By trying to cast their net as widely as possible the editors of this encyclopaedia run the usual risk of being too selective; the result might have been more useful to librarians if they had restricted the scope to classical music or jazz or pop instead of including everything. That aside, however, and bearing in mind the enormous amount of music now available to us, we should judge how well they have done to include all the important figures in the music of this century which is about to end.
The significant feature is, of course, the recorded legacy: performers, especially those active in the early years of the century, however great or popular, are less likely to be included than those who made some records; Americans are more likely to be included than Europeans; there are very few teachers. Most of the entries are of individual musicians, each usually with a single page, and quite often a portrait. I found the entries on people I knew little or nothing about reasonably informative, although on those I am more familiar with I thought the treatment too superficial. The more‐or‐less standard length of articles is a bit of a strait‐jacket, and does not allow for significance rating. If the performer or composer is still alive the entry tends to be uncritical, but the author of each profile is allowed to be harsher if the subject is safely dead.
There are also, generally longer, entries on genres, forms, technical developments, national styles and others. Some of the definitions are neat: “Minimalism is a style of composition in which as much musical effect as possible is gained from as little musical material as possible.” You can probably get the flavour of the mixture of entries from the following sequence either side of Minimalism: Michelangeli, Middle East, Mighty Clouds of Joy, Milhaud, Glenn Miller, Mingus, Guy and Joni Mitchell, Modal jazz, Modern Jazz Quartet, Thelonius Monk and Bill Monroe. A very rough sample suggests that there are about as many entries for classical composers and performers as for jazz + pop + rock + country + blues and about half as many for song‐writers + composers of musicals and film scores.
It is a cumbersome volume to use, and the US edition looks expensive. I therefore hesitate to give it unqualified recommendation as good value for money; I would be inclined to look for more specialised works on each genre.
