The International Biographical Centre (IBC) compilations published by Melrose Press will be familiar to the staff of larger libraries, ranging, as they do from the Dictionary of International Biography and Men of Achievement to the International Who’s Who in Medicine, and 2000 Outstanding Artists and Designers of the 20th Century. The publisher’s questionnaires seeking names to fill these directories may also be familiar. The form this volume follows is that of its stablemates: an alphabetical listing of personal names heading entries which give brief biographical information of birth dates, nationality and, in this case, musical achievements such as orchestras played in, selected performances and awards, concluding with contact addresses. The information is concise, though not cryptic, and adequate for basic needs such as notes for chairman and an overview of careers.
One must not overlook the second element in the title, the most useful Directory. This consists of lists, with contact addresses, of orchestras, opera companies, festivals, music organizations, major competitions and awards, music libraries, and music conservatories. Arrangement of the appendices is alphabetically by place within country. In the UK, orchestras are listed from the Northern Chamber based at Altrincham, to the Worthing Symphony Orchestra; while world wide, music libraries range from the Kabul Public Library in Afghanistan to the Vietnam National Library II in Ho Chi Minh City.
The editor’s foreword is brief and I would have welcomed more. I would have liked to have known the difference between “light classical” and “popular” music, for instance, since the latter has its own volume; but he does volunteer that some 1,000 new or largely new entries have been inserted, while the remaining 7,000 entries have nearly all been revised. Every biographee was sent a typescript of his or her own entry for amending and approval, but how many returned them is not revealed, so care must be taken. The physical presentation is not great ‐ three columns per page of rather unfriendly typeface ‐ but adequate enough for quick reference. The volume is heavy and unwieldy, though the paper is thick enough to be white and strong. I’ve seen a lot worse.
The coverage is truly international and IBC’s databases must be impressive. Very few of the 8,000 or so musicians are known to me, though I spotted Nigel “four seasons” Kennedy (hobbies are boxing, football, etc.), Sir Simon Rattle (two sons), violinist Tasmin Little (Cosmopolitan magazine’s 1986 Woman of Tomorrow in the Arts), Pavarotti, Barenboim, etc. I wouldn’t put too much faith in some of the libraries listed (why one nominates one’s library, or one’s self, is not necessarily because of excellence!) but the Directory’s listings, as indeed the Who’s Who section, are good places to start mining for information. For specialist music libraries and large reference collections.
