Part of the new Ladybird Expert series, Twentieth-Century Classical Music is an accessible, authoritative, and entertaining introduction to the Western classical music that captured the defining moments of the contemporary world.

Written by The Observer's classical music critic Fiona Maddocks, Twentieth-Century Classical Music will take you on an acoustic journey through history with a curated playlist on each page.

Early in the century, Schoenberg pioneered musical experiments which turned old traditions on their head. Then Stravinsky's sensational Rite of Spring, written on the eve of WWI dramatically altered the course of all classical music that followed.

From the influence of the jazz age and the sounds of cities, the nationalism of folk revival, Russian revolutions from the Bolsheviks to Stalin, to the fall of the Berlin Wall, you'll learn how Western composers painted with a new orchestral palette to capture the sentiments of their time.