Cambridge Companion To Berg, The

In this addition to the Cambridge Companion series, 13 essays by 11 authors provide a useful and interesting introduction to the music and personality of Alban Berg. The volume is divided into three main sections and a postscript: "Culture and Environment," "From Song to Opera," and "After Wozzeck." The essays deal with everything from "cultural politics" to Berg's compositional techniques, and the postscript tries to establish Berg's place in and influence on the history of 20th-century composition. The book suffers in places from an overly academic approach to its subject (not to mention an overly academic vocabulary), but the reasonably informed lay reader with an interest in Berg will still find it informative and helpful in understanding his music and its context.