# The book you are reading about classical music, composers, etc.



## APL (Oct 27, 2018)

Currently I'm reading Beethoven by Jan Caeyers. It is a must have book every "Beethoven fan" or at least who likes Beethoven very much.
The other book is about my another favorit composer, Bartok Bela, written by Tallian Tibor who is a Bartok researcher.


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## Littlephrase (Nov 28, 2018)

I'm currently reading Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus. Absolutely gripping stuff. Especially the lectures early on about the late works of Beethoven.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I'm reading Victor Lederer's Debussy, The Quiet Revolutionary, mainly because I just don't get a lot of his piano music.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I'm looking for a good book on Schoenberg. Maybe Rosen's?


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## Heliogabo (Dec 29, 2014)

starthrower said:


> I'm looking for a good book on Schoenberg. Maybe Rosen's?


Yes, beautiful and thoughtful approach.


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## Heliogabo (Dec 29, 2014)

I'm reading Mozart by Wolfgang Hildesheimer. Hildesheimer is such a great writer.


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## APL (Oct 27, 2018)

Heliogabo said:


> Yes, beautiful and thoughtful approach.


I hope I could contribute to yuor choice by this post.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

The Silent Musician: Why Conducting Matters, by Mark Wigglesworth


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Bartok is a favorite of mine also. I've heard of a good book by Judit Frigyesi but it is rather expensive.


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## dismrwonderful (May 5, 2013)

I'm reading The Rest Is Noise by Alex Ross. It is very good so far.

Dan


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## Vaan (Nov 17, 2018)

I have just finished "Famous Father Girl" by Jamie Bernstein. A wonderful book about the Bernstein household.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Vaan said:


> I have just finished "Famous Father Girl" by Jamie Bernstein. A wonderful book about the Bernstein household.


Dinner With Lenny by Jonathan Cott is a great read as well. It's a transcript from a 12 hour interview.


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## rodrigaj (Dec 11, 2016)

Music in the Nineteenth Century: The Oxford History of Western Music
by Richard Taruskin


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## rodrigaj (Dec 11, 2016)

APL said:


> Currently I'm reading Beethoven by Jan Caeyers. It is a must have book every "Beethoven fan" or at least who likes Beethoven very much.
> The other book is about my another favorit composer, Bartok Bela, written by Tallian Tibor who is a Bartok researcher.


Another Beethoven book is:

Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph
by Jan Swafford

I read that one last year and highly recommend it.


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## Frank Freaking Sinatra (Dec 6, 2018)

Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sachs

New York Times review -

https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/20/books/20kaku.html


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## Rach Man (Aug 2, 2016)

mbhaub said:


> The Silent Musician: Why Conducting Matters, by Mark Wigglesworth


Would you give a brief review of this book? Do you find it to be educational and enjoyable? Is he a fluid writer?

Thanks.


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## Frank Freaking Sinatra (Dec 6, 2018)

Rach Man said:


> Would you give a brief review of this book? Do you find it to be educational and enjoyable? Is he a fluid writer?
> 
> Thanks.


If I may step in and offer this review for your consideration -

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2018/Dec/Wigglesworth_book.htm


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

About halfway through Jan Swafford's biography of Brahms:


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

_Music: The Definitive Visual History_. It discusses music from prehistory to contemporary times, from the western classical tradition to chinese opera and indian classical, with music examples and listening suggestions. I felt that I needed something like this, and I'm liking it. I'm currently in the Baroque chapter.

https://www.alfred.com/music-the-definitive-visual-history/p/74-1465414363/


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## rodrigaj (Dec 11, 2016)

wkasimer said:


> About halfway through Jan Swafford's biography of Brahms:
> 
> View attachment 110573


If you have read his Beethoven biography, would you say his Brahms is comparable?


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Rach Man said:


> Would you give a brief review of this book? Do you find it to be educational and enjoyable? Is he a fluid writer?
> 
> Thanks.


The book is NOT a "how to" tome. Nor is it a biography or treasure of behind the scenes stories. It is not technical at all and a non-musician need not fear being lost in a lot of technical jargon. Classical aficionados are the target audience. It's about what the conductor's job is from a musical, physical and psychological point. How does one person manage to get 100 players to work together for his vision? And the tricky task of working with boards, supporters, audiences and such. Well written, funny at times. I'm half thru it now. There have been several books akin to this in recent years: Slatkin, Mauceri in particular wrote interesting ones. This vbook is not available in US bookstores, but you can order from the UK.


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

dismrwonderful said:


> I'm reading The Rest Is Noise by Alex Ross. It is very good so far.
> 
> Dan


There's a great chapter in this, on Mozart - very instructive - and also one on Bob Dylan, so maybe I'll need to read the whole book!


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Kieran said:


> There's a great chapter in this, on Mozart - very instructive - and also one on Bob Dylan, so maybe I'll need to read the whole book!


I think you'll enjoy it. It's well written.


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## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

*The Devil in the White City*

If you enjoy architecture and serial killers, this is the book for you...










Err ... Sorry. Wrong thread.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

rodrigaj said:


> If you have read his Beethoven biography, would you say his Brahms is comparable?


It's at least as good, perhaps even better, since I think that Swafford had more material about Brahms to work with, particularly his correspondence with Clara Schumann and Joseph Joachim, among others.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Yes the Swafford Brahms bio is very good, even though I disagree with some of his views, for example Swafford perpetuating the myth that the Romantic era was the zenith or greatest era of music making.

I'm currently reading _Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician_ by Christoph Wolff, I'm finding it a pretty good read so far even though the actual details of Bach's life are very skimpy and filled in with large amounts of historical information and speculation.


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## ribonucleic (Aug 20, 2014)

_Speaking of Pianists_ by Abram Chasins has sharply drawn portraits of early 20th century greats like Hofmann, Godowsky, Rachmaninov, Horowitz, etc.

You can read it online here:

https://archive.org/stream/speakingofpianis00chas#mode/2up


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Working my way through Stravinsky's autobiography. I first read it many years ago when I got it at a library. Nowadays it can be downloaded from the web.


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## danj (Jun 1, 2017)

Currently reading Beethoven by Lewis Lockwood. Learning a great detail here...


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

And I'm reading an excellent book about Debussy by Jean Barraqué


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