<<  -- 3 --  Peter Dale    NO APOLOGIES

But actually this is not a scholarly book in any of the forbidding, prohibitive senses of that word. There is no jargon (though there is an assumption that the reader will want to read the music examples -- there are lots). There is none of that brandishing of grand Theory that characterises so much of musicology (and Literary Criticism) now that attitude is reckoned co-terminous with substance. There is none of that terminally tedious business of academic back-scratching (your friends) or point-scoring (off your rivals) that passes for scholarship in even the best of our universities these days. There is, however, an excellent Bibliography, a thoroughly plotted index and a short, accessible Glossary.

Nevertheless, if you want to know, in accessible terms, good English and intelligent discussion, almost everything else -- how and why, for example, George Butterworth's Loveliest of trees, the cherry casts its spell over you, why Warlock's The Frost-bound Wood once heard is unforgettable, or how you ever survived without the expression trompe d'oreille for certain mimetic effects in piano writing -- this is the book to read. I imagine this will be the standard work on the subject for the foreseeable future.