A History of the World in 50 Pieces, 9781785949371
Hardcover
Music’s epic journey: 50 pieces that shaped humanity’s story.
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A History of the World in 50 Pieces

The Classical Music That Shapes Us

$47.67

  • Hardcover

    320 pages

  • Release Date

    16 February 2026

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Summary

Explore how music has changed our world through 50 pieces across classical, folk, and world traditions with BBC presenter Tom Service, in this official Radio 3 compendium.

Music transports us and defines us. As a form of expression, it has been passed down through oral tradition, musical notation, and recordings in a chain of connection that spans the globe, across the millennia. A History of the World in 50 Pieces follows that chain, collating 50 pieces of classical music th…

Book Details

ISBN-13:9781785949371
ISBN-10:1785949373
Author:Tom Service
Publisher:Ebury Publishing
Imprint:BBC Books
Format:Hardcover
Number of Pages:320
Release Date:16 February 2026
Weight:518g
Dimensions:240mm x 160mm x 28mm
About The Author

Tom Service

Tom Service presents the Saturday Morning programme and the New Music Show for BBC Radio 3, where he wrote and presented 250 editions of The Listening Service, and hosted Music Matters from 2003. His writing about music is at theguardian.com, he was Gresham Professor of Music from 2018-19, and Guest Artistic Director of the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in 2005. He has made films for the BBC about composers from Mozart to Saariaho, and has been part of the radio and TV coverage of the BBC Proms for more than twenty years. His previous books include Music as Alchemy- Journeys with Great Conductors and their Orchestras, and Full of Noises, interviews with the composer Thomas Ad s.

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