This collection is a great tool for anyone involved in music history. It contains music from the best composers of every major era of music, from Ancient Greece to Twentieth Century. True, the selections are shorter and fewer than in the other two Norton Anthology volumes, but this collection contains the best of each of those. The Concise Norton Recorded Anthology is definately the one to chose if you only want four comprehensive CD's instead of twelve.

Since this collection contains such a variety of music, there is a song for whatever you are in the mood for: sad, happy, thought-provoking, you name it. Whether you are studying or teaching music, or just want one collection with a wide variety of music, the Concise Norton Recorded Anthology of Western Music is a great choice.

This book remains the standard music history reference for graduate and undergraduate students throughout the United States. It does not pretend to represent every branch or trend of musicology, or even begin to touch upon the vast subject of ethno-musicology. It does provide a sound and thorough reference as to the developments of Western "classical" music.

This book is undoubtedly the place to begin any serious look into music history. It is an omnibus study of what is commonly referred to as Western Art Music. It discusses composers, styles, and trends within music history itself. It doesn't cover ethnomusicology more than necessary (although it does point out examples beyond the scope of the book that merit further study, such as jazz). As for tying music history to art history, world history, and philosophy (ie the "new" musicology), this book does a commendable, albeit conservative, job. There are discussions of how major historical trends shaped music (most notably the spread of Christianity) and plenty of color plates showing works of art contemporary to the pieces being discussed.

What sets this book apart from other omnibus texts is its throughness. It starts at the very beginning of music history and remains strong to the present. Here is a page breakdown to illustrate my point:

1-32 - Ancient Greek and Roman Musical Thought (very few textbooks start before the Medieval period)

32-152 - Medieval Music

152-268 - Renaissance Music

268-439 - Baroque Period

439-533 - Classical Period

533-692 - Romantic Period

692-805 - Modern and Postmodern trends

805-822 - Glossary (very useful)

As you can see, it treats all the phases of music history relatively equally, giving a better sense of how the big picture comes together. There is some excellent supplemental material which includes the basics of reading medieval and renaissance music notation.

Donald Grout and Claude Palisca aren't so much boring in their writing style as they are serious. The book is concise and well-written. While it is by no means a page-turner (it's much too dense), it does have a good flow.

At $65, this book is expensive, but it's well worth the extra money to get the best text available. I know this will be a reference resource in my library for years to come.

This book is Donald J. Grout's masterpiece. Scholarly, detailed, and carefully considered, it includes analyses of pieces from every period in the history of western music. Grout interweaves the development of harmony, rhythm, and usage with the evolution of various instruments and vocal trends, and presents all in the context of social and political history.

If you're a music student at almost any major school (I just finished my undergraduate at Indiana University, for example) you'll most likely need to take a course that uses these CD's as part of its history survey. For that purpose, this set is an excellent collection. These, with their companion Norton Anthology of Western Music, and in conjunction with Grout/Palisca's History of Western Music, make for a thorough survey of the roots and history of Western music. Both the History and the Anthology use these CD's, and make constant references to them. (At least, up until 1750, after which you'll need the second volume)

Having said that, however, i'm afraid that these CD's are limited to their intended purpose. Obviously, there would be absolutely no way to have a comprehensive collection of music and text be affordable to an average college student. As it is, the Grout, Norton, and CD's total about $200 total. However, for that cost they provide an extremely good survey of Western music. A student can follow historical developments through the music, and learn an enormous amount from these CD's. They provide a fairly good cross-section of different styles of major composers, and even a few examples of lesser known composers. One is far less likely to criticize the music of the twentieth century, for example, if one finds that Gesualdo (of the late 16th century) was writing music that was MUCH stranger than anything before the turn of the twentieth century.

For someone outside of the music school (who will most likely be required to buy these anyway), these are also an excellent (and comparatively affordable) way to survey the mainstream and less-mainstream trends in Western music. The recordings are all relatively high-quality, often using historical instruments and interpretations (something important to a student of musical history) and providing a good introduction to classical music.

For that reason, then, i recommend these to the casual listener as a good introduction to Western music. If you seek a "greatest hits" album, these are not that; go buy those Time-Life things they advertise on television. This is rather a serious collection of music from as many different styles as allowable while still maintaining some depth. The only thing that keeps the fifth star empty is the lack (by necessity, though i must admit) of a more wide-ranging selection of music. Despite that, they are still an excellent buy. The casual listener of classical music should find these to be a valuable introduction to the well known, and also the more obscure realms of early music.

It seems that this was the standard textbook for most university opera history courses at one time (at least it was when I took the course in the early 80's). However, it seems to have fallen out of favor because those of us who read the earlier editions and are now teaching opera history courses recall the writing to be confusing, if not outright dull. In my opinion this lastest edition, written with Hermione Weigel Williams, is an improvement, and I think the book deserves a second reading. After teaching our opera history course using another text, I returned to this one because I feel it provides a better narrative: there seems to be more of an effort to relate the various movements in opera to one another. This cause and effect relationship is helpful to the student in their attempt to retain the information, and as well as understand the significance of each operatic movement. Give it another chance!

This book was not much help to me when trying to learn about music of the classical and romantic era. The text is very vague and poorly written

Having studied and done the music program at CCNY, I know the author, Prof. Barbara Hanning. Frankly speaking, I would warn the novices away from this book. This book is not concise due to the lack of Hanning's knowledge in music. Instead, her opera book may be good. Trust me. Been there, Done that.

This book is titled as "Concise" edition of Grout's full-scale edition. Barbara Hanning edited it unsatisfactorily. Therefore, I do not agree to the title "Concise." I would warn the novices away from it because of Hanning's lack of knowledge about music.