One book that came out fairly recently which I couldn’t put down was Alex Ross’s “The Rest is Noise” which essentially covers the major composers of the 20th century but succeeds surprisingly well for such an ambitious undertaking - wondered if you had ever picked that one up.
Yes for sure, I second that choice as an addition to any must read book list...I couldn't put it down either. It starts with Richard Strauss and Mahler and goes all the way up to the modern day Minimalist and spectralist movements...an excellent overview of the 20th Century and for anyone not as familiar with that time period, The Rest is Noise is the perfect place to start
@@ericleiter6179 A third yay for Ross' book. I've read a lot less about music than I've meant to, but of the little I have, Ross is my favorite writer on music.
Yes, this book is excellent. Another one I just finished reading is Alex Ross's collection of articles/essays "Listen to This." Definitely worth the read if you enjoy the way Ross writes, like I do.
Agree wholeheartedly! This one is always at the top of my list when I'm asked to recommend books on music. He also wrote "Wagnerism" which is great if you're (like me) a Wagnerite - but it does make all Wagner's followers sound completely crazy...
Galina is a tremendous book. I was working in a bookstore in Beverly Hills - on Rodeo Dr - when Galina came out. I helped make Galina a limited bestseller. The publisher sent me a copy which included Vishnevskaya’s dedication and signature. Galina is a great autobiography and a worthy addition to Russian history and literature.
@@murrayaronson3753 Galina Vishnevskaya is one of my favorite artists. I also have a signed copy of her autobiography. What a treasure. I'd like to find the Studs Terkel show where he interviews her about it.
Dave: You are a fantastic teacher. I am not even a musician (retired Biology professor).....but I enjoyed every word of this presentatíon and wish I could read all ten of these books!!!
What a great video, Dave. Thank you so much. You encompass some I've read and love (Budden, Gossett), some I've been meaning to forever (Heyworth) and some I've been totally unaware of but definitely need to read (Ruzickova). Thanks so much. Wesley
Phil Gossett was great. He was a friend of mine, always available for questions and I was privileged to do the "Malibran" I Puritani with him as a US premiere, other projects that ended with our last "La Donna del Lago" in Santa Fe. Supportive, loving, smart and, truly, a man who CARED. I was so sad when he got sick but he was completely optimistic and realistic to the end. RIP
I swing through the Schoenberg Music Building at UCLA every morning when I drop my daughter off for school because professors discard surplus books, CDs, and scores. Just this week, in addition to biographies of Delius, Ruth Crawford Seeger, and Sir Charles Mackerras, and the scores of the complete Ravel works for solo piano, I also got the Charles Rosen book you just reviewed! I'm getting a much better music education pawing through these discards than I got from U.C. Riverside!
Yes, Galina has always been one of my favorite books. Would also recommend The Art of the Piano, Evenings with Horowitz and The Essential Canon of Classical Music, all by David Dubal. In addition, The Maestro Myth by Norman Lebrecht, Shoot the Conductor by Anshel Brusilow and Conducting Opera: Where Theater Meets Music, by Joseph Rescigno.
Thanks Dave. My step-great grandfather gifted me a first edition of Alfred Einstein’s ‘Mozart: His Character and Work’ when I was about 10. It’s taken me DECADES to simply open it but boy, have I been glad that I finally did! It isn’t a standard music bio in any ordinary/chronological sense. Einstein is primarily interested in the composer’s music and his influences, yet he manages to make his investigation oddly compelling. I recently discovered that until recent scholarship it was a kind of reference work on Mozart. Thanks again!
I owe you thanks. I had never heard of Zuzana Ruzickova until I watched this post. I went to the RUclips documentary immediately and will get the book. What a story, and after all that she rebuilt her technique. And...amazingly...she refused to hate. Moving and inspiring. Thanks again. You did me a favor by bringing her to my attention. David Snyder
A great list from Dave - I will have to find myself a copy of ‘Evenings with the Orchestra’. Of his list, the Klemperer biography is unbeatable: couldn’t put it down. My own list of favourites would also include Poulenc’s little biography of Chabrier, ‘Putting the Record Straight’ by John Culshaw, ‘Music Ho!’ by Constant Lambert, Nigel Simeone and John Tyrrell’s book on Charles Mackerras and James Blades’ ‘Drum Roll’.
For lovers of classical vocal art, John Steane's The Grand Tradition, covering singers on record from the late 19th century through the 1970s, is still practically definitive. You don't have to agree with all of its judgments to find it incredibly illuminating and informative.
Thank you for the Vishnevskaya and Ruzickova recommendations - definite must-gets. And especially for the Heartz. I've been wanting a detailed Galant history for years. I've read the Walker Liszt biog 3 times and still haven't had enough. I also love his two other books about Liszt - his translation of the Lina Schmalhausen dairy detailing Liszt's death finally banished any respect I had for Cosima once and for all. A couple of fabulously stimulating books I particularly love are Glenda Dawn Goss's 'Sibelius: A Composer's Life and the Awakening of Finland', and Imogen Holst's 'The Music of Gustav Holst'. Imogen is not only the most qualified guide to her dad's music, but also it's most ruthless critic!
It's like you read my mind. I thought of requesting this list. I do have another request: essential classical guitar pieces. I'm a beginner classical music fan and I LOVE your beginner's lists. Today I'm at the essential choral works and I loved Lord Nelson's Mass! Thank you! PS Please use more yiddish words in your videos. I live in Holland and they sound familiar.
Taruskin's 2-volume Stravinsky book is daunting, but it reads like a Russian novel. Basically anything he wrote is worth reading, even if you disagree with it. And I am so happy to see Dan Heartz's book on the list. Beautifully written and beautifully designed book--and part of a trilogy.
Ha, Dave, I do the exact same thing! It’s either tune out the music for the book, or stare at a single word while entranced by the music. I own a copy of Music Through the Ages, in an attempt to learn more of the technical aspects of music. Now I have ten more books to learn from and enjoy, so thank you!
" writing about music is like dancing about architecture " I 'm not sure who said that but they were wrong. I love reading about music. One of my favorites is Nicolas Slonimsky's Lexicon of Musical Invective, a collection of critics slamming the standard repertoire.
Thanks, Dave. A lot of homework to read here. A future post could deal with movies about musicians' and composers' lives. I have always thought that, leaving aside the blockbuster Amadeus, there haven't been that many major succesful films based on musicians' lives. And God knows that they could provide very juicy matter for movies.
Thanks; I rejoice to concur with your selections I have read( especially Rosen) and will put the Stravinsky and Klemperer books on my One of These Days list.
The Glenn Gould reader is a favourite of mine. I read it when at uni. I clicked with GG over his mozart skepticism and aversion to beethoven 5 pc. Also Nathan Milstein's memoirs are a fascinating read.
I devoured all Rosen's books, even the one on Schoenberg, but "The Classical Style" remains a kind of compass. I wasn't 12 years old when I read it, but I was lucky to have read it when I was in a community orchestra playing a number of the works discussed. I have some reservations about Volkov's book. Even if quoted accurately, some of the composer's extra-musical characterizations of his music seem questionable--that being the nature of such characterizations. I have not read "Galina," but I would agree the attitude reflected in "Testimony" is fairly credible, and fairly consistent with what comes across in Elizabeth Wilson's book on Shostakovich, "A LIfe Remembered." In Russia, especially in St. Petersburg-Petrograd-Leningrad, there was a certain continuity from pre-revolutionary avant-garde to post-revolutionary avant-garde, which is not to be confused with "socialist realism." This was the main foundation for Shostakovich's music up to the 4th Symphony. At this pivotal point, Shostakovich didn't totally break with his past, bt there were extreme political pressures to get with Stalin's program. With the emrgence of radio ad recordings, there were also new norms for performance and how composers related to their audience--something felt in other countries with other forms of government. A couple of other recommendations: "The Rest is Noise," by Alex Ross; "Thelonious Monk" by Robin Kelley. I know that Monk is usually found in the "jazz" section, but Kelley's book is a great description of how a new style builds on musical foundations, as well as the social context of developing as a composer and relating to an audience. There's a tendency to pigeonhole Monk as a single phase of jazz with limied appeal and duration, but it says a lot about the nature of American art music.
Excellent suggestions Dave - thank you! I'd like to also mention Norman Del Mar's excellent three-volume work on the life and music of Richard Strauss - an authoritative study if ever there was one.
I read it listening to each of the works he discussed in turn. Finding the recordings for a lot of the more obscure music back then was no easy task. It's much easier now. His analyses of things like identifying bar by bar all of the self-quotations in Heldenleben is great fun.
I met Charles Rosen at 2 different seminars in 1973. He said that he was interested in a lot of things in addition to music and that he had a doctorate in French literature. Someone asked him why he did that and he said "relaxation." Afterwards I asked him to sign my copy of The Classical Style. He said "Oh you have the hard cover copy. The new paperback edition has new material that's not in this one." Thanks Charlie. I am currently reading "FRYDERYK CHOPIN: A Life and Times" by Alan Walker. Fantastic!
Great video! I can't possibly read even half of them, and it will be hard to choose. I have two volumes of Taruskin's essays, and the one that floored me is titled "Of Kings and Divas" about the milieu and practices of French Baroque opera, including William Christie's essential role in its revival. That essay is found in the volume titled--try not to roll your eyes--"The Danger of Music, and Other Anti-Utopian Essays." I have two of his half dozen or so volumes, and they are fun to dip into.
For Klemperer fans, I can also recommend his own book, "Klemperer on Music - Shavings from a Musician's Workbench." It is a compilation of his writings on a range of musical topics that is quite interesting and informative.
I love Mr Hurwitz’s Unlocking the Masters series books, particularly the ones on Dvorak, Haydn, and Bernstein. Very helpful and well organized. I also appreciate the larger font size for easier reading. 😊
Such a great list, and I can’t wait to read the Galina after having read Testimony. Couldn’t agree more about Berlioz, a book that had me on the floor (only Myra Breckenridge and Pale Fire hold the same honor). Music in European Capitals sounds like The Classical Style: The Rest of the Story, and I’m going to read that too. Thanks for these Recommendations! PS, More specialized, but Offenbach’s book on his trip to America is also hilarious - spot-on observations of our country that hold true today.
Dave, I gotta give a shout out for Karajan: A Life in Music by Richard Osbourne (my first music bio and I loved it and I'm not even a musician!). Also the Berlioz one by David Cairns. And then there are the two great Beethoven bios by Jan Swafford and Jan Caeyers. Plus John Elliot Gardiner's Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven! Perhaps you should start a new series...so many great books. :) PS: I also loved Bryan McGee's Tristan Chord (I may have spent more time with that book than Wagner's actual music. LOL!)
Seems like a great list! Not really classical music related, but I recenly read Miles Davis's autobiography, and it was a fantastic read. I also really love The Real Frank Zappa Book, which is half autobiography, and half FZ talking about politics and various opinions he has.
I thoroughly enjoyed this video, as I also love to read about music as well as to hear it. I would like to suggest that you do a video on "10 Terrific Composer Biographies." I and I believe other fans of your work would enjoy hearing your thoughts about such books as Jan Swafford's biographies of Brahms and Ives, Robert W. Gutman's biography of Wagner, Howard Pollack's biography of Copland, Brian Newbould's biography of Schubert, Maynard Solomon's biography of Beethoven, Jacques Barzun's biography of Berlioz, to name just the ones I've read and enjoyed.
Thanks so much. Very welcome! My personal additions: Carl Nielsen, My Childhood; Victor Gollancz, Journey Towards Music; Robin Holloway, On Music. Two autobiographies and a collection of essays and reviews. To which add: anything by Joseph Kerman, especially Opera as Drama, and the collection Opera and the Morbidity of Music. Eduard Hanslick, Music Criticisms 1846-99, is bracing for anyone, especially Wagnerites.
I loved Harvey Sachs' "Ten Masterpieces of Music", which presents ten great works from Mozart through Stravinsky, giving brief histories of each work and its composer while analyzing why each work is a masterpiece. Each work gets about 30 pages, which allows for enough detail, given that only one work is described at a time, but also makes for a quick and engaging read.
@@ldhdjzjjaklzjdbd6610 Mozart Piano Concerto 17 Beethoven Archduke Trio Schubert String Quartet 15 Schumann Dichterliebe Berlioz The Damnation of Faust Verdi Don Carlo Brahms String Quintet 2 Sibelius Symphony 4 Prokofiev Sonata 8 Stravinsky Requiem Canticles
Mozart Piano Concerto 17 Beethoven Archduke Trio Schubert String Quartet 15 Schumann Dichterliebe Berlioz The Damnation of Faust Verdi Don Carlo Brahms String Quintet 2 Sibelius Symphony 4 Prokofiev Sonata 8 Stravinsky Requiem Canticles
One of my favorite books about classical music is "Agitato" by Jerome Toobin. It's about the attempt by NBC Symphony musicians to continue as a cooperative orchestra, "The Symphony of the Air," after Toscanini retired and NBC fired them in 1954. Toobin was their manager for several years until they ran out of money in 1963. He describes encounters with the likes of Stokowski, Bernstein, Callas, Beecham, Cantelli and others that you won't read elsewhere. There are a few he describes but doesn't name, such as "a famous violinist" who must be Isaac Stern. Toobin, whose son Jeffrey is also a noted author, has a breezy, charming style that could easily have descended into cynicism and regret, but is entertaining and informative throughout.
I was only familiar with the Berlioz - thanks for the rest! I'd add Rimsky-Korsakov's My Musical Life, which beautifully evokes pre-revolutionary Russia and St Petersburg musical culture of the time and contains wonderful portraits of Balakirev, Cesar Cui, Modest Mussorgsky and Alexander Borodin (the group of composers, together with Rimsky, known as 'The Five'). The one I'm reading at the moment, I picked up secondhand on Ravel (by Vladimir Jakelevitch) - you have to contend with occasionally fussy prose, but it has some fantastic insights and interesting illustrations.
I've read your absorbing book on Sibelius. (It took a while for me to realize that the book's author is indeed the entertaining and erudite personage on these videos...)
Some great reading in this list - and in these comments, too! While there's a bit of me that thinks that writing about music is like dancing about architecture, I still have lots of music books. Go figure. I'd also plug "The Great Pianists" by Harold Schoenberg, which does what it says on the cover. If you're a piano lover and want to know how piano style evolved and who its major practitioners were, this is the book for you. Another book I love is Norman del Mar's book on "Anatomy of the Orchestra", which is a guide to orchestral instruments and repertoire. For me it's an indispensable aid to listening to the orchestra, picking who is playing what and why musicians do what they do on stage (all that valve emptying by the horns! And why is that timpanist always checking their timps?) Finally Paul Kildea's biography of Benjamin Britten which does something rare in my experience: most biographies try to get past childhood and adolescence quickly, because it's rather dull stuff, but Kildea paints a fascinating picture of Britten's youth.
Thanks for this interesting list! I would like to recommend "Music, Wit, and Wisdom - The Autobiography of Artur Schnabel", which is an edited transcript of twelve talks about music and his own life, given at the Uni of Chicago in 1945. It may be because I'm into the mystics of old pianism that I like it so much, though.. Anyway,Schnabel comes across as an interesting character.
Thanks Dave. Being bookish myself I’ve read some of these, including the Budden and the Walker Liszt bio (what a remarkable person!) and the Heartz (although I’m personally not so fond of his style). The Rosen book(and the Romantic Geration, which taught me a lot) yeah, I see what you’re saying, it’s very concentrated but hey, if I hadn’t read it I’d probably not have focused on Haydn’s Op 33 quartets or certain bits of Don Giovanni they way I did! The others all sound fun/ interesting. Of course I read others and have some good ones, but in this context nothing to add.
I've read exactly half your list. I guess I have some homework to do 📚. I strongly endorse your choices among the ones I've read. When I was in college I used to study, read, and even write papers with classical and opera blasting on headphones. I came through just fine but I could never multitask like that now and hope to do justice to either the reading or the music. Though I admit to sometimes thinking about other things during expo or menuetto repeats, even with the score in front of me. (Gossett rebukes not just Sills but conductors like Muti who, despite his high opinion of his own scholarly bona fides, made some very wrong choices and decisions when he did Ernani.)
Cheers. I'll check some of them out. Currently, my fav is "Wondrous Strange: The Life and Art of Glenn Gould" by Kevin Bazzana. How could a book about GG not totally engrossing? I also enjoyed "The Maestro Myth" by Norman Lebrecht. It was bit of a hoot.
Multitasker! Lol. I wonder what you thought of De La Grange's books on Mahler. ? I read the first but couldn't find the second volume. I remember his use of the word "protean". He used it alot.
I would offer "Music, the Arts, and Ideas" by Leonard B. Meyer. I don’t know if ill ever be smart enough to get my mind around all his brilliance. He did predict the situation of multiple styles of music becoming the norm rather than a single dominant one. He also has an essay in one of his other collections where he takes about 60 pages to explain why the Trio section of the Mozart Great G-minor Symphony is so perfect. Charles Rosen on stilts.
What Dave says about Budden's extraordinary, monumental series "The Operas of Giuseppe Verdi, " is as content as books themselves . I have read then, reread' em ! Excuse immodesty here : I can declare this as the ultimate Verdian, these books will enhance and edify anyone's already over the top enthusiasm for Italy's greatest composer
Music for Silenced Voices by Wendy Lesser.: a discussion of Shostakovich's string quartets in a biographical framework. Franz Werfel: Verdi. Fiction but marvelous. Vivian Perl's oral history of Aaron Copland. J.W. Sullivan: Beethoven, his spiritual development (an oldie but goodie), Reading Jazz (great compilation of essays),.
I’d recommend “Charles Ives: A Life with Music” by Jan Swafford. He also has great biographies of Brahms and Beethoven. I’m currently making my way through his most recent biography of Mozart. He’s not just an author, but a composer as well so it’s a very interesting read from that perspective.
His Brahms biography is full of inaccuracies about his early years, and I found the Beethoven kind of annoying in its descriptions of some of the music. They are certainly not "great" biographies.
I also recommend that and, as an adjunct, Reflections on Toscanini; also Sach's Music in Fascist Italy. Nobody reading that one will ever regard Stravinsky in the same light as man, if not artist.
A very different book which I am currently reading is "This is Your Brain on Music" by Daniel Levitin. Levitin is a neuroscientist and he explains a lot about what your brain does while it listens to music, drawing on examples from a very wide range of genres (plenty of classical references ). I can also recommend the Mahler Biography by Jens Matte Fischer, and perhaps more importantly, I can recommend you don't read the Mahler "biography" by Norman Lebrecht (I regret wasting my time on that one). Also, The Indispensable Composers by former NY Times classical music critic Anthony Tommasini (heavy on opera composers). I also greatly enjoyed Sibelius Orchestral Works: An Owner's Manual (Unlocking the Masters) by some guy called David Hurwitz, whoever he is:). I hope to read more stuff by that guy. Also, a very different book, but Keith Richards memoir is quite entertaining and the one by Elvis Costello is too long, but will take you through more or less the entire history of 2oth century western popular song. I can also recommend, for an enjoyable read, but one that should be taken in smallish doses, the frequently hilarious "Lexicon of Musical Invective" by Nicholas Slonimsky (a book of insult quotes ... it's like of Don Rickles only ever did standup about classical composer). Finally, I've got Oliver Sacks' Musicophilia waiting on my bookshelf to be read, and I'm already assuming it's going to be good.
May I suggest The Business of Music by Ernst Roth. He was the music publisher first of Universal Edition and later Boosey and Hawkes. I read this when new in 1969, but remember it well.
The Death of David Debrizzi, by Paul Micou. Hilarious, witty, farcical. Extremely well-written novel. With descriptions of fictional music that you can HEAR!
If you want Alma Mahler's biography, why not start with Alma Mahler herself? Mein Leben (don't know how the title was translated into English. Just My Life maybe?) is a collection that she herself wrote that consists of musings about her past interspersed with fragments from her diary. There's remarkable little about Gustav Mahler in it given how little he was actually part of her married life, but it is interesting to see her navigate that central European cultural landscape and personal relationships with artists of all kind - Bruno Walter, Alban Berg, Gustav Mahler, the artist Oskar Kokoshka, author Franz Werfel, and many more - her family life, relationship with her children, opinions about art and music (e.g. she seems unable to fall in love with a person if she does not like their art, and seems to regularly fall in love with someone *because* of their art), the politics of the day that she had to navigate... It's not that long (less than 400 pages including notes in the German edition) and very accessibly written.
hello mr hurwitz. some books in french on music that have fascinated me a lot over the years. 1. glenn gould ( kevin bazzana) 2. beethoven ( jean et brigitte massin) 3.notes ( claude gingras 2 vol) 4.ravel ( marcel marnat) 5. HAYDN ( MARC VIGNAL) 6.ravel ( helene jourdan morhange) 7.vivaldi ( marcel marnat) 8. berlioz ( memoires) 9. history of music ( emile villermoz) 10.mozart ( brigitte massin) 11. alfred cortot ( antoine golea) 12. bach and his time ( gilles cantagrel ) and for reference...... 13. guide to symphonic music, organ, piano chamber music etc (francois rene tranchefort, fayard) and the last one....... 14. all the opera ( gustave kobbé) and there are some other..........
I must add (if you can find it and you have any interest in Wagner) that 'Wagner as Man and Artist' by the great English critic Ernest Newman is another terrific musical book. I think this is because of Newman's sound intellect and trenchant style over this odious man/masterly composer-a style that reminds me of Dave here on this site!
As 4 of my 10 are on Dave's list (Vishnevskaya, Rosen, Budden, Taruskin) , my list will be shorter. Berlioz 2 vols (David Cairns) Memoirs (Hector Berlioz) Gustav Mahler 4 vols (Henry-Louis de La Grange) an inexcusable number of typos in the English version, but an amazing amount of information Mozart's Operas (Daniel Heartz) Musorgsky (Richard Taruskin) Unfinished Journey (Yehudi Menuhin)
and not to forget Alan Walker's CHOPIN book. Could NOT put it down. And re-read it twice. There are also on RUclips lots of his Chopin talks. Highly recommended.
Oh, and Alan Walker's Chopin biography is enlightening. He knows how significant and helpful Chopin's uncompleted piano method would have been...that's just one facet.
When I was a kid in the late 80s/early 90s, I came across this book in my local library. It was a guide to descriptions of various composers' styles & their works. At the bottom of each entry, there was a "if you like this, you'll probably like that" sorta thing. The book was pretty remedial, but it turned me on to out-of-the-way composers like Bax & Walton. I realize that this isn't much to go on, but if anyone knows what book this is, I'd love to know. Thanks!
A different kind of book I am reading seems to have many illuminating insights into composers creativity, and even early instruments is the novel "Doctor Faustus" by Thomas Mann. The teachers of the fictional composer Adrian LeverKuehn have an almost Hurwitizan grasp of the wide pallet and appreciation of composers of every period (at least through the romantic period). I infer from the novel that the modern English horn was a revival of a baroque instrument during the 19th century to enable Bach scores to be played as are (I think) the piccolo trumpet--both of which have essential roles in the Rite of Spring.
Thanks a million. Now I have to buy more books and those I already have outweigh the house. If you ever bring out a second list may I put up for consideration two books that probably lie at opposite ends of any self respecting spectrum. Bryan Magee's Aspects of Wagner says the most about the biggest in the shortest and most cogent and lucid boof of all the books on Wagner. And if you don't fancy the heights then go for the depths: Peter Schickele's biography of PDQ Bach (the last and least of Bach's sons). What can I say except I embarrassed myself all over London because I chose to read it on public transport .
I suspect that some basic knowledge in musicology or musical theory is mandatory for getting into the book suggestions. Are there useful book suggestions for that as well?
I'm going to propose some of these books (the ones originally written in English) to publishing houses for translation into Spanish. They might give them to someone else, but I've got to give it a try regardless. The 3 volumes of Verd...i I'll pass on those. I really don't care much for Verdi and 3 volumes would be far more than I could stomach.
AND...the sequel by Rubinstein, "My Many Years". BIg yes on Gary Graffman's "I Really Should Be Practicing"; Jane Glover's "Mozart's Women"; Leon Fleisher's memoir is good too, especially because he doesn't hesitate to enumerate his own failings. I enjoyed Eileen Farrell's "Can't Help Singing", too. Not forgetting Arthur Loesser's "Men, Women, and Pianos".
If you’re ever interested in fiction with a classical music theme I’d like to recommend two, both by the much lauded author Richard Powers-“The Time of Our Singing” and “Orfeo”. Both are incredibly well written novels with some of the most beautiful, lyrical prose that so well describes the life of the books’ musician protagonists.
@@AlanDaNiao Yes, the same author. Both my recommendations are quite different, from “Goldbug” them having a much more straightforward narrative, and again beautifully descriptive writing. Of the two, I’d probably recommend “The Time of Our Singing” to start with. Just the chapter on Marian Anderson’s concert at the Lincoln Memorial is worth the price of the book.
I recommend Bernard Jacobson's book, The Music of Johannes Brahms. Less a biography but a wonderful examination of Brahms' operation and how the music works. Not too technical for the general reader.
Thanks Dave, a compelling list, especially the Budden, a classic of its kind.
Budden's Puccini is excellent as well. Detailed blow by blow analyses and helpful in disentangling the different versions of Edgar and Rondine.
One book that came out fairly recently which I couldn’t put down was Alex Ross’s “The Rest is Noise” which essentially covers the major composers of the 20th century but succeeds surprisingly well for such an ambitious undertaking - wondered if you had ever picked that one up.
Yes for sure, I second that choice as an addition to any must read book list...I couldn't put it down either. It starts with Richard Strauss and Mahler and goes all the way up to the modern day Minimalist and spectralist movements...an excellent overview of the 20th Century and for anyone not as familiar with that time period, The Rest is Noise is the perfect place to start
@@ericleiter6179 A third yay for Ross' book. I've read a lot less about music than I've meant to, but of the little I have, Ross is my favorite writer on music.
I’m reading that now and loving it. It’s slow going though because I keep stopping to listen to the pieces he discusses.
Yes, this book is excellent. Another one I just finished reading is Alex Ross's collection of articles/essays "Listen to This." Definitely worth the read if you enjoy the way Ross writes, like I do.
Agree wholeheartedly! This one is always at the top of my list when I'm asked to recommend books on music. He also wrote "Wagnerism" which is great if you're (like me) a Wagnerite - but it does make all Wagner's followers sound completely crazy...
Galina is a tremendous book. I was working in a bookstore in Beverly Hills - on Rodeo Dr - when Galina came out. I helped make Galina a limited bestseller. The publisher sent me a copy which included Vishnevskaya’s dedication and signature. Galina is a great autobiography and a worthy addition to Russian history and literature.
@@murrayaronson3753 Galina Vishnevskaya is one of my favorite artists. I also have a signed copy of her autobiography. What a treasure. I'd like to find the Studs Terkel show where he interviews her about it.
Studs Terkel’s interview with Galina Vishnevskaya. First I’ve heard of this. Thank you.
Dave: You are a fantastic teacher. I am not even a musician (retired Biology professor).....but I enjoyed every word of this presentatíon and wish I could read all ten of these books!!!
What a great video, Dave. Thank you so much. You encompass some I've read and love (Budden, Gossett), some I've been meaning to forever (Heyworth) and some I've been totally unaware of but definitely need to read (Ruzickova). Thanks so much. Wesley
Phil Gossett was great. He was a friend of mine, always available for questions and I was privileged to do the "Malibran" I Puritani with him as a US premiere, other projects that ended with our last "La Donna del Lago" in Santa Fe. Supportive, loving, smart and, truly, a man who CARED. I was so sad when he got sick but he was completely optimistic and realistic to the end. RIP
I swing through the Schoenberg Music Building at UCLA every morning when I drop my daughter off for school because professors discard surplus books, CDs, and scores. Just this week, in addition to biographies of Delius, Ruth Crawford Seeger, and Sir Charles Mackerras, and the scores of the complete Ravel works for solo piano, I also got the Charles Rosen book you just reviewed! I'm getting a much better music education pawing through these discards than I got from U.C. Riverside!
Yes, Galina has always been one of my favorite books. Would also recommend The Art of the Piano, Evenings with Horowitz and The Essential Canon of Classical Music, all by David Dubal. In addition, The Maestro Myth by Norman Lebrecht, Shoot the Conductor by Anshel Brusilow and Conducting Opera: Where Theater Meets Music, by Joseph Rescigno.
Thanks Dave. My step-great grandfather gifted me a first edition of Alfred Einstein’s ‘Mozart: His Character and Work’ when I was about 10. It’s taken me DECADES to simply open it but boy, have I been glad that I finally did! It isn’t a standard music bio in any ordinary/chronological sense. Einstein is primarily interested in the composer’s music and his influences, yet he manages to make his investigation oddly compelling. I recently discovered that until recent scholarship it was a kind of reference work on Mozart. Thanks again!
I’d add “Conversations with Arrau” to the list. Rich with insight.
I owe you thanks. I had never heard of Zuzana Ruzickova until I watched this post. I went to the RUclips documentary immediately and will get the book. What a story, and after all that she rebuilt her technique. And...amazingly...she refused to hate. Moving and inspiring. Thanks again. You did me a favor by bringing her to my attention. David Snyder
A great list from Dave - I will have to find myself a copy of ‘Evenings with the Orchestra’. Of his list, the Klemperer biography is unbeatable: couldn’t put it down. My own list of favourites would also include Poulenc’s little biography of Chabrier, ‘Putting the Record Straight’ by John Culshaw, ‘Music Ho!’ by Constant Lambert, Nigel Simeone and John Tyrrell’s book on Charles Mackerras and James Blades’ ‘Drum Roll’.
For lovers of classical vocal art, John Steane's The Grand Tradition, covering singers on record from the late 19th century through the 1970s, is still practically definitive. You don't have to agree with all of its judgments to find it incredibly illuminating and informative.
Thank you for the Vishnevskaya and Ruzickova recommendations - definite must-gets. And especially for the Heartz. I've been wanting a detailed Galant history for years. I've read the Walker Liszt biog 3 times and still haven't had enough. I also love his two other books about Liszt - his translation of the Lina Schmalhausen dairy detailing Liszt's death finally banished any respect I had for Cosima once and for all. A couple of fabulously stimulating books I particularly love are Glenda Dawn Goss's 'Sibelius: A Composer's Life and the Awakening of Finland', and Imogen Holst's 'The Music of Gustav Holst'. Imogen is not only the most qualified guide to her dad's music, but also it's most ruthless critic!
It's like you read my mind. I thought of requesting this list.
I do have another request: essential classical guitar pieces.
I'm a beginner classical music fan and I LOVE your beginner's lists.
Today I'm at the essential choral works and I loved Lord Nelson's Mass!
Thank you!
PS
Please use more yiddish words in your videos. I live in Holland and they sound familiar.
Taruskin's 2-volume Stravinsky book is daunting, but it reads like a Russian novel. Basically anything he wrote is worth reading, even if you disagree with it. And I am so happy to see Dan Heartz's book on the list. Beautifully written and beautifully designed book--and part of a trilogy.
For light enjoyment I just love “No Minor Chords” by Andre Previn. Will keep you laughing throughout.
Thanks for introducing a few books I didn't know. Have just ordered Budden 3 and Gosset
Ha, Dave, I do the exact same thing! It’s either tune out the music for the book, or stare at a single word while entranced by the music. I own a copy of Music Through the Ages, in an attempt to learn more of the technical aspects of music. Now I have ten more books to learn from and enjoy, so thank you!
" writing about music is like dancing about architecture " I 'm not sure who said that but they were wrong. I love reading about music. One of my favorites is Nicolas Slonimsky's Lexicon of Musical Invective, a collection of critics slamming the standard repertoire.
Thanks, Dave. A lot of homework to read here. A future post could deal with movies about musicians' and composers' lives. I have always thought that, leaving aside the blockbuster Amadeus, there haven't been that many major succesful films based on musicians' lives. And God knows that they could provide very juicy matter for movies.
Thanks; I rejoice to concur with your selections I have read( especially Rosen) and will put the Stravinsky and Klemperer books on my One of These Days list.
The Glenn Gould reader is a favourite of mine. I read it when at uni. I clicked with GG over his mozart skepticism and aversion to beethoven 5 pc. Also Nathan Milstein's memoirs are a fascinating read.
I devoured all Rosen's books, even the one on Schoenberg, but "The Classical Style" remains a kind of compass. I wasn't 12 years old when I read it, but I was lucky to have read it when I was in a community orchestra playing a number of the works discussed.
I have some reservations about Volkov's book. Even if quoted accurately, some of the composer's extra-musical characterizations of his music seem questionable--that being the nature of such characterizations. I have not read "Galina," but I would agree the attitude reflected in "Testimony" is fairly credible, and fairly consistent with what comes across in Elizabeth Wilson's book on Shostakovich, "A LIfe Remembered." In Russia, especially in St. Petersburg-Petrograd-Leningrad, there was a certain continuity from pre-revolutionary avant-garde to post-revolutionary avant-garde, which is not to be confused with "socialist realism." This was the main foundation for Shostakovich's music up to the 4th Symphony. At this pivotal point, Shostakovich didn't totally break with his past, bt there were extreme political pressures to get with Stalin's program. With the emrgence of radio ad recordings, there were also new norms for performance and how composers related to their audience--something felt in other countries with other forms of government.
A couple of other recommendations:
"The Rest is Noise," by Alex Ross;
"Thelonious Monk" by Robin Kelley.
I know that Monk is usually found in the "jazz" section, but Kelley's book is a great description of how a new style builds on musical foundations, as well as the social context of developing as a composer and relating to an audience. There's a tendency to pigeonhole Monk as a single phase of jazz with limied appeal and duration, but it says a lot about the nature of American art music.
Excellent suggestions Dave - thank you! I'd like to also mention Norman Del Mar's excellent three-volume work on the life and music of Richard Strauss - an authoritative study if ever there was one.
I wasn't too impressed with that one.
I read it listening to each of the works he discussed in turn. Finding the recordings for a lot of the more obscure music back then was no easy task. It's much easier now. His analyses of things like identifying bar by bar all of the self-quotations in Heldenleben is great fun.
I met Charles Rosen at 2 different seminars in 1973. He said that he was interested in a lot of things in addition to music and that he had a doctorate in French literature. Someone asked him why he did that and he said "relaxation." Afterwards I asked him to sign my copy of The Classical Style. He said "Oh you have the hard cover copy. The new paperback edition has new material that's not in this one." Thanks Charlie. I am currently reading "FRYDERYK CHOPIN: A Life and Times" by Alan Walker. Fantastic!
Big thanks for this survey-one of Dave's all time best! My New York Public Library and Amazon lists have just doubled in length.
Glad it was helpful!
Great video! I can't possibly read even half of them, and it will be hard to choose. I have two volumes of Taruskin's essays, and the one that floored me is titled "Of Kings and Divas" about the milieu and practices of French Baroque opera, including William Christie's essential role in its revival. That essay is found in the volume titled--try not to roll your eyes--"The Danger of Music, and Other Anti-Utopian Essays." I have two of his half dozen or so volumes, and they are fun to dip into.
For Klemperer fans, I can also recommend his own book, "Klemperer on Music - Shavings from a Musician's Workbench." It is a compilation of his writings on a range of musical topics that is quite interesting and informative.
I love Mr Hurwitz’s Unlocking the Masters series books, particularly the ones on Dvorak, Haydn, and Bernstein. Very helpful and well organized. I also appreciate the larger font size for easier reading. 😊
Such a great list, and I can’t wait to read the Galina after having read Testimony. Couldn’t agree more about Berlioz, a book that had me on the floor (only Myra Breckenridge and Pale Fire hold the same honor). Music in European Capitals sounds like The Classical Style: The Rest of the Story, and I’m going to read that too. Thanks for these Recommendations!
PS, More specialized, but Offenbach’s book on his trip to America is also hilarious - spot-on observations of our country that hold true today.
Dave, I gotta give a shout out for Karajan: A Life in Music by Richard Osbourne (my first music bio and I loved it and I'm not even a musician!). Also the Berlioz one by David Cairns. And then there are the two great Beethoven bios by Jan Swafford and Jan Caeyers. Plus John Elliot Gardiner's Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven! Perhaps you should start a new series...so many great books. :) PS: I also loved Bryan McGee's Tristan Chord (I may have spent more time with that book than Wagner's actual music. LOL!)
Seems like a great list! Not really classical music related, but I recenly read Miles Davis's autobiography, and it was a fantastic read. I also really love The Real Frank Zappa Book, which is half autobiography, and half FZ talking about politics and various opinions he has.
@djbabymode yeah the Real Frank Zappa book is fantastic and absolutely hilarious at times...the modern equivalent of the Berlioz book IMO
I thoroughly enjoyed this video, as I also love to read about music as well as to hear it. I would like to suggest that you do a video on "10 Terrific Composer Biographies." I and I believe other fans of your work would enjoy hearing your thoughts about such books as Jan Swafford's biographies of Brahms and Ives, Robert W. Gutman's biography of Wagner, Howard Pollack's biography of Copland, Brian Newbould's biography of Schubert, Maynard Solomon's biography of Beethoven, Jacques Barzun's biography of Berlioz, to name just the ones I've read and enjoyed.
I think you just took care of that for me, although as I've said elsewhere in these comments, I'm not a fan of Swafford's Brahms (or his Beethoven).
Thanks so much. Very welcome! My personal additions: Carl Nielsen, My Childhood; Victor Gollancz, Journey Towards Music; Robin Holloway, On Music. Two autobiographies and a collection of essays and reviews. To which add: anything by Joseph Kerman, especially Opera as Drama, and the collection Opera and the Morbidity of Music. Eduard Hanslick, Music Criticisms 1846-99, is bracing for anyone, especially Wagnerites.
I loved Harvey Sachs' "Ten Masterpieces of Music", which presents ten great works from Mozart through Stravinsky, giving brief histories of each work and its composer while analyzing why each work is a masterpiece. Each work gets about 30 pages, which allows for enough detail, given that only one work is described at a time, but also makes for a quick and engaging read.
Which pieces does he choose?
@@ldhdjzjjaklzjdbd6610 Mozart Piano Concerto 17, Beethoven Archduke Trio, Schubert String Quartet 15, Schumann Dichterliebe, Berlioz Damnation of Faust, Verdi Don Carlo, Brahms String Quintet 2, Sibelius Symphony 4, Prokofiev Sonata 8, Stravinsky Requiem Canticles
@@ldhdjzjjaklzjdbd6610
Mozart Piano Concerto 17
Beethoven Archduke Trio
Schubert String Quartet 15
Schumann Dichterliebe
Berlioz The Damnation of Faust
Verdi Don Carlo
Brahms String Quintet 2
Sibelius Symphony 4
Prokofiev Sonata 8
Stravinsky Requiem Canticles
Mozart Piano Concerto 17
Beethoven Archduke Trio
Schubert String Quartet 15
Schumann Dichterliebe
Berlioz The Damnation of Faust
Verdi Don Carlo
Brahms String Quintet 2
Sibelius Symphony 4
Prokofiev Sonata 8
Stravinsky Requiem Canticles
@@mpmternst awesome thank you
Wonderful!
Pleased to say I read the Heyworth biography of Klemperer at your recommendation last year. Thanks!
Great list 👍🏼 My all time favorite book is William Austin’s ‘Music in the 20th Century’. I know you’ll understand, Maestro Dave. 🙏🏼
One of my favorite books about classical music is "Agitato" by Jerome Toobin. It's about the attempt by NBC Symphony musicians to continue as a cooperative orchestra, "The Symphony of the Air," after Toscanini retired and NBC fired them in 1954. Toobin was their manager for several years until they ran out of money in 1963. He describes encounters with the likes of Stokowski, Bernstein, Callas, Beecham, Cantelli and others that you won't read elsewhere. There are a few he describes but doesn't name, such as "a famous violinist" who must be Isaac Stern. Toobin, whose son Jeffrey is also a noted author, has a breezy, charming style that could easily have descended into cynicism and regret, but is entertaining and informative throughout.
My recommendation: Indivisible by Four, by Arnold Steinhardt (of the Guarneri Quartet).
I was only familiar with the Berlioz - thanks for the rest! I'd add Rimsky-Korsakov's My Musical Life, which beautifully evokes pre-revolutionary Russia and St Petersburg musical culture of the time and contains wonderful portraits of Balakirev, Cesar Cui, Modest Mussorgsky and Alexander Borodin (the group of composers, together with Rimsky, known as 'The Five').
The one I'm reading at the moment, I picked up secondhand on Ravel (by Vladimir Jakelevitch) - you have to contend with occasionally fussy prose, but it has some fantastic insights and interesting illustrations.
I've read your absorbing book on Sibelius. (It took a while for me to realize that the book's author is indeed the entertaining and erudite personage on these videos...)
Thank you!
It is more or less impossible to recommend Galina enough. What a story!
James Hepokoski’s book on Sibelius’ 5th, a really excellent analysis of the symphony in particular and Sibelius’ approach to form in general.
Fanrastic, informative video! Would second an earlier recommendation regarding John Steane's The Record of Singing.
Some great reading in this list - and in these comments, too! While there's a bit of me that thinks that writing about music is like dancing about architecture, I still have lots of music books. Go figure.
I'd also plug "The Great Pianists" by Harold Schoenberg, which does what it says on the cover. If you're a piano lover and want to know how piano style evolved and who its major practitioners were, this is the book for you.
Another book I love is Norman del Mar's book on "Anatomy of the Orchestra", which is a guide to orchestral instruments and repertoire. For me it's an indispensable aid to listening to the orchestra, picking who is playing what and why musicians do what they do on stage (all that valve emptying by the horns! And why is that timpanist always checking their timps?)
Finally Paul Kildea's biography of Benjamin Britten which does something rare in my experience: most biographies try to get past childhood and adolescence quickly, because it's rather dull stuff, but Kildea paints a fascinating picture of Britten's youth.
Pride of place on my shelf: the four-volume biography of Mahler by Henry-Louis de la Grange.
Thanks for this interesting list! I would like to recommend "Music, Wit, and Wisdom - The Autobiography of Artur Schnabel", which is an edited transcript of twelve talks about music and his own life, given at the Uni of Chicago in 1945. It may be because I'm into the mystics of old pianism that I like it so much, though.. Anyway,Schnabel comes across as an interesting character.
Thanks Dave. Being bookish myself I’ve read some of these, including the Budden and the Walker Liszt bio (what a remarkable person!) and the Heartz (although I’m personally not so fond of his style). The Rosen book(and the Romantic Geration, which taught me a lot) yeah, I see what you’re saying, it’s very concentrated but hey, if I hadn’t read it I’d probably not have focused on Haydn’s Op 33 quartets or certain bits of Don Giovanni they way I did! The others all sound fun/ interesting. Of course I read others and have some good ones, but in this context nothing to add.
I've read exactly half your list. I guess I have some homework to do 📚. I strongly endorse your choices among the ones I've read. When I was in college I used to study, read, and even write papers with classical and opera blasting on headphones. I came through just fine but I could never multitask like that now and hope to do justice to either the reading or the music. Though I admit to sometimes thinking about other things during expo or menuetto repeats, even with the score in front of me.
(Gossett rebukes not just Sills but conductors like Muti who, despite his high opinion of his own scholarly bona fides, made some very wrong choices and decisions when he did Ernani.)
Cheers. I'll check some of them out. Currently, my fav is "Wondrous Strange: The Life and Art of Glenn Gould" by Kevin Bazzana. How could a book about GG not totally engrossing? I also enjoyed "The Maestro Myth" by Norman Lebrecht. It was bit of a hoot.
A list of the Best movies on Classical musicians, please. I am hooked on Amadeus.
I'd bought the Ruzickova book before you'd even finished talking about it!
I've had Walker's bio of Chopin on my to-read pile for a while. Your praise of his writing is nudging me to get to it.
Multitasker! Lol. I wonder what you thought of De La Grange's books on Mahler. ? I read the first but couldn't find the second volume. I remember his use of the word "protean". He used it alot.
I would offer "Music, the Arts, and Ideas" by Leonard B. Meyer. I don’t know if ill ever be smart enough to get my mind around all his brilliance. He did predict the situation of multiple styles of music becoming the norm rather than a single dominant one. He also has an essay in one of his other collections where he takes about 60 pages to explain why the Trio section of the Mozart Great G-minor Symphony is so perfect. Charles Rosen on stilts.
Anyone who takes 60 pages to explain why the Trio section of K. 550 is so great isn't smart at all.
I would also recommend the Alan Walker bio of Chopin. Wonderful book.
What Dave says about Budden's extraordinary, monumental series "The Operas of Giuseppe Verdi, " is as content as books themselves .
I have read then, reread' em !
Excuse immodesty here : I can declare this as the ultimate Verdian, these books will enhance and edify anyone's already over the top enthusiasm for Italy's greatest composer
Music for Silenced Voices by Wendy Lesser.: a discussion of Shostakovich's string quartets in a biographical framework. Franz Werfel: Verdi. Fiction but marvelous. Vivian Perl's oral history of Aaron Copland. J.W. Sullivan: Beethoven, his spiritual development (an oldie but goodie), Reading Jazz (great compilation of essays),.
I’d recommend “Charles Ives: A Life with Music” by Jan Swafford. He also has great biographies of Brahms and Beethoven. I’m currently making my way through his most recent biography of Mozart. He’s not just an author, but a composer as well so it’s a very interesting read from that perspective.
His Brahms biography is full of inaccuracies about his early years, and I found the Beethoven kind of annoying in its descriptions of some of the music. They are certainly not "great" biographies.
@@DavesClassicalGuidedo you have any thoughts on Roger Nichols’ “Poulenc: A Biography”?
My suggestion would be Toscanini: Musician of Conscience by Harvey Sachs. It gives great insight into the Italian musical scene in the last century.
I also recommend that and, as an adjunct, Reflections on Toscanini; also Sach's Music in Fascist Italy. Nobody reading that one will ever regard Stravinsky in the same light as man, if not artist.
A very different book which I am currently reading is "This is Your Brain on Music" by Daniel Levitin. Levitin is a neuroscientist and he explains a lot about what your brain does while it listens to music, drawing on examples from a very wide range of genres (plenty of classical references ). I can also recommend the Mahler Biography by Jens Matte Fischer, and perhaps more importantly, I can recommend you don't read the Mahler "biography" by Norman Lebrecht (I regret wasting my time on that one). Also, The Indispensable Composers by former NY Times classical music critic Anthony Tommasini (heavy on opera composers). I also greatly enjoyed Sibelius Orchestral Works: An Owner's Manual (Unlocking the Masters) by some guy called David Hurwitz, whoever he is:). I hope to read more stuff by that guy. Also, a very different book, but Keith Richards memoir is quite entertaining and the one by Elvis Costello is too long, but will take you through more or less the entire history of 2oth century western popular song. I can also recommend, for an enjoyable read, but one that should be taken in smallish doses, the frequently hilarious "Lexicon of Musical Invective" by Nicholas Slonimsky (a book of insult quotes ... it's like of Don Rickles only ever did standup about classical composer). Finally, I've got Oliver Sacks' Musicophilia waiting on my bookshelf to be read, and I'm already assuming it's going to be good.
May I suggest The Business of Music by Ernst Roth. He was the music publisher first of Universal Edition and later Boosey and Hawkes. I read this when new in 1969, but remember it well.
What about novels? Would love your picks.
The Death of David Debrizzi, by Paul Micou.
Hilarious, witty, farcical. Extremely well-written novel. With descriptions of fictional music that you can HEAR!
@@spencerburke It sounds like a great blend of imagination and humor! Thanks so much!
Thank you for the great recommendations! I want to find and read a good biography of Alma Mahler. Have you ever run across one?
If you want Alma Mahler's biography, why not start with Alma Mahler herself? Mein Leben (don't know how the title was translated into English. Just My Life maybe?) is a collection that she herself wrote that consists of musings about her past interspersed with fragments from her diary. There's remarkable little about Gustav Mahler in it given how little he was actually part of her married life, but it is interesting to see her navigate that central European cultural landscape and personal relationships with artists of all kind - Bruno Walter, Alban Berg, Gustav Mahler, the artist Oskar Kokoshka, author Franz Werfel, and many more - her family life, relationship with her children, opinions about art and music (e.g. she seems unable to fall in love with a person if she does not like their art, and seems to regularly fall in love with someone *because* of their art), the politics of the day that she had to navigate... It's not that long (less than 400 pages including notes in the German edition) and very accessibly written.
hello mr hurwitz.
some books in french on music that have fascinated me a lot over the years.
1. glenn gould ( kevin bazzana)
2. beethoven ( jean et brigitte massin)
3.notes ( claude gingras 2 vol)
4.ravel ( marcel marnat)
5. HAYDN ( MARC VIGNAL)
6.ravel ( helene jourdan morhange)
7.vivaldi ( marcel marnat)
8. berlioz ( memoires)
9. history of music ( emile villermoz)
10.mozart ( brigitte massin)
11. alfred cortot ( antoine golea)
12. bach and his time ( gilles cantagrel )
and for reference......
13. guide to symphonic music, organ, piano chamber music etc (francois rene tranchefort, fayard)
and the last one.......
14. all the opera ( gustave kobbé)
and there are some other..........
I must add (if you can find it and you have any interest in Wagner) that 'Wagner as Man and Artist' by the great English critic Ernest Newman is another terrific musical book. I think this is because of Newman's sound intellect and trenchant style over this odious man/masterly composer-a style that reminds me of Dave here on this site!
As 4 of my 10 are on Dave's list (Vishnevskaya, Rosen, Budden, Taruskin) , my list will be shorter.
Berlioz 2 vols (David Cairns)
Memoirs (Hector Berlioz)
Gustav Mahler 4 vols (Henry-Louis de La Grange) an inexcusable number of typos in the English version, but an amazing amount of information
Mozart's Operas (Daniel Heartz)
Musorgsky (Richard Taruskin)
Unfinished Journey (Yehudi Menuhin)
and not to forget Alan Walker's CHOPIN book. Could NOT put it down. And re-read it twice. There are also on RUclips lots of his Chopin talks. Highly recommended.
Oh, and Alan Walker's Chopin biography is enlightening. He knows how significant and helpful Chopin's uncompleted piano method would have been...that's just one facet.
When I was a kid in the late 80s/early 90s, I came across this book in my local library. It was a guide to descriptions of various composers' styles & their works. At the bottom of each entry, there was a "if you like this, you'll probably like that" sorta thing. The book was pretty remedial, but it turned me on to out-of-the-way composers like Bax & Walton. I realize that this isn't much to go on, but if anyone knows what book this is, I'd love to know. Thanks!
A different kind of book I am reading seems to have many illuminating insights into composers creativity, and even early instruments is the novel "Doctor Faustus" by Thomas Mann. The teachers of the fictional composer Adrian LeverKuehn have an almost Hurwitizan grasp of the wide pallet and appreciation of composers of every period (at least through the romantic period). I infer from the novel that the modern English horn was a revival of a baroque instrument during the 19th century to enable Bach scores to be played as are (I think) the piccolo trumpet--both of which have essential roles in the Rite of Spring.
Yes, an excellent read.
I can recommend also Alan Walker's more recent biography of Chopin!
Thanks a million. Now I have to buy more books and those I already have outweigh the house. If you ever bring out a second list may I put up for consideration two books that probably lie at opposite ends of any self respecting spectrum. Bryan Magee's Aspects of Wagner says the most about the biggest in the shortest and most cogent and lucid boof of all the books on Wagner. And if you don't fancy the heights then go for the depths: Peter Schickele's biography of PDQ Bach (the last and least of Bach's sons). What can I say except I embarrassed myself all over London because I chose to read it on public transport .
I cut my teeth, as a young man on "The Complete Stories of the Great Operas" by Milton Cross and Rudolf Bing's "5,000 Nights at the Opera.
The Ruzickova book is one of the most remarkable, moving and uplifting I've ever read.
I suspect that some basic knowledge in musicology or musical theory is mandatory for getting into the book suggestions. Are there useful book suggestions for that as well?
No, that is not necessary at all.
I'm going to propose some of these books (the ones originally written in English) to publishing houses for translation into Spanish. They might give them to someone else, but I've got to give it a try regardless. The 3 volumes of Verd...i I'll pass on those. I really don't care much for Verdi and 3 volumes would be far more than I could stomach.
How about Arthur Rubinstein “My Young Years” or David Dubal “Evenings with Horowitz” or Gary Graffman “I Really Should be Practicing”
All are real page turners. I’d also add Dubai’s “The Art of the Piano: It’s Performers, Literature, and Recordings.” A loaded 700-page compendium.
I love Evenings with Horowitz. I like going back to it every couple of years or so.
AND...the sequel by Rubinstein, "My Many Years". BIg yes on Gary Graffman's "I Really Should Be Practicing"; Jane Glover's "Mozart's Women"; Leon Fleisher's memoir is good too, especially because he doesn't hesitate to enumerate his own failings. I enjoyed Eileen Farrell's "Can't Help Singing", too. Not forgetting Arthur Loesser's "Men, Women, and Pianos".
If you’re ever interested in fiction with a classical music theme I’d like to recommend two, both by the much lauded author Richard Powers-“The Time of Our Singing” and “Orfeo”. Both are incredibly well written novels with some of the most beautiful, lyrical prose that so well describes the life of the books’ musician protagonists.
@@deirdre108 didn't he also write The Goldbug Variations? A fascinating but not exactly an easy read.
@@AlanDaNiao Yes, the same author. Both my recommendations are quite different, from “Goldbug” them having a much more straightforward narrative, and again beautifully descriptive writing. Of the two, I’d probably recommend “The Time of Our Singing” to start with. Just the chapter on Marian Anderson’s concert at the Lincoln Memorial is worth the price of the book.
Thanks for this impressive list of books Dave! I would like to ask you for a next time to suggest a biography of Dvorák and one of Brahms!
If it’s any help, and you don’t mind some notation, I like Malcolm Macdonald’s book on Brahms (Master Musician series).
I suggest Jan Swafford's biography of Brahms. I enjoyed every moment of it. Pleasurably readable.
Agreed! Love that book
I recommend Bernard Jacobson's book, The Music of Johannes Brahms. Less a biography but a wonderful examination of Brahms' operation and how the music works. Not too technical for the general reader.
Concerning Verdi and Wagner, I use to say: Wagner has the interest, Verdi has the love.