In this new and final collection, Richard Taruskin gathers a sweeping range of keynote speeches, reviews, and critical essays from the first twenty years of the twenty-first century. With twenty-three essays in total, this volume presents five lectures delivered in Budapest on Hungarian music and ten essays on Russian music. Reviews of contemporary work in musicology and reflections on the place of music in society showcase Taruskin’s trademark wit and breadth. Musical Lives and Times Examined is an essential collection, a comprehensive portrait of a distinguished figure in music studies, illuminating the ideas that have transformed the discipline and will continue to do so.

"It has, inevitably, a valedictory air, but does not on that account lack energy or focus. Quite the opposite: it will surely be a rare reader indeed who does not come away from having read it fascinated, provoked, inspired, or irritated."
  - Notes: the Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association