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Phaidon relaunches music series

13.02.08 Tom Tivnan

Phaidon Press is aiming to refresh its 20th Century Composers series by slashing cover prices and introducing quirky new jackets by one of France's best known illustrators.

The 27th March relaunch kicks off with 10 titles, all of which have been rejacketed with art by Jean Jacques Sempé. Sempé is a New Yorker cartoonist and illustrator of Asterix creator Rene Goscinny's Little Nicholas books. The cover price for the paperback books is being reduced to £6.95 from £14.95.

The series, first published in 1998, consists of short biographies of a composer or a related group of composers. The books deal with the work and life of the composer, putting the music into cultural and historical context.

Amanda Renshaw, Phaidon editorial director, said: "The idea is to re-energise the series and broaden the appeal. These books are aimed at educated non-specialists; people who love music, but might not be able to read music."

There is one new title in the relaunch, Paul Roberts' Claude Debussy, which examines how the composer's often controversial works have endured into the 21st century. The other nine books are all re-issues with some updated text: Kenneth Chalmers Béla Bartók, Michael Oliver's Benjamin Britten, Rodney Greenberg's George Gershwin, K Robert Schwartz's Minimalists, Alan Rich's American Pioneers, Daniel Jaffe's Sergey Prokofiev, Conrad Wilson's Giamcomo Puccini, Guy Rickards's Jean Sibelius and Oliver's Igor Stravinsky.

Phaidon will roll out the new look to other titles in the series over the next couple of years. The publisher will also continue to commission new titles. "Making these books accessible can be a daunting task. We work hard finding authoritative writers who can write engagingly for non-specialists," Renshaw said.

Book tom tivnan Phaidon

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