Cathy Berberian and Music's Muses

Cathy Berberian and Music's Muses is a richly illustrated anthology (containing more than 120 photographs and images) which heralded the 25th anniversary of the death of Cathy Berberian in 2008. The celebrated mezzo-soprano, composer, polyhistor and artistic non-conformist died in March 1983 at the age of fifty-seven.

Jennifer Paull for Amoris Imprint paints her close friend’s portrait with perceptive detail and personal reminiscences analysing Berberian’s unique standpoint. Paull applies Berberian's comparativist perspective to exploring a miscellany of Music’s fascinating facts, stimulating surprises and other musicians who are quintessentially 'different'. The role of the woman, the lack of division between the Arts; dance, design, fashion, imagination, humour, languages, theatre and wit: these, her eclectic components, shaped the borderless artistic landscape of Cathy Berberian into an ingenious philosophy herein elucidated, illustrated and applied.

Cathy Berberian’s due stature in the history of music has yet to be fully recognised and sufficiently appreciated.

A selection of articles about Cathy Berberian and Music's Muses

Timings - Breaking Moulds: 1910, by Jennifer Paull

CD Spotlight. Surrealist in Language - The homogeny of Jonathan Harvey, investigated by Jennifer Paull. '... superbly interpreted ...'

Masks - Jennifer Paull continues her investigation of musical and theatrical masks

Masks - Jennifer Paull investigates a layering of musical and theatrical masks, with the omnipresent eerie reminder of the gas mask

Timings - Universal Edition's preparations for the Mahler Centenary years (2010-2011), by Jennifer Paull

CD Spotlight. Mozart across Niagara - Peter Hatch's 'Wiki Mozart' delights Jennifer Paull. '... an intoxicating cocktail.'

High Jinx and Haute Couture - On the anniversary of Cathy Berberian's birth, Jennifer Paull investigates the legendary musician's extraordinary talents in humouristic performance, and her equally astounding wardrobe