responds to the reactions of others writers to the book during that time. Readers are also treated to a compact disc, recorded by Rosen in 1996 and produced especially to accompany this new version 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 Bb major (the Hammerklavier) and the Opus 110 in C minor.