2 CDs with 180-page booklet:
- 25,000-word essay
- Timeline of events in chamber music, history, art & literature

Includes music by Gabrieli, Telemann, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Dvoák, Schoenberg, Shostakovich, Maxwell Davies and others.

Chamber music is the most intimate, and arguably the most joyful and sociable, form of music-making in the world. It may also be the oldest, and its scope is all-embracing, ranging from infectious light entertainment to profound explorations of the human spirit, from boisterous humour to the outer reaches of intellectual adventure, and in time from pre-history to the present. More than any other, it is the music of community – organised, spontaneous, bonding and liberating. This survey, containing surprises for newcomer and connoisseur alike, explores the nature and development of the genre in its social and historical context, through a rich and entertaining tapestry of text and sound.

- 20,000-word essay
- Timeline of events in choral music, history, art & literature
- Richly illustrated with photographs

Includes music by Taverner, Tallis, Monteverdi, Purcell, Bach, Handel, Haydn, Brahms, Mahler, Britten, Pärt and many others.

This series began with introductions to periods in musical history: Early, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Twentieth Century. These form a beautifully presented set of five, and became a springboard for branching out into other areas. Discover Opera was the first departure, and now it is choral music in the spotlight.

After a brief discussion of choral music’s origins (What is ‘choral’?), touching on early Christianity and Byzantine chant, the author begins with early polyphony.

The birth of oratorio, J.S. Bach (the culmination of an astonishing supply of church cantors and organists in Protestant northern Germany), Haydn’s works for the Esterházy family, Bruckner’s masses and motets, Mendelssohn, Spohr, Brahms, Verdi... all this and so much more, right up to the present day (Arvo Pärt), is laid before the reader in an approachable, chronological way. References are given throughout to music tracks on the two accompanying CDs, illustrating the text via the best possible means: the music itself.

This is where both Naxos Educational (www.naxoseducational.com) and Naxos Books (www.naxosbooks.com) are unique: texts by carefully selected authors are accompanied by CDs – and, in the case of the books, websites as well – so that the reader can listen as well as read. For writing which concerns music, this is ideal!

The CDs of Discover Choral Music include examples by Taverner, Tallis, Monteverdi, Purcell, Bach, Handel, Haydn, Brahms, Mahler, Britten, Pärt and many others.