Books in Brief
The Devil Prefers Mozart: On Music and Musicians, 1962-1993 by Anthony Burgess
Editor: Paul Phillips
Via Carcanet Press
“The Devil Prefers Mozart is the first comprehensive collection of Anthony Burgess's writings about music. In this extensive compilation of essays and reviews, he covers a vast range of musical topics, from the hurdy-gurdy to Beatlemania and the Sex Pistols, with Burgess's love of English music represented by writings on Elgar, Holst, and Delius. There are essays on Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Berlioz and Wagner and other great composers from Monteverdi to Weill, as well as writings about Burgess's favourite performers, including Yehudi Menuhin, Larry Adler and John Sebastian. Whether whimsical ('Food and Music'), satirical ('Anybody Can Conduct') or controversial ('Why Punk Had to End in Evil'), Burgess's writing is consistently informative and entertaining.”
Phillips is the Gretchen B. Kimball Director of Orchestral Studies and associate professor in the Department of Music.