Customer Reviews
Reasonable, print quality issues 
2008-08-31
This anthology has a reasonably good selection of classical music works for students. The one thing I noticed regularly throughout, however, is the poor quality of some of the printing which makes some of the scores illegible. Often, the original score has been reduced in size to fit the anthology's page format, thereby reducing the graphic details to the point where they cannot be deciphered even with magnifying glasses.
Music theory 
2008-04-09
This analysis provides extensive excerpts, which is good for preparing theory analysis class, however, if the analysis would be provided by the composer, or have the pieces grouped according to their nature / harmonic structure, then the book would be even more beneficial and convenient to many amateurs as well.
Fantastic examples, but no analysis in the book 2008-04-02
The examples and pieces selected are wonderful and cover a vast cross-section of music and I was very excited to see that there are several full orchestral scores included. It is well-organized and neat and overall is clear and concise. However, I was very disappointed that there is really no actual analysis or even much prompting of the music in the book itself. You are expected to do all of the analysis yourself, which is a good exersize, but I was hoping for more professional and technical insight. It is basically just a book with a lot of sheet music. The footnotes for each piece are helpful in that they provide other resources that provide full analysis, but for the price, I was expecting this book to do just that! It is also spiral bound, so again, I don't understand the price.
Women Composers 
2007-09-10
When I read the table of contents, I was very very happy to see that this book includes women composers. My theory book from last year did not include any women composers and that made me mad, so I was excited to see Hildegard of Bingen and Ruth Crawford Seeger among others included in this book.
Terrific collection of pieces for study 2005-11-19
Of course, every piece of music can be analyzed and discussed. The problem for the teacher is to find pieces that will yield useful principles for students to learn through their early studies in form, harmony, and voice leading. Ideally, the pieces will be representative of the music of their period and of the principles under discussion. It really does the student no good to study a piece that is unique in the way it handles the principle being studied. On the other hand, the student must be able to discover the form, or harmonic example, or voice leading with the skills they are developing. So, the selection cannot be too sophisticated for its audience nor should the piece yield its treasure too easily. The student should have to work a bit in order to develop their analytic abilities.
This collection of pieces for study has been around for quite awhile with some alterations in its various editions. This is the sixth edition and remains a great collection. The pieces are from all periods from ancient to modern, there are pieces in all genres and ensemble types. Certainly, any teacher will likely supplement what is provided here with their own preferred pieces to illustrate certain points, but there is so much valuable stuff here that it will likely provide source material for several classes over a the years of undergraduate study. Burkhart also provides helpful notes and insightful questions at the head of pieces to help the student in thinking about that piece.
While I want to complement the publisher on the clarity of printing, and the vast majority of it is very good, I do wish that the few places where the bars for the sixteenth, thirty-second, and sixty-fourth notes run together that they were more careful to make them clear as well. Yes, this is not a performing edition and it is still clear what the music is, it is still disconcerting for musicians to try to read such blurry music. Can you imagine an anthology of, say, American poetry, being acceptable if the text were smeared just because it was kind of legible? But this is a smallish (but serious) point.
This anthology would be perfectly useable for someone studying form, harmony, and voice leading on their own, as well.
Fine anthology that has earned its place in the curriculum.
Recommended Anthology 2005-10-27
This landmark collection of over 200 complete musical compositions and movements, ranging in time from the Middle Ages to the present, contains a large and varied body of music for study. In addition to providing ample material for both a full-year course in the analysis of musical forms and a one-semester course in twentieth-century techniques, the book offers first- and second-year music theory classes a wealth of illustrations of chords, voice-leading techniques, and forms--plus some material for figured-bass realization and score reading. Because the book consists primarily of music and takes no theoretical position, it is adaptable to any theoretical approach and to any type of curriculum, including those that combine theory study with music literature and the history of musical style.
THE basic music companion 1999-12-22
Dr. Burkhart has compiled a marvelous compendium of approachable music for analysis -- particularly of "common practice period" examples. In addition, he includes works, in increasing difficulty in that they start to lead away from various conventions of our Western ears' expectations. In sample or example, Burkhart leads us from Baroque tonality to the start of atonality through Wagner's "Tristan und Isole" and beyond. The scores are large enough to include easy reading (much "white" around the notes). The newer paper is more receptive to pencil marking. In addition, the binding has been improved since ? This is a must for the "classical" listener who reads music. It is a great companion for any analysis or form class.
