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Favorite books on music

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Posted on May 29, 2015 at 09:47:23
TGR
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 Like most of you, I have quite a few books on music, and I am interested in hearing others. Some of my favorites:

Otto Klemperer: His Life and Times (2 volumes) Heyworth - might be the best music bio I have ever read.

Bach: The Cello Suites Siblin

Ring Resounding and Putting the Record Straight - Culshaw

The Rest is Noise and Listen to This - Ross

On and Off the Record - Schwartzkopf

The Twisted Muse - Kater

Glenn Gould Reader - Page

Vindications - Cooke

Just a few, and does not include any books on pop or jazz, although I have a number of those as well.

For whatever reason, I am not that fond of composer bios - and I have quite a few. Don't know why.

 

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RE: Favorite books on music, posted on May 29, 2015 at 11:48:48
6bq5
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 I haven't gotten into the classical composers stories-
but i have read a couple of books by John Szwed - one on Miles and the other on Sun Ra - both of which were excellent reads and very informative-
Otherwise I have stuck to Pop- Joe Jackson, THe Dead, Kieth Richards, Pete Townsend...

Thanks for the list- I'll definitely look into some of those-
Happy Listening

 

RE:Recommend Favorite books on music, posted on May 29, 2015 at 12:28:14
unclestu
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 Anything by Dan Levitin:

This is Your Brain on Music (PBS did a documentary based on the book with Sting)

The World in Six Songs


Levitin attempts to answer the need for music in all cultures and how it affects human nature. Obviously a musical enthusiast, he casts an analytic eye on the nature of music using he latest medical gear, namely the functional fMRI

Oliver Sachs:

Musicophilia.

Another great book by a Psychologist: fascinating stories and insights into the need for music.

 

RE:Recommend Favorite books on music, posted on May 29, 2015 at 13:50:15
fantja
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 All-
excellent suggestions.

 

One more, posted on May 29, 2015 at 14:16:03
unclestu
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 which I reread frequently:

The Piano Shop on the Left Bank: Thad Cathart.

An American writer recounts his experiences in trying to recapture the piano playing experience of his youth while living in Paris and meets with an eccentric tuner/restorer. It is a fascinating look at pianos of the past and the present, and the dedication of some devotees of the instrument. You will learn a lot about the instrument, and not simply for concert use, but for your own home enjoyment.

Thad, in attempting to capture the feelings that playing created in himself as a youth, evokes the feelings that most student players have for their music and instrument poignantly and does more than most of us to rebuild that emotion.

 

I enjoyed the Piano Shop, posted on May 29, 2015 at 15:43:07
johntoste
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 and another similar book I read at the same time called Grand Obsession. It's about the author's quest to find just the right piano. Very enjoyable; in no small part because it makes us audiofiends seem a bit more normal.

 

RE: Favorite books on music, posted on May 29, 2015 at 17:43:30
pbarach
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 Anything by Nicholas Slonimsky!

 

A lot of good suggestions so far - here are some more, posted on May 29, 2015 at 18:30:47
Chris from Lafayette
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 I read a LOT of composer biographies (re-reading the respective Tchaikovsky biographies of Volkov and Poznansky right now), but, for fun, I tend to go for the books that dig up the dirt on various musicians. Pride of place must go to Earl Wild's "A Walk on the Wild Side". At 886 pages (!), it certainly could have used a good editor. (Many of his reminiscences of his Palm Springs neighbors, etc., could have been snipped IMHO.) But the rewards are truly worth it! ;-)



I also enjoyed the Solti memoirs, which, unlike the Wild book, can be acquired fairly cheaply from Amazon ($0.01 plus shipping!):



Dorati's memoirs are also pretty good, but the (ghost?)-writing style is not nearly as interesting as in the Solti memoirs:



Finally, for serious listeners and collectors (that means YOU GUYS!), Gunther Schuller's "The Compleat Conductor" is an object lesson in intelligent and well informed musical writing - writing which contrasts with the pathetic inadequacy of the the vast majority of record and concert reviews pumped out by overweening writers with hopelessly sub-par knowledge about music. (Yes, I mean you, Alex Ross - and your ilk!) ;-)

 

+1, posted on May 29, 2015 at 18:37:41
rbolaw
 Cathart is an amusingly modest fellow, always reminding the reader he is an enthusiastic but talent-free amateur pianist listening in wonder to the great music floating out of random apartment windows of the professional musicians of Paris (he obviously lived in the right neighborhood for that).

But he is a great virtuoso of another art.

 

Whitney Balliett, posted on May 29, 2015 at 19:30:33
Mike K
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 was a jazz critic and book reviewer for the New Yorker magazine for nearly
50 years. His books and articles on music in general, particularly jazz,
are the only ones I've ever read that give me any real idea of the quality
or sound of the playing or singing of the person about whom he was writing. I commend him to you unreservedly.

Lack of skill dictates economy of style. - Joey Ramone

 

Was going to recommend the Szweds..., posted on May 29, 2015 at 20:43:00
musetap
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 also check out Notes and Tones by Arthur Taylor.

"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination"-Michael McClure



 

RE: Favorite books on music, posted on May 30, 2015 at 06:17:06
wolf_moses@optusnet.com.au
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 "Piano Lessons" by Australian classical pianist Anna Goldsworthy is a moving non-fiction account of her childhood studies with Russian emigre Eleanora Sivan, focussing on her search for the spiritual core of the composers studied.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Lessons_%28book%29

 

The original Record Guide, '50s, posted on May 30, 2015 at 09:57:06
andy evans
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 I have 3 volumes - the '50 edition with all the 78s, the '55 edition and the '56 supplement.

They don't write reviews as good as this anymore.

Last movement of Chopin Sonata 2:

" ...should be gone almost before we realise it is there - a mere pattern of mist, as it were, or a network of rooks in twilight."



 

Another book recommendation, posted on May 30, 2015 at 19:54:11
unclestu
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 Violin Dreams by Arnold Steinhardt.

He is the principle violinist for the Guarnieri Quartet. This book documents his passion for the violin and the various instruments he has owned or played. Comes with a CD too.

For those who can not hear differences between instruments (Del Jesus and Strads, for example), this is an interesting insight into the great instruments ( and not so great) from a skilled player.

His pursuit starts in his early youth, when money was very tight and then to the modern day. ON his journey he introduces the reader to many great performers and their personal views on their instruments.

 

RE: Favorite books on music, posted on May 30, 2015 at 22:09:29
learsfool
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 One book I always recommend, even if you think you know a lot about music, is Aaron Copland's What To Listen For In Music. I would urge any of you who have not read it, to do so without further delay.

 

I don't know, Andy - I was kind of glad to see that purple prose school fall by the wayside [nt] ;-), posted on May 31, 2015 at 11:42:42
Chris from Lafayette
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RE: I've been a subscribe since 1991, , posted on May 31, 2015 at 18:52:21
steve.ott@kctcs.edu
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 and there are a few older ARG's for sale on ebay (from 50's and 60's). Might be fun to compare the writing of the reviewers. One reviewer I miss is Stratton Rawson, whose reviews were always entertaining.

 

Steve - are you and Andy talking about two different record guides?, posted on May 31, 2015 at 19:07:23
Chris from Lafayette
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 I used to subscribe to the American Record Guide too, but, aside from a very rare news-stand purchase, I haven't kept in touch with it for decades. (Is that crazy guy Vroon still running the ship?)

But I assumed that Andy's references were to British Record Guides?

 

RE: Steve - are you and Andy talking about two different record guides?, posted on June 1, 2015 at 16:07:03
steve.ott@kctcs.edu
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 Could be. I guess "purple prose" wouldn't describe too many american reviewers, at least the ones in ARG. Don Vroon is actually a really nice fellow; had dinner with him once.

 

+1 nt, posted on June 1, 2015 at 16:46:06
rbolaw

 

RE: Favorite books on music, posted on June 1, 2015 at 16:55:55
rbolaw
 I would add Harold Schonberg's trilogy, Lives of the Great Composers, The Great Pianists, and The Great Conductors. Few have made music history so entertaining and readable yet still highly insightful and informative.

 

RE: Favorite books on music, posted on June 1, 2015 at 22:29:13
learsfool
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 Yes, those are good books as well. Another very good one on conductors is Norman LeBrecht's The Maestro Myth. Many people are turned off by the opinions expressed by Lebrecht early on in the book, however whether you agree with him or not on that, what follows in the rest of the book is actually a very good survey of famous conductors, and who studied with who, or was influenced by who, etc. I would think that quite a few on this board would be interested in that.

 

RE: Favorite books on music, posted on June 2, 2015 at 05:20:50
fantja
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 Excellent suggestions- guys.

 

+1. Breezy, fun reads and often stunning revelations for both amateur and Classical music veteran. nt, posted on June 2, 2015 at 08:34:50
jdaniel@jps.net
 .

 

I'm talking about the UK Record Guide (nt), posted on June 3, 2015 at 09:30:58
andy evans
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 .

 

"The Maestro Myth", posted on June 4, 2015 at 16:55:54
TGR
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 Lebrecht is a yellow journalist, who disguises the truth behind a screen of lies, innuendo, and half-truths. His documentation is poor, his allegations baloney, and his opinions baseless.

I have two books written by him - including the Maestro Myth - and the only reason they are still on my shelf is because I don't throw books away.

 

RE: "The Maestro Myth", posted on June 4, 2015 at 22:42:16
learsfool
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 I said he was controversial, and I don't agree with everything he says. However, most of that book is actually well-researched and well written history of many of the most famous conductors, and how they influenced each other. It is easy to ignore the other stuff if you don't care for it.

 

I stand by my comments on Lebrecht, posted on June 5, 2015 at 09:04:47
TGR
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 He's dishonest. Nothing he says is believable.

 

RE: Favorite books on music, posted on June 5, 2015 at 13:44:10
JefferyK
 "Am I Too Loud?" by Gerald Moore.

 

RE: I stand by my comments on Lebrecht, posted on June 6, 2015 at 02:19:44
rbolaw
 Alas, I have to agree with you on this one. While Lebrecht is a living encyclopedia of the classical music world, and a skilled writer to boot, he suffers from a weakness that is deadly to good journalism. That is, he becomes so obsessed with certain of his theories or outlooks, and so convinced of their pervasive truth and importance, that he needs to interpret everything he sees as support or proof of them. Thus he twists things until they conform to his theories, which may have some validity but are almost never as pervasively true or important as he is convinced they are.

I've seen this in other writers, but seldom to this extent in one of his intellectual prowess.

 

RE: I stand by my comments on Lebrecht, posted on June 8, 2015 at 17:29:32
learsfool
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 Hi rbolaw - that is a very fair and good description of Lebrecht and his writing. I recommend the book for it's history of conductors, which is after all the vast majority of the book, not for the other stuff. I'm sure a great many people put down that book after that opening without actually reading the good historical information that comes afterwards.

 

RE: I stand by my comments on Lebrecht, posted on June 11, 2015 at 11:17:37
rbolaw
 Hi, Learsfool. Yes, I've read The Maestro Myth. I'm not surprised we agree. The romantic PR image that has always surrounded these conductors does get old, and he sure does puncture that. It's a business, and often a cutthroat one, as he repeatedly notes.

But his endless obsession with the harsh and tawdry aspects of the business gets tiresome (not to him, apparently).

 

+1 on "Grand Obsession", posted on June 11, 2015 at 11:35:00
Charlie F.
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 I hadn't heard about the Cathart: thanks!

As the reader follows the author's search in "Grand Obsession," he/she is exposed to so much about the construction and care and feeding of a fine piano. Just excellent! And you don't need to be a piano enthusiast whatsoever to appreciate it all.

-=- Charlie F.

 

RE: Favorite books on music, posted on June 14, 2015 at 07:44:46
fantja
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Posts: 15524
Location: Alabama
Joined: September 11, 2010
 Best book(s) on Dylan?

 

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