Books about music

[Mattbod]

Despite its rather dubious Title:Howard Goodall's Big Bangs: Five Musical Revolutions is a great read. Particularly interesting are the chapters on arrival of equal temperament and the birth of the Piano. The writing is good fun but detailed and I learnt a lot.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Big-Bangs-Musical-Revolutions-ebook/dp/B005G37S4W/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1382537354&sr=8-4&keywords=howard+goodall

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Despite its rather dubious Title:Howard Goodall's Big Bangs: Five Musical Revolutions is a great read. Particularly interesting are the chapters on arrival of equal temperament and the birth of the Piano. The writing is good fun but detailed and I learnt a lot.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Big-Bangs-Mu...howard+goodall

[teamsaint]

Despite its rather dubious Title:Howard Goodall's Big Bangs: Five Musical Revolutions is a great read. Particularly interesting are the chapters on arrival of equal temperament and the birth of the Piano. The writing is good fun but detailed and I learnt a lot.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Big-Bangs-Mu...howard+goodall

I agree. This is HG at his informative and easy to read best.

[EdgeleyRob]

I recall having read a critic regarding the Parry biography sometime in the early 1990s which was excellent, prompting me to read it; it really is an excellent biography. I'd almost say: biographers, take note of how this one has been researched and written.

I am afraid I don't know the Stanford biography. It escaped my attention, most likely even before it became a bit pricey.

I have a book by C. Hubert H.Parry, MA Mus Doc entitled Studies of Great Composers. It was published by Routledge, but there is no date. Mine is the 19th edition, so presumably it was quite popular. It has hand-cut pages. The composers discussed are: Palestrina, Handel, Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven,, Weber, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann and Wagner.

I am just about to re-read it after 50 years (prompted by this thread). I suspect a 100+ year view of musical history will be of more than just antiquarian interest. I do remember as a kid that 'The Lives' of great composers (heavily censored for any traces of lust, perversion, racism, etc) seemed to be an important part of the taught subject that was 'music'.

I'll report back when I've read it...if anyone's still keeping the thread going!

Hiya EdgeleyRob,

The Dibble book would not be my first choice biography on Sir CV Stanford. I have both books and the best Sir CV Stanford biography in my opionion is by Paul J. Rodmell on Ashgate Publishing Limited (2002). It has similar biographic content (they will have had access to generally the same sources, I guess) but Rodmell has a much more comprehensive works list.

Link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Charles-Vill...ord%2C+rodmell

Thanks for this info folks

[EdgeleyRob]

Despite its rather dubious Title:Howard Goodall's Big Bangs: Five Musical Revolutions is a great read. Particularly interesting are the chapters on arrival of equal temperament and the birth of the Piano. The writing is good fun but detailed and I learnt a lot.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Big-Bangs-Mu...howard+goodall

I was given this book a few years ago and haven't got round to reading it yet.
I'll put that right very soon.

[MrGongGong]

Some others that are worth reading IMV

The Musical Mind: The cognitive psychology of music: Sloboda
Software for People: Pauline Oliveros
Notations: John Cage (Notations 21 , the sequel is also worth a look .........)
Notation in New Music : Karkoschka
Living Electronic Music : Simon Emmerson
On Sonic Art: Trevor Wishart
How Equal Temperament Ruined Harmony: And Why You Should Care: Ross W. Duffin

[ardcarp]

How Equal Temperament Ruined Harmony: And Why You Should Care: Ross W. Duffin

I've read that one too! She's a bit dogmatic about the ill effects ET. I have a suspicion that both singers and string players tend to temper their thirds (making them wider) even without the evil influence of modern keyboard tuning. It's a natural thing to do if you want to modulate around the keys and stay at pitch.

[MrGongGong]

I've read that one too! She's a bit dogmatic about the ill effects ET. I have a suspicion that both singers and string players tend to temper their thirds (making them wider) even without the evil influence of modern keyboard tuning. It's a natural thing to do if you want to modulate around the keys and stay at pitch.

"She" also has extraordinary facial hair

[Pianoman]

He gave this very talk at the Hudds Uni research forum ..

[ardcarp]

"She" also has extraordinary facial hair

Oops sorry. The Reith Lectures have got me all confused!

[ardcarp]

The trouble about this thread is that it keeps reminding you of books you have, but haven't read for years. And you just have to read them again. As the pile grows by the bedside, I just know it will take months to get through them all, especially as these days I'm asleep after a couple of chapters.

Ross Duffin's HowET Ruined Harmony, etc is, I remember, a really annoying book to read because it has parallel texts. Text 1 is all the tuning theory he is trying to elucidate (without much success in my case) whilst Text 2 consists of biographical inserts of the composers, performers and theorists to whom he refers in the text. The trouble is one text gets in the way of the other because the latter are not footnotes but in-your-face-notes. I have now discovered a way to enjoy this book. Completely ignore the tuning theory and just read the biogs! They include:

Sarasate
Joachim
Helmholtz
Spohr
Tuerk
Attwood
Quantz
Pythagoras
Leopold Mozart
Casals

...and many other lesser lights; a mixed but interesting bag. They are really thumbnail sketches, so quite digestible, and one can consume a few before torpor sets in.

[ardcarp]

The book I have most recently enjoyed...and I think it is one of the most fascinating...is After the Golden Age, Romantic Pianism and Modern Performance by Kenneth Hamilton. KH is a bit of a one-off, an academic (a professor in fact) a brilliant performing pianist, a terrific communicator and wit.

The book seeks to explore the development of piano playing and piano recitals in the times of Liszt, Thalberg, Rubinstein, Paderewski and others. The approach was all very different from what we do now. These days, for instance, an absolute adherence to what is notated is taken for granted. But it was not always so, and indeed improvisation before or after a 'recital' (the very word may have changed its meaning) was not unusual. There is also some comment on how the piano has developed and how the pre-1880 instrument may have shaped both writing and performance.

The book is, as one would expect, amusingly written, and also as one would expect, seeks to explode a few 'Golden Age' myths. It is not however a lightweight tome. There are quite a few 'bits of score' and quite a few dots, so it does need a bit of application to stick with it to the end.

Pub OUP 2006

Just have to mention that Ken Hamiloton was reviewing piano releases on CD Review just now. Wish he'd be given his own slot and cut free from 'the scripted dialogue' format.

[Mattbod]

And surely best is to pop down to your local library for a membership card (if you haven't already got one) and have 24-hour access to the (regularly updated Grove and Oxford Dictionary.

It depends whether you want the pleasure of browsing through a book by your fireside or whether you want a reference tool to answer specific queries as they crop up.




[Apparently, the CFM book was the best-selling book on classical music of 2012. Is that a threat to the availability of deeper scholarship or good news?]

EDIT: Found out that my local authority does in fact subscribe to Groves. Why don't they publicise these things? It is a fabulous online resource. As to the CFM book I would make a gift of it to a child who is interested in music perhaps but the tone is too condescending and simplistic for an adult in my opinion.

[teamsaint]

Ardcarp was discussing Mendelssohns orchestration on another thread. I wondered if anybody could recommend this title?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mendelssohn-Hebrides-Overtures-Cambridge-Handbooks/dp/0521407648/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389046313&sr=1-1&keywords=the+hebrides+and+other+overtures

There are a few interesting snippets online.

[Roehre]

Ardcarp was discussing Mendelssohns orchestration on another thread. I wondered if anybody could recommend this title?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mendelssohn-Hebrides-Overtures-Cambridge-Handbooks/dp/0521407648/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389046313&sr=1-1&keywords=the+hebrides+and+other+overtures

There are a few interesting snippets online.

Todd knows Mendelssohn in and out. His is e.g. an edition of the 3rd piano concerto which IMO is very convincing.
The book itself is -as the Cambridge Music Handbooks most of the time do - offering a rather technical approach of the works combined with readable back ground information. Often the compiled back ground is hard to find anywhere else.
It's a personal taste/ability to read music which defines whether it is a recommendable book.
I for myself think it is.