The Variations of Johannes Brahms

Lamenting the `regrettable tendency [of musical analysis] towards intellectual gymnastics that overlook aesthetic reality', Julian Littlewood makes good again and again his promise to consider the `broader contexts of affect, kinetic control, stylistic reference, and closural strategies'. He is particularly attentive to performance makings and matters of texture. It is a tribute to his originality of approach that he has been able to add distinctively to the already considerable literature on this subject. Nicholas Marston, King's College Cambridge