I discovered the new book, Benjamin Britten: A Life in the Twentieth Century, in Waterstones today. I know it has been referred to (or, at least, one aspect of it) in another thread, but I thought it would be worth starting a thread to discuss people's impressions of the book. It's a substantial tome and my copy is now awaiting my attention. I will not give any opinions until I've read it, but I'd be interested in hearing what others, like Mary C, make of it.
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I'm a bit more than half way through it, and have dipped into some later bits. I'll say more later. Impressions so far very mixed. It veers between the very good and the rather bad (occasionally very bad). His prose style irritates me, which doesn't help. There's a comment on the back cover that calls it 'beautifully written'. I disagree with that. -
I'm in a bit of a dilemma: I'm halfway through the penultimate book of Britten's letters and I think I'd like to finish that before starting on the new book. So it looks as if my thoughts on Kildea might be a while in coming.
I suppose the prose style is something one gets used to - unless it's particularly irritating. (I found Hilary Mantel's very strange when I started reading Wolf Hall, but got used to it. But, there again, her books could be described as 'beautifully written".) It sounds as if Kildea might be in a different league.Comment
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I finished the letters before I started on Kildea, but Neil Powell's book Benjamin Britten: A Life for Music is on its way to me, so it's all a bit much!Originally posted by VodkaDilc View PostComment
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It's not a race, folks and gentle readers.
Take your time and your considered thoughts and verdicts will be all the more welcome
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One notes that both books are to be discussed on this coming Saturday's Music Matters.Comment
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Was thinking of getting this, I've read the Humphery Carpenter book which I thought was excellent, do you have that one Mary and do they compare so far?Comment
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Yes, I have the Carpenter - I first read it 20 years ago! I prefer his writing style to Kildea's, but so far I think Kildea's is better balanced and he is a lot better at interpreting the music - some of Carpenter's explanations were truly absurd.Originally posted by Mahler's3rd View Post
The major fault in Kildea's book is the ill-judged, insufficiently evidence-based and frankly far-fetched conclusion about Britten's death, presenting his theory as fact. I've just heard him defending it on Radio 4's Front Row, and he appears to be totally convinced he's right. There's going to have to be better evidence than he can so far produce if he's going to convince me and many others. This spoils the book, because if this is so poorly researched, how can we be sure that the rest of the book is any better?Comment
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Listen again to tonight's Front Row if you can. Kildea gets a pretty serious going over by Mark Lawson - quietly, friendly, but persistently.Comment
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Yes, I thought Mark Lawson did well, but Kildea is insisting he knows best!Originally posted by DracoM View PostComment
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Based on uncomfortably close to hearsay, and in the teeth of contrary stuff from medical team who attended? Was certainly the impression I got from Lawson's questions.Comment
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What chance of selling his book in quantity if he admitted he'd effectively made it up?Originally posted by Mary Chambers View PostComment
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indeed and the Kildea is Radio 4's book of the week, next week Monday to Friday [highly abridged presumably]Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View PostComment
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Here's Kildea defending his theory against the Guardian's scepticism. It will be interesting to see what the comments on this piece will be like.
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Thanks Mary, maybe i should get it from the library first then to have a read before I buy itComment
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