# Classical music bible



## Schopenhauer (Jan 9, 2020)

Hello everyone,

Is there a book that covers all the classical music authors, their works and their best recordings? Something like Classical Music: The 50 Greatest Composers and Their 1, 000 Greatest Works by Phil G. Goulding but more extensive.


----------



## Vincent3 (Jan 22, 2020)

Penguin, Gramophone, and NPR have guides. Find one on Amazon, and you'll see plenty of alternatives as well.


----------



## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

_The Lives of the Great Composers_ by Harold C. Schonberg is a useful compendium of biographical material and provides the usual minimal listing of each composer's best-known works. Useful, but not perfect.


----------



## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

There's nothing that cover ALL classical composers. There are many fine books that cover the greatest and have a good balance of biographical information and cover the major works: the Milton Cross 2-volume set is well worth acquiring. But it has nothing about recordings, which are always changing. For my own purposes, outside of collecting a huge library of composer biographies, I like to use the Grove's encylopedias. I have three sets, Groves 3, 5, 6. Only for more modern and recent composers do I have to use Wikipedia. For recordings I have three primary sources: the aforementioned Penguin Guides, alas no longer being published. I have all of those, and the supplements from roughly 1975 to the end. Then there's the tremendous amount of information on Gramophone's website.

Some more recent composer biographies are also including recommended recordings as an addendum, admittedly which will be out of date as records enter and leave the market.


----------



## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

There's _The Rough Guide to Classical Music_. Covers about 200 composers, gives some biographical info and suggested works & recordings.


----------



## ManateeFL (Mar 9, 2017)

David Dubal's Essential Canon of Classical Music follows a similar format. It offers more extensive bios for about 75 composers and some information on and descriptions of their most essential compositions, as well as shorter blurbs on a multitude of other composers and recommendations on recordings.


----------



## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

The trouble with guides to recordings is that you need three or four different ones to come close to covering good available recordings ... and with the market now so subject to rapid change and far more variety than ever before you will still be missing quite a lot. The books will help but they are not enough any more. On the other hand you can sample loads of recordings now so you may not need to rely on the opinions of professionals as much as we did in the past.


----------



## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

https://www.wolke-verlag.de/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/amm-inhalt.pdf?fbclid=IwAR21w7kGJKDgzZOMYXOHp-RUXSAuVkzb9t-zLGNWsCzj_m_5VjdcsaLfNbc
I think these guys made a good selection. I guess this is only the index.


----------



## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

My "classical music bible" (and one of my favorite Christmas presents ever) is the AllMusic Guide to Classical Music. I believe it's out of print, but if you can track down a used copy on Amazon, it is more than worth it. Probably the thickest book I own at 1500+ pages, but with that comes not only composer biographies and overviews, but detailed analyses of _every_ noteworthy work from all composers of any note at all, essentially forming a compilation of listening guides. It also includes biographies of orchestras and performers, and recommended recording lists. This is the real deal, folks! A deeply rewarding investment for all CM devotees, except those who are hard of seeing (the print is eye-chart level tiny). Of course, you can also search allmusic.com for the analyses that also appear in the book. But whenever I'm searching for something to listen to, I open it to a random page and chances are, it's a composer I've never heard of to dive into.


----------



## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

Jan Swafford's Vintage Guide to Classical Music is pretty comprehensive.


----------



## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Of course, any book that will give you recording recommendations for classical compositions will be heavily leaning towards personal opinion and subjectivism. Though there are some great recordings out there that have garnered almost universal accolades from all sides. And because there are so many recordings and so many opinions, depending upon the "reliable sources", such as Audio magazines (_Fanfare_ is a good one, as are the reviews in _BBC Music Magazine_, _Stereophile_, and _Grammophon_, for examples), the search will be exhaustive.

Or … you can dig up a copy of Jim Sveda's _The Record Shelf Guide_ and have a rather delightful read while you comb through hundreds of recommendations (based purely upon Sveda's biases, likes and dislikes), most of which I have found over the years I greatly agree with.









I don't know what the latest edition of this book is, or if it is still in print, but it likely won't cover the most recent releases, of which there are many good ones. Still, the oldie but goodie recommendations you'll find in Sveda's book will well serve you to put together a great collection of recordings for nearly every major composer and work. And the book is a real "hoot" to read.


----------



## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Here's another book that you might find useful - it has concise, useful biographies of composers and then exhaustive reviews of recordings. Must have at least 600 composers in its 1200 pages. The only caveat: it was printed in 2002, so anything done since then isn't mentioned, and there's been a lot of good stuff done since. The list price was $30, but I picked up my copy at Half Price Books for $5.


----------



## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

The best book I know in this regard is the *All Music Guide to Classical Music *published once in 2010. They also have a website: https://www.allmusic.com/ that is not as easy to use but is searchable. The website will occasionally review a recording but does not otherwise have recommended recordings; the book recommends 4-5 recordings of each piece of music it discusses.

With more than 1,500 pages of composer bios and information on compositions, I do not know another book that covers the realm of classical music so well. I lament it was never again published but alas it is the 21st century when people think value is free, phones are information sources, and curated information as useless as ice in winter.


----------



## Schopenhauer (Jan 9, 2020)

Allegro Con Brio said:


> My "classical music bible" (and one of my favorite Christmas presents ever) is the AllMusic Guide to Classical Music. I believe it's out of print, but if you can track down a used copy on Amazon, it is more than worth it. Probably the thickest book I own at 1500+ pages, but with that comes not only composer biographies and overviews, but detailed analyses of _every_ noteworthy work from all composers of any note at all, essentially forming a compilation of listening guides. It also includes biographies of orchestras and performers, and recommended recording lists. This is the real deal, folks! A deeply rewarding investment for all CM devotees, except those who are hard of seeing (the print is eye-chart level tiny). Of course, you can also search allmusic.com for the analyses that also appear in the book. But whenever I'm searching for something to listen to, I open it to a random page and chances are, it's a composer I've never heard of to dive into.





larold said:


> The best book I know in this regard is the *All Music Guide to Classical Music *published once in 2010. They also have a website: https://www.allmusic.com/ that is not as easy to use but is searchable. The website will occasionally review a recording but does not otherwise have recommended recordings; the book recommends 4-5 recordings of each piece of music it discusses.
> 
> With more than 1,500 pages of composer bios and information on compositions, I do not know another book that covers the realm of classical music so well. I lament it was never again published but alas it is the 21st century when people think value is free, phones are information sources, and curated information as useless as ice in winter.
> 
> View attachment 129523


The guide looks awesome, but I'm afraid is a bit old?

Thank you all very much, I will try to get some of the books you recommended! (I can't like your posts, I guess it is because I still don't have 10 messages).


----------



## Barelytenor (Nov 19, 2011)

Nereffid said:


> There's _The Rough Guide to Classical Music_. Covers about 200 composers, gives some biographical info and suggested works & recordings.


I highly recommend this even though my copy is dated ... fifth edition, published May 2010. The cover blurb calls it "the perfect classical music primer" and I heartily agree. It covers a lot more than one might expect in 688 pages. For example, the Beethoven section is 18+ pages divided into major subheads: an intro; Opera (that's a short one); Sacred Music; Symphonies; Concertos; Chamber Music; String Quartets; Piano Music (nearly a one-page sideboard on Sonatas and Sonata Form); Songs.

I refer to it almost daily. But the B section also covers Grazyna Bacewicz (who?); CPE and JS Bach, separately (Tuning and Temperament and What Is a Fugue? sideboards); Barber; Pio Barrios; Bartok; Bax; LvB; Bellini; Benjamin; Berg; Berio; Berlioz; Bernstein (short shrift IMHO); Biber; Birtwistle (long shrift) :lol:; Bizet; Boccherini; Borodin; Boulanger; Boulez (some people say he wrote music); Brahms; Britten; Bruch; Bruckner; Brumel; Busoni; Buxtehude; and Byrd.

This is the one I have:

https://www.amazon.com/Rough-Guide-Classical-Music/dp/1848364768/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2FPTSF63P2VUQ&keywords=rough+guide+to+classical+music&qid=1581167878&sprefix=Rough+Guide+to+Classi%2Caps%2C157&sr=8-2

Kind regards, :tiphat:

George


----------



## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

Or just skip the books and get straight to the good stuff!


----------



## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

_Classical music bible-all-music-guide-jpg
The guide looks awesome, but I'm afraid is a bit old?_

10 years old? For classical music?

Tell me what's happened in classical music in the last 10 years?


----------



## Schopenhauer (Jan 9, 2020)

larold said:


> _Classical music bible-all-music-guide-jpg
> The guide looks awesome, but I'm afraid is a bit old?_
> 
> 10 years old? For classical music?
> ...


I don't know, but from what I've seen, there is a lot of people that doesn't give credit to those guides because of that.


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I have the 3rd Ear guide which is decent although I don't agree with many of their recommendations. They favor Karajan recordings, and dismiss much of Klemperer's work. The Record Shelf is a more personal and satisfying read and Jim Sveda has strong opinions. He's a champion of Schoenberg, but a Messiaen detractor. According to him Messiaen is pretentious pseudo mystical dreck for hippies.


----------



## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

larold said:


> _Classical music bible-all-music-guide-jpg
> The guide looks awesome, but I'm afraid is a bit old?_
> 
> 10 years old? For classical music?
> ...


Quite a number of newer worthwhile recordings and a few notable new pieces.

No one book can do it even with reference to the past but three or four of the books recommended in this thread - read with a sensitivity to their biases (there is no substitute to having your own taste!) - should give some idea of the critical reception that many of the older recordings received. Often they will be available in different formats now and perhaps well or badly remastered. But, intelligently used, the old books can provide quite a lot of information.


----------



## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

starthrower said:


> I have the 3rd Ear guide which is decent although I don't agree with many of their recommendations. *They favor Karajan recordings, and dismiss much of Klemperer's work.* The Record Shelf is a more personal and satisfying read and Jim Sveda has strong opinions. He's a champion of Schoenberg, but a Messiaen detractor. According to him Messiaen is pretentious pseudo mystical dreck for hippies.


This is of course the subjective nature of criticism. When I began collecting records it was the fashion among critics to elevate Klemperer to god-like status and to regard Karajan as inferior. Karajan was actually criticised for taking Beethoven too fast as was Bernstein in his first Eroica! How things have changed! It's what you like.
I have the Metropolitan Guide to Opera and some of the reviews are baffling. They recommended the Masur Fidelio as best buy. I bought it second hand, played it once and immediately returned it as it had nothing to commend it.


----------



## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Ethereality said:


> Or just skip the books and get straight to the good stuff!


You can get a lot of what you need on the internet now. Plenty of opinionated people on there. Some of them on TC too! (looks in mirror) :lol:


----------



## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

_Tell me what's happened in classical music in the last 10 years?
Quite a number of newer worthwhile recordings and a few notable new pieces. _

Since publishing has declined no one creates guides any longer that review recordings. There is a myth that same information can be located somewhere online but I don't believe that to be true. Any site that suggests itself to be an authority on recordings is in all likelihood the opinion of a single person.


----------



## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Yes, get the Allmusic Guide and stop complaining that it's old. We're doing you a favor.


----------



## Alfacharger (Dec 6, 2013)

Schopenhauer said:


> Hello everyone,
> 
> Is there a book that covers all the classical music authors, their works and their best recordings? Something like Classical Music: The 50 Greatest Composers and Their 1, 000 Greatest Works by Phil G. Goulding but more extensive.


My go to book with around 2400 composer bios.


----------



## amitkumarbhatt09 (Feb 14, 2020)

I have seen a book called, 
Music in India: The Classical Traditions
I would consider this very helpful and useful, having all kind of resources.
Although I would also recommend you that you should go for some live examples also,
just like visiting some famous classical singers profile, sometimes books don't have updated knowledge.
I have seen a website called Starclinch, they are having amazing list of classical singers, who are phenominal singers.
you can take some help on there,
visit: *https://starclinch.com/book-singer-online/classical*


----------



## classical yorkist (Jun 29, 2017)

This was the first book on classical music I ever bought and I still think it's highly entertaining and useful.







I don't think it's possible to have a truly exhaustive book though. I also own the Rough Guide and I don't like it nearly as much. They continually downplay the harpsichord and often only offer piano interpretations of baroque keyboard works (a real bugbear of mine) and the coverage of pre Classical period composers and music is always poor in these guides.


----------



## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

larold said:


> _Tell me what's happened in classical music in the last 10 years?
> Quite a number of newer worthwhile recordings and a few notable new pieces. _
> 
> Since publishing has declined no one creates guides any longer that review recordings. There is a myth that same information can be located somewhere online but I don't believe that to be true. Any site that suggests itself to be an authority on recordings is in all likelihood the opinion of a single person.


Even if guides were still published I think the sheer volume and variety of what's available now (new and used CDs and LPs as well as downloads), and the speed with which recordings are withdrawn and then issued in a different format and the number of different of older out-of-copyright recordings, would make producing a guide to classical records nearly impossible. The solution is to get as many of the old guides as you can, watch sites like this one (lots of views on recordings here), take a look at sites that review records (even if they are only one person - many of them are not), join the Gramophone to get access to their old reviews .... and take the whole lot with a big pinch of salt.


----------



## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Although there is bound to be some information crossover with any reference book I would get an additional tome dedicated solely to opera - at well over 1000 pages the _New Penguin Guide_ is quite thorough, with biographical info and list of works for even the more obscure, along with recommended recordings under many items. It hasn't been reprinted for nearly twenty years, but assuming one can source more recent developments from elsewhere that shouldn't hurt too much.


----------



## apricissimus (May 15, 2013)

I second the All Music Guide. True, it won't have all the latest recordings, but just pretend it's still 2005 or something. Our musical lives weren't so impoverished then, as compared to now. You'll be fine. And in any case, you'll inevitably disagree with some of their choices of recommended recordings anyway.


----------



## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

elgars ghost said:


> Although there is bound to be some information crossover with any reference book I would get an additional tome dedicated solely to opera - at well over 1000 pages the _New Penguin Guide_ is quite thorough, with biographical info and list of works for even the more obscure, along with recommended recordings under many items. It hasn't been reprinted for nearly twenty years, but assuming one can source more recent developments from elsewhere that shouldn't hurt too much.


Ive still got a couple of those old Penguin guides up in the loft but the 'newest' one is over 30 years old and some of their recommendations are dubious (to say the least) but they did flag up some great recordings too. There's lots of reviews online of most recordings but always cross-reference as some reviewers can be fanboys. Some of those opinions are echoed on here by those who dont listen without prejudice, too (eg. The Mahler Dugganites and the Shellacophiles), but there are plenty of others who will give fair, unbiased reviews that may or may not resonate with you, so dont forget to search this site. Google can be your friend if youre prepared to do a bit of research.


----------



## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Schopenhauer said:


> Is there a book that covers all the classical music authors, their works and their best recordings? Something like Classical Music: The 50 Greatest Composers and Their 1, 000 Greatest Works by Phil G. Goulding but more extensive.


I don't think that you'll find anything that covers all of that very well; I'd suggest that you find different sources - one or more for biographical information and analysis, and different sources for recordings recommendations.

To be honest, I'm not sure that the latter exists in any useful form. There are so many recordings, and so much turnover of same, that no source is going to be able to do it justice.

For the former, I strongly recommend any of the books by the late Michael Steinberg - The Symphony, The Concerto, and Choral Masterworks. Steinberg is best on placing the works in musical and historical context, not so much on biography, and nothing about recordings. Schoenberg's Lives of Great Composers is an excellent biographical reference for the major composers.


----------



## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

To be honest, Merl, I found the discography in the _Penguin Guide_ useful if only to state whether a work had actually been recorded at all - as regards core repertoire I'd already acquired quite a few recordings before the book came my way so I never used it for the usual suspects such as Wagner, Puccini etc. I was primarily interested in the individual entries of the operas themselves, and in the days before I was 'putered up I found the book an invaluable resource as it piqued my interest in the stage works of 20th century composers such as Kurt Weill.


----------



## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Frankly, any old Guide to Classical Music will do . . . They all cover the 'essentials', and there is no way any of us could possibly hear ALL classical music; it's tough enough alone to listen the many different recordings of a single piece. That said, the AllMusicGuide that's been mentioned several times here is probably a great resource.

But start *any**where*. *TALK CLASSICAL* (this vblog) is a great start. There's plenty of threads here with plenty of suggestions.

Even I have posted an essential guide elsewhere I call THE BEGINNERS GUIDE TO CLASSICAL MUSIC intended for those interested, but without any real previous exposure. The key here is "accessibility" for the 'untrained' ear.

http://www.yesfans.com/showthread.p...-Guide-to-Classical-Music&highlight=classical

My "guide" gives Youtube links to [usually live] performances that I feel are exemplary. (I feel that the visual component adds to the enjoyment]. Most entries have some explanation or corroborative detail.

My hope is that by hearing any of these works that you'll be inspired to Google up a composer bio, or maybe even the definition of musical terms, or search for related works.

_BTW, Google is great. You can Google for *"Top Ten Symphonies of the 19th Century"* or *"best concertos ever"*, or *"most popular classical works"* and - bang - you're up to your ears with astonishingly great works. 
_
My *Top Ten* entry level works?

Holst - The Planets, Op. 32. 1918
Dvorak - Symphony No.9 in E minor "From the New World", Op 95. 1893
Beethoven - Symphony No. 3 "Eroica"
Stravinsky - The Firebird. 1910	
Tchaikovsky - 1812 Festival Overture, Op. 49. 1882

Vivaldi - Summer, The Four Seasons. 1723
JS Bach - Brandenburg Concerto #6, In B Flat, BWV 1051. 1721.
WA Mozart - Symphony 41 in C "Jupiter", K. 551. 1788
Borodin - In the Steppes of Central Asia. 1880. 
WA Mozart - Overture from The Marriage of Figaro. 1786

Here's the *next 10*:

Grieg - Peer Gynt: Suite No. 1, Op. 46, and Suite No. 2, Op. 55. (Original score, Op. 23). 1876 
Frederic Chopin - Polonaise Op. 53
Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition (Ravel orchestration). 1922
Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue 
Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring

Beethoven - Symphony No.5 in C minor, Op. 67. 1808 
JS Bach - Cello Suite No. 1 in G major, BWV 1007
Carl Orff - O Fortuna from Carmina Burana
Mussorgsky - Night On Bald Mountain (Rimsky-Korsokov arrangement). 1886	["Fantasia"]
Johann Sebastian Bach - Well-Tempered Clavier 2, Prelude F Sharp minor.

It's a work in progress. It started as a Top 20, then quickly expanded into a Top 50, then Top 100. I'm up to #187 or so on the blog, but my actual list is well over 500 'essential' works.

But, if you wanted you could also start with *film scores*: Here's a *Top Eleven* to get you started:

1. The Lord of the Rings Series (Howard Shore)
2. Star Wars (John Williams)
3. The Mission (Ennio Morricone)
4. Schindler's List (John Williams)
5. Dances with Wolves (John Barry)
6. Doctor Zhivago (Maurice Jarre)
7. Out of Africa (John Barry)
8. Lawrence of Arabia (Maurice Jarre)
9. Harry Potter Series (John Williams/Alexandre Desplat)
10. Seven Years in Tibet (John Williams)
11. The Magnificent Seven (Elmer Bernstein)


----------



## Schopenhauer (Jan 9, 2020)

I finally bought several guides, which I'll combine with internet information.

Thank you everyone!


----------

