Nicolas Slonimsky, pianist, composer, conductor, author, and lexicographer, was born in St Petersburg, Russia, in 1894. Pronounced a genius by his mother, he seemed destined for a professional career in music, but the 1917 revolution brought an end to his hopes, and his errant life took him south to Kiev, Yalta, Constantinople, and finally Paris, where he was hired as rehearsal pianist by the renowned conductor Serge Koussevitsky. He went to the United States in 1923, spending many years in Boston where he gained a dazzling ...
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Nicolas Slonimsky, pianist, composer, conductor, author, and lexicographer, was born in St Petersburg, Russia, in 1894. Pronounced a genius by his mother, he seemed destined for a professional career in music, but the 1917 revolution brought an end to his hopes, and his errant life took him south to Kiev, Yalta, Constantinople, and finally Paris, where he was hired as rehearsal pianist by the renowned conductor Serge Koussevitsky. He went to the United States in 1923, spending many years in Boston where he gained a dazzling reputation for conducting first performances of difficult works by such composers as Ives, Varese, and Cowell. Since 1937 Slonimsky has developed an international reputation as a writer on music, especially of gargantuan reference works such as Music since 1900 and Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians , of which he has edited the last three editions. His Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patters , an exhaustive compendium of modernistic melodic patterns, unexpectedly became a bible to jazz and rock musicians, bringing him into contact with, among others, Frank Zappa. Perfect Pitch is an ironic commentary (or 'rueful autopsy' as the author calls it) on a life in which failure to fulfil the highest expectations of an over-ambitious mother is never allowed to obscure a story of real achievement in music. It is a book crowded with anecdotes, personal letters, and vignettes of his remarkable family and of the many famous men and women he has encountered. Slonimsky's relish for the odd, the arcane, the idiosyncratic is evident on every page, and the book is written with that blend of wit, spice, and irreverence which make Slonimsky's books, like his conversation, irresistable for the musical and non-musical reader alike. Readership: general readers, particularly those with an interest in musical life since 1900.
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Add this copy of Perfect Pitch: a Life Story to cart. $2.64, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1988 by Oxford University Press.
Add this copy of Perfect Pitch: a Life Story to cart. $2.64, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 1988 by Oxford University Press.
Add this copy of Perfect Pitch: a Life Story to cart. $3.34, fair condition, Sold by BooksRun rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Philadelphia, PA, UNITED STATES, published 1988 by Oxford University Press.
Add this copy of Perfect Pitch: a Life Story to cart. $3.51, good condition, Sold by Books From California rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Simi Valley, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1988 by Oxford University Press.
Add this copy of Perfect Pitch: a Life Story to cart. $4.26, good condition, Sold by Books From California rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Simi Valley, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1988 by Oxford University Press.
Add this copy of Perfect Pitch: a Life Story to cart. $4.96, very good condition, Sold by Wonder Book - Member ABAA/ILAB rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Frederick, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1988 by Oxford University Press, USA.
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Seller's Description:
Very Good. Very Good condition. Very Good dust jacket. In protective mylar cover. A copy that may have a few cosmetic defects. May also contain light spine creasing or a few markings such as an owner's name, short gifter's inscription or light stamp.
Add this copy of Perfect Pitch: a Life Story to cart. $4.96, good condition, Sold by Wonder Book - Member ABAA/ILAB rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Frederick, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1988 by Oxford University Press, USA.
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Good. Good condition. Good dust jacket. A copy that has been read but remains intact. May contain markings such as bookplates, stamps, limited notes and highlighting, or a few light stains.
Add this copy of Perfect Pitch a Life Story to cart. $5.00, very good condition, Sold by Bookwitch rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Concord, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1988 by NY Oxford U Press 1988..
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Near Fine in Near Fine jacket. Book Octavo, hardcover, near fine (gift note on endpaper) in near fine pictorial dj. 263 pages. portraits, photo-illus., Index. Memoirs of the famous musician who served four distinct careers: as a pianist, composer, pioneering conductor, and as musical lexicographer, discussing with much humor his work, his contemporaries, the musical forms he enjoyed working in, his family, his experiences in Russia both before, during, and after the revolution, his world travels.
Add this copy of Perfect Pitch: a Life Story to cart. $5.00, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Emerald rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1988 by Oxford University Press.
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Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Perfect Pitch: a Life Story to cart. $5.95, very good condition, Sold by Orca Books Cooperative rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Olympia, WA, UNITED STATES, published 1988 by Oxford University Press.
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Used-VG. Minor wear. Text is clean. Slight fraying to corner edges. This book is in very good condition. Help support Orca Books Cooperative--Olympia's only Co-op Bookstore!
