Accompanied Voices is a unique book: not only is it a highly readable anthology of some of the most memorable and accessible international writing about classical music, and a moving commentary by one set of practising artists on the work of another. There have been several anthologies of "music poems", but never one which follows the story of western music through from the Renaissance to the twenty-first century. This is in effect a chronologicalguide to the major composers of the last four hundred years, written in the language which comes closest to music itself - poetry.
Readers will find in Accompanied Voices the same pleasure that they might find in simply putting on a CD and listening. Every page brings something to arrest or transport and there is extraordinary diversity of response. Anecdote, epiphany, portrait, meditation... but many of these poets offer intellectual insights too and even critiques - there is far more variety here than any straightforward music essay can manage. These poems move beyond the mere names of composers and their works, reaching for more universal concerns.
Major poets represented include Geoffrey Hill, Ted Hughes, Elizabeth Jennings, Michael Longley, Andrew Motion, Peter Porter, Siegfried Sassoon, Jo Shapcott, Anne Stevenson and Charles Tomlinson among a total of nearly a hundred writers.
JOHN GREENING is a poet and received a Cholmondeley Award in 2008. He is also a Hawthornden Fellow and a Fellow of the English Association. He has published studies of the Poets of the First World War, Yeats, Hardy, Edward Thomas and Elizabethan Love Poets.
Industry Reviews
This is a fascinating anthology of poems by British and American poets, known and unknown, about composers and often specific pieces of music. * MUSICAL OPINION QUARTERLY *
Any dip into it brings up a fascinating encounter between sister arts. * THE SUNDAY TIMES *
This wonderful new anthology...contains far too many artistic riches and provokes far too many thoughts to be absorbed in one, two or even three readings. 5 star. * BBC MUSIC *
Accompanied Voices is a superb anthology. It enlarges my appreciation for poets whose work I already know, and it has introduced me to writers I have never read (or in a few cases I had never even heard about). It is so seldom I find a book that is so fresh, rich, and well curated. Even the title is brilliant. DANA GIOIA, poet, critic and former Chair of the NEA * . *
This was a brilliant concept to present the history of music through poetry. Greening has produced a classic that should be both a delight and source of information for years. It is also a beautiful book to hold as well as own. I can't praise it high enough. * EDWARD STOREY *
This is a very special book with its masterly introduction. I was enchanted, moved and amazed. A glorious collection beautifully presented. -- BARRY FERGUSON [Former Master of Music at Rochester Cathedral]
