Alexander Zemlinsky: Lyric Symphony, A

Description:
From Zemlinsky's early success as a composer and widely recognized achievements as a conductor to his eventual descent into obscurity, this new biography places Zemlinsky (1871-1942) against the backdrops of Vienna, Prague and Berlin and illuminates his relationships with figures like Johannes Brahms, Alma Schindler, Gustav Mahler and Arnold Schoenberg. Moskovitz's exploration of Zemlinsky's songs, operas, choral works, chamber music and symphonic compositions follows the composer's search for a distinctly personal sound, revealing an artist caught up in the music of his time yet unwilling to abandon his 19th century roots. Alexander Zemlinsky: A Lyric Symphony includes an Afterword by conductor James Conlon and a complete discography of Zemlinsky recordings. MARC D. MOSKOVITZ is principal cellist of the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus, Ohio and has written for various music journals and the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.

Review:
(B)oth readable and authoritative, filling out the background in ways which even readers familiar with the many available histories of Viennese culture around and after 1900 and with more elaborate accounts of European politics and warfare between 1914 and 1945 should find fresh and engaging. ... Moskovitz doesn't idealise his hero's character and gives... a sense... of the strengths and weaknesses of someone so close to many high modernism's most active and challenging personalities. His use of unpublished letters from Zemlinsky to Alma Mahler, and of Zemlinsky's second wife Louise... provides additional colour and content. ... (Moskovitz's) book leaves us in no doubt of just how complex and how crucial Zemlinsky's personal and professional relations were. GRAMOPHONE