During the month of October, I’m posting brief reviews of some of my favorite books from the past couple of years: those that really touched my heart, gave me a new perspective, taught me something, or were just plain fun. Hopefully you will be inspired to add something to your to-read list. 🙂
I love classical music, but Bach has not always been a favorite composer of mine. I have generally preferred late the late Romantic, Impressionist and early 20th century music (Debussy, Ravel, Rachmaninoff, Vaughn Williams, to name a few). But I knew Bach was considered a great composer for a reason, and so when my friend Dawn reviewed this book a few years ago, I decided to read it. Here’s what I wrote after finishing it:
This is music history the way it should be written. Maybe if I’d been able to read this back when I was taking piano lessons as a teenager, I would have had a greater enjoyment and appreciation for those Bach Preludes and Fugues I had to play that I thought were pretty boring. 🙂 I was intrigued by the distinction he made several times between “pretty” music and “beautiful” music – something to ponder as I listen. The personal and political history was fascinating, too, if sometimes rather disturbing (so much for “the good old days”). I’m hoping to find more books about music history like this one.
This is a book to read while keeping your mp3 player handy so you can pause and listen to the music he’s describing. 🙂
Oh, that one is definitely on my list of to-read!
Yes, high on my referral list. I read it too quickly to stop and listen, though. Maybe I should go back and listen while reading what he wrote.