This superbly authoratitive new work provides a comprehensive A-Z guide to some 1000 years of Western music. It explores in detail the lives and achievements of a vast range of composers, as well as looking at such key topics as music history (from medieval plainchant to contemporary minimalism), performers, theory and jargon. Throught Griffiths skilfully blends lightly worn scholarship with personal insight, whether examining the emotional colouring that different musical keys achieve or charting the rise and development of the symphony.

Presents a comprehensive guide to some of the most popular operas from the classic period to the present; and explores the careers of the great composers as well as descriptions of their operas.

Includes information on the literature of Greece from Homer to the fall of Constantinople, Roman literature prior to A.D. 476, and Oriental literature and African literature of ancient and present times.

Reviews thousands of British, American, and European classical recordings on CD, DVD, and SACD.