About this Book

"Portraits and action shots of a galaxy of composers, conductors and instrumentalists from the prolific decades following the Second World War, intimately observed by the London-based photographer Eric Auerbach, in rehearsal, performance and relaxation. Included in the book are over 70 biographical commentaries rich with insights and anecdotes. Such giants as Stravinsky, Shostakovich, and Strauss, maestros Beecham, Klemperer and Stokowski, instrumentalists Casals, Menuhin and Rubinstein; from the generation of new music of the 1960s Boulez, Henze, Stockhausen; through to younger-generation interpreters Ashkenazy, Barenboim, Du Pré, and many more. Erich Auerbach was trained as a musician and remained an enthusiastic amateur pianist all his life. But his passion for music found its fullest expression through the lens of his camera, and this book offers a panoramic summary of his musical photography from the 1930s to 1975. Combined with his informal approach and utter lack of self-importance, this love of music earned him the friendship of many distinguished musicians. It was his intimate understanding of music and the role of the interpretative artist that was the secret of Auerbach's art. In the pictures in this book it is the musician's ear as much as the photographer's eye that produces such intimately expressive results, the personal, psychological and musical observation that gives Auerbach's record of the post-war decades its uniquely revealing quality."--Dust jacket.