NYT ON RICHARD TARUSKIN, AUTHOR OF OXFORD HISTORY OF WESTERN MUSIC

Princeton University recently held a musicological conference honoring Richard Taruskin, the author of the six-volume Oxford History of Western Music, published in 2005, and now the indispensable work of more than 4,200 pages.

James R. Oestreich writes in today's The New York Times that:

"Mr. Taruskin, 66, has written books on Russian music, including the magisterial two-volume “Stravinsky and the Russian Traditions.” He has also produced compilations of essays originally published in The New York Times and elsewhere on all manner of musical subjects, and his writings on early music in particular have been influential, showing that current notions of historically “authentic” performance owe as much to modernist impulses and predilections as they do to any firm understanding of ancient practice."