Rough Guide Classical Music 4e [Paperback]

The British seem to have a nack for classical music guides (Penguin, Gramophone) and here is another superb one from the Penguin people - albeit of a different breed. The BBC called this guide, "The perfect classical-music primer." I think the Rough Guide is one of the more compelling overviews of the world of classical music which gives some hand-picked recommendations to get a new listener started. David Dubal's "Cannon of Classical Music" is also a great intro guide to classical music (but not a recording guide).

This 2005 edition gives you three main things: engaging bio's on over 200 composers (a lot), a listing and short synopsis of their major works and then the editor's TOP one or two recording recommendations with some reasons for their choice. As such this book is more a guide to the repertoire of classical music and NOT a complete buying guide like The Penguin Guide. To give you an idea of the level of depth they cover, here's an example of the major compositions listed under "Franz Schubert":

Symphonies: No. 4, 5, 6, 8, 9
Chamber Music: "Trout" Quintet, Piano Trios No. 1/2, Arpeggione, Octet, Late Quartets, Last Quintet
Songs: "Winterreise," "Die Schone Mullerin"
Piano Music: Sonatas No. 14, 17, 18, 19-21; Impromptus, Moments Musicaux, Wanderer, Fantasie in F-minor

This is a well written and highly enjoyable book with much style and substance - but without being needlessly prosaic or overloaded with musical jargon - and should appeal to both the newcomer and classical veteran. The visual layout is effective and engaging with clearly bolded sections, color-enhanced highlights and many photos including recommended CD's. Additionally, the many "side bar" educational texts are highly interesting, such as the ones about the historical and scientific background on Bach's "Well-Tempered Clavier" or Antonio Stradivari's violins. I thoroughly enjoy reading through this book at random just for fun.

Good or bad .. the editors narrow the field of recordings down to one or two top picks per major work - which allows a quick selection to be made with a reasonable chance of satisfaction by the beginning classical music consumer. While such recommendations will always be subjective and somewhat limiting, the ones here are a decent starting place for newer listeners and explained as to why they were chosen. So, guides as this are ideal for listeners who just want a couple quick recommendations without a lot of analysis. Others more involved will want to have a look at Penguin, Gramophone or Third Ear guides.

This book is invaluable for those who have a limited knowledge of classical music and want to expand their listening repertoire. It is a compendium of information on over two hundred classical composers and their works. In addition to the information presented by composer, a number of boxes explore themes as diverse as "What is a Fugue?" (under Bach), "The Cult of the Conductor" (under Mahler) and "The Crisis of Tonality" (under Schoenberg). The choice of composers is excellent - of course when the number is limited, one can always gripe about the favourites that have been left out. The accounts are written in a lively, up-beat style that does not compromise the fidelity of the information. Each composer is covered by an introductory section that is largely biographic, followed by a treatment of major works. Finally, a number (typically one to three) of key recordings are recommended - they tend towards the conservative, but pretty much ensure that the new listener will not be disappointed.

It is worth pointing out that this book does not aspire to be a buyer's guide to CDs. That is the task of, for example, the Penguin and Gramophone guides (on Amazon: ISBN 0141022620 & 0860249727 respectively).

I would certainly recommend this book above the NPR guide and other "beginners guides" I have seen. Testimony to that is the fact that my copy has fallen apart from overuse over the years and is now held together with rubber bands. Enjoy!

This is the best guide I've found for the newcomer to classical music. Full of well written descriptions of composers and their works. It helped me tremendously in approaching the daunting and confusing body of works & recordings and I still pick it up regularly for casual reading and as a reference.

To complain that this isn't a 1500 page comprehensive guide with everyone's favorite composers is to miss the point entirely. There are plenty of other books to choose from that serve that purpose but as a starting point you can't do better than this.

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