Audiobook13 hours
Listening for America: Inside the Great American Songbook from Gershwin to Sondheim
Written by Rob Kapilow
Narrated by Paul Woodson
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
Few people in recent memory have dedicated themselves as devotedly to the story of twentieth-century American music as Rob Kapilow, the composer, conductor, and host of the hit NPR music radio program, What Makes It Great? Now, in Listening for America, he turns his keen ear to the Great American Songbook, bringing many of our favorite classics to life through the songs and stories of eight of the twentieth century's most treasured American composers-Kern, Porter, Gershwin, Arlen, Berlin, Rodgers, Bernstein, and Sondheim. Hardly confining himself to celebrating what makes these catchy melodies so unforgettable, Kapilow delves deeply into how issues of race, immigration, sexuality, and appropriation intertwine in masterpieces like Show Boat and West Side Story. A book not just about musical theater but about America itself, Listening for America is equally for the devotee, the singer, the music student, or for anyone intrigued by how popular music has shaped the larger culture.
Related to Listening for America
Related audiobooks
Sondheim in Our Time and His Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beyond Broadway: The Pleasure and Promise of Musical Theatre Across America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Finale: Late Conversations with Stephen Sondheim Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secret Life of the American Musical: How Broadway Shows Are Built Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everything Was Possible (Updated Edition): The Birth of the Musical Follies Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Summertime: George Gershwin's Life in Music Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOn the Road and Off the Record with Leonard Bernstein: My Years with the Exasperating Genius Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Music for Prime Time: A History of American Television Themes and Scoring Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsConversations Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What to Listen for in Music Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stand Up Straight and Sing!: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Resistance: A Songwriter's Story of Hope, Change, and Courage Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Help!: The Beatles, Duke Ellington, and the Magic of Collaboration Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rhythm Man: Chick Webb and the Beat that Changed America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRags and Bones: An Exploration of The Band Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBing and Billie and Frank and Ella and Judy and Barbra Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChasing Chopin: A Musical Journey Across Three Centuries, Four Countries, and a Half-Dozen Revolutions Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The History of Rock & Roll: Volume 1: 1920-1963 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anatomy of 55 More Songs: The Oral History of Top Hits That Changed Rock, Pop and Soul Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMusic Is History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Schoenberg: Why He Matters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsExtended interview with Stephen Sondheim Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Singular Sensation: The Triumph of Broadway Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Wonderful Guy: Conversations with the Great Men of Musical Theater 1st Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Putting It Together: How Stephen Sondheim and I Created Sunday in the Park with George Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Broadway: A History of New York City in Thirteen Miles Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Life and Music of George Gershwin Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The History of the Musical Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sense of Occasion Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nothing Like a Dame: Conversations with the Great Women of Musical Theater Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Performing Arts For You
Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Swingtime for Hitler: Goebbels’s Jazzmen, Tokyo Rose, and Propaganda That Carries a Tune Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Being Henry: The Fonz . . . and Beyond Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hamlet: Fully Dramatized Audio Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Macbeth: Fully Dramatized Audio Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Is this Anything? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Grapes of Wrath Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Create: Tools from Seriously Talented People to Unleash Your Creative Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Midsummer Night's Dream: Fully Dramatized Audio Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Racing in the Rain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bel Canto Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Birth of The Endless Summer: A Surf Odyssey Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Here We Go Again: My Life In Television Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Death of a Salesman Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Power of Myth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Science of Storytelling Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When I Was Your Age: Life Lessons, Funny Stories & Questionable Parenting Advice From a Professional Clown Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Save the Cat! Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Way I Heard It Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dracula (dramatic reading) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5NPR Funniest Driveway Moments: Radio Stories That Won't Let You Go Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Life in Parts Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Romeo and Juliet: The Fully Dramatized Audio Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pure Drivel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Julius Caesar: A Fully-Dramatized Audio Production From Folger Theatre Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related categories
Reviews for Listening for America
Rating: 4.666666666666667 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
3 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Outstanding analysis of classic Broadway composers, their personal and social milieu, and how their work reflected and shaped America during their individual eras. There's an in-depth musical and lyric analysis of iconic songs--which would benefit from seeing the sheet music in the printed version, but the audio version doesn't suffer much from this loss. It's also a good summary of the development of the musical throughout the 20th century. I listened to the audiobook at 1.5x easily.