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* The Oxford Companion to Music. Edited by Alison Latham. Oxford University Press (198 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016-4314; 800-4459714; www.oup-usa.org), 2002. 1,408 pp. Black-and-white illustrations, musical examples, cross references, suggestions for further reading, select index of people. Hardback, $60.00. Though based on the Oxford Companion to Music (1938) and the New Oxford Companion to Music (1983), most of the material in this book is either new or rewritten. With a focus on the Western classical tradition, the articles cover a variety of musical subjects, such as composers, individual works, musical instruments, performers, style periods, genres, musical forms, and notation. Articles place music into its social and cultural context, with entries on the effect of politics, religion, psychology, and computers on music as well as cover current research in ethnomusicology, music theory, performance practice and more.