|
|
#1
03-28-2022, 11:51 AM
|
|||
|
|||
Recommended book on classical composer/music
I am clueless about classical music but I used to listen to a bit, but that was decades ago. After seeing a painting of Beethoven, I am suddenly interested in knowing more. Is there any book you recommend about a composer or about classical music, in general? It could be a biography or of an educational theme, whatever, I am just digging. Anything you found interesting. Note... I cannot read music anymore. Took one year of piano at age ten and that almost 60 years ago! So, technical stuff is not of interest. At this time, lol.
__________________
Bill 
|
|
#2
03-28-2022, 03:16 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
This one on Beethoven and his Eroica (Third) Symphony was pretty
good, and might be a good entry point: https://www.amazon.com/Beethovens-Er...V49/ref=sr_1_1 I hope the link works- it had a bunch of tracking-goop on it that I tried to shorten. B.H.Haggin's 'A Listener's Musical Companion' comes to mind, too. Adding: Haggin is really fun reading, if nothing else. He wrote clearly, and even sharply, and wasn't shy with his opinions..  I'd provide a link, but can't seem to find one to the later edition that I read. Here it is:https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...ical_Companion Last edited by Carey; 03-28-2022 at 03:57 PM.
|
|
#3
03-29-2022, 06:02 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
I'll have to check out the book Carey recommended on "Eroica," which was a wonderful piece of music.
I have quite a few... I love reading about and listening to classical music. Here are a few... Jan Swafford's The Vintage Guide to Classical Music. Phil G. Goulding's Classical Music: The 50 Greatest Composers and Their 1,000 Greatest Works. The Rough Guide to Classical Music, edited by Joe Staines... a little more like an encyclopedia. The Orchestra: Origins and Transformations, edited Joan Peyser. A Guide To the Symphony, edited by Robert Layton, a general guide but in-depth looks at the greatest symphony composers. Nineteenth-Century Piano Music, edited by R. Larry Todd, with a full chapter devoted to Beethoven. Michael Steinberg's The Concerto, a listener's guide with chapters on composers. Michael Steinberg's The Symphony, similar design to the book above, although more extensive material. Enjoy.
|
|
#4
03-29-2022, 07:30 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Swafford's "Vintage Guide" that Kerbie recommends is excellent. It does contain some notation examples but is quite readable and informative without those samples.
Another older slightly dated but excellent book is Harold Schonberg's "The Lives of the Great Composers". Schonberg wrote several others all of which are excellent but i don't recall titles. Should be pretty easy to look up. I think he was the classical music critic for the New York Times, for many years.
|
|
#5
03-29-2022, 01:01 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
I'll add this one by the late Alan Rich:
https://www.amazon.com/Simon-Schuste.../dp/0671254405 It's brief but engaging, pulling the reader into the music in a nice way. I'm a big fan of the Eroica Symphony, too; it's music that goes beyond music, in the right performance (IMO). Recordings of it could make for a good thread.. That Swafford book is one I'll be checking out- thanks for mentioning it. I enjoy reading about the late, great pianist Glenn Gould: "That nut's a genius!", George Szell said about him. Otto Friedrich's biography of him was my starting point in print. Last edited by Carey; 03-29-2022 at 03:43 PM.
|
|
#7
04-03-2022, 01:10 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
__________________
Passionate amateur musician YouTube: "Bluegum Counterpoint" https://youtube.com/channel/UCbPhfbyWD5qNUT8ehnkoNlg
|
|
#8
04-03-2022, 04:06 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
__________________
1980 Ovation Legend Larrivee L09 Yamaha CG142S Classical Fender 1996 American Standard Strat Epiphone Elitist Casino Kanai Lal Sitar
|
|
#9
04-03-2022, 04:06 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
Quote:
|
