# Help narrowing down book selection!



## BBrown (Jul 6, 2011)

Hello, I'm a new member on this forum and was hoping for some help in narrowing down a couple of selections. I have read the sticky on books and have checked out a lot of them on Amazon, but not sure which book would fit best with what I'm looking for. I already have a fairly large selection of classical recordings, most on DVD-A and SACD picked from Gramophone choices and other places. What I'm looking for is a pretty comprehensive book (or textbook if need be) that goes into reasonable depth in analyzing what it is I'm listening to. For example, if I'm listening to a Brandenburg Concerto, I could flip to the pages that explain how it was constructed, instruments, what to listen for, interesting parts that I would otherwise have no idea is important etc. etc. I really enjoy putting on a piece and listening straight through, but I would almost like to "follow along" (not every measure of course) to really understand what it is that I'm experiencing. Hope that can narrow down the selections! Thanks in advance.


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## Jeremy Marchant (Mar 11, 2010)

Well, I certainly agree that the sort of analyses you're looking for are immensely valuable in learning more about the works discussed. There aren't many books which cover a variety of works by various composers. Also, I don't know what technical level you want. You could start with the six volumes of Donald Tovey's _Essays in musical analysis_ - which started off as concert programme notes. Don't expect any works written in the past 75 years to be discussed, though - the man died in 1940.

If you have a particular composer/genre in mind (eg Mozart piano concertos) you might get lucky.


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