Reviews for Phantasmagoria

The average rating for Phantasmagoria based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-11-11 00:00:00 David Martin This one of those fundamental, ground-breaking books that re-shapes a field, like Stanislavski's An Actor Prepares. Balk focuses on the world of opera and musical theatre. One of his great insights is to introduce the idea of improv to a form that is notoriously score-bound. His basic program is to integrate singing and acting, and he argues that you need 5 skills to do that: energizing, concentrating, structuring, imagining, stylizing, and coordinating. He includes lots of exercises to build the five skills. A must-have for anyone in that world.

Review # 2 was written on 2021-02-27 00:00:00 Amber Jewison Joseph Kerman advocates a serious search for dramatic values in Opera in this classic work. Readable and not too technical, at least for the opera lovers, this book discusses the history and theory of opera from Monteverdi to Stravinsky and beyond. I enjoyed his discussion of the impact of Shakespeare on Verdi's opera with a chapter on Otello. The different forms of opera whether neoclassic, singspiel, symphonic or grand are analyzed with useful examples. Kerman knows how to think about music and critic the compositions with elegant style. I enjoyed this excursion into words about the drama of some of the music I love and cherish.