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Anyone who has ever gamely tried and failed to absorb, enjoy, and--especially--understand the complex works of Schoenberg, Mahler, Strauss, or even Philip Glass will allow themselves a wry smile reading New Yorker music critic Alex Ross's outstanding The Rest Is Noise. Not only does Ross manage to give historical, biographical, and social context to 20th-century pieces both major and minor, he brings the scores alive in language that's accessible and dramatic. Take Ross's description of Schoenberg's Second Quartet, "in which he hesitates at a crossroads, contemplating various paths forming in front of him. The first movement, written the previous year, still uses a fairly conventional late-Romantic language. The second movement, by contrast, is a hallucinatory Scherzo, unlike any other music at the time. It contains fragments of the folk song 'Ach, du lieber Augustin'--the same tune that held Freudian significance for Mahler. For Schoenberg, the song seems to represent a bygone world disintegrating; the crucial line is 'Alles ist hin' (all is lost). The movement ends in a fearsome sequence of four-note figures, which are made up of fourths separated by a tritone. In them may be discerned traces of the bifurcated scale that begins Salome. But there is no longer a sense of tonalities colliding. Instead, the very concept of a chord is dissolving into a matrix of intervals." Armed with such a detailed aural roadmap, even a troglodyte--or a heavy metal fan--can explore these pivotal works anew. But it's not all crashing cymbals, honking tubas, and somber Germans stroking their chins. Ross also presents the human dramas (affairs, wars, etc.) behind these sweeping compositions while managing, against the odds, to discuss C-major triads, pentatonic scales, and B-flat dominant sevenths without making our eyes glaze over. And he draws a direct link between the Beatles and Sibelius. It's no surprise that the New York Times named The Rest Is Noise one of the 10 Best Books of 2007. Music nerds have found their most articulate valedictorian. --Kim Hughes
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Ross, the classical music critic for the New Yorker, leads a whirlwind tour from the Viennese premiere of Richard Strauss's Salome in 1906 to minimalist Steve Reich's downtown Manhattan apartment. The wide-ranging historical material is organized in thematic essays grounded in personalities and places, in a disarmingly comprehensive style reminiscent of historian Otto Friedrich. Thus, composers who led dramatic lives—such as Shostakovich's struggles under the Soviet regime—make for gripping reading, but Ross treats each composer with equal gravitas. The real strength of this study, however, lies in his detailed musical analysis, teasing out—in precise but readily accessible language—the notes that link Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story to Arnold Schoenberg's avant-garde compositions or hint at a connection between Sibelius and John Coltrane. Among the many notable passages, a close reading of Benjamin Britten's opera Peter Grimes stands out for its masterful blend of artistic and biographical insight. Readers new to classical music will quickly seek out the recordings Ross recommends, especially the works by less prominent composers, and even avid fans will find themselves hearing familiar favorites with new ears. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Composing Classical Music from 1900-1950,
By Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 112,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (#1 HALL OF FAME)
This review is from: Rest Is Noise (Hardcover)
If you would like to know more than you do now about classical composition in the first half of the twentieth century, The Rest Is Noise is a valuable resource. If you are curious about what happened from 1950 through today in classical composing, you'll get a thumbnail sketch of what the most experimental composers did.I loved the title. How many times I've heard people describe music that employs dissonance or isn't to their taste as "just noise." New Yorker music critic Alex Ross has fun with that concept by suggesting that various types of classical music written since Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring often have more in common than you would expect. His constant references back to common elements among the schools is a particular strength of this book. Mr. Ross clearly favors those works that have gained the broadest audiences. Those who mainly experiment for themselves and small audiences don't receive much attention, even when their advances are conceptually significant for expanding what can be done with composition. What's the style of the book like? I can best compare it to reading extended program notes where you connect the dots between one night's performances and the rest of the season's series. In addition, he is a little more candid about the personal lives of the composers than most program notes would provide. He seems particularly interested in exploring the homosexual and lesbian tendencies of the composers and the various musical figures he writes about. I was very impressed by Mr. Ross's ability to explain various innovations, many of which are unfamiliar to me. He employs a combination of metaphors, references to other musical works, and scientific explanations to get the points across. In doing so, he displays excellent ability to conceptualize and to write about music. My main regret as a I read the book was that it didn't have a companion CD set that would allow me to quickly listen to the works that he is describing. Although I obviously didn't need that for the works that have become standards in the repertoire, many references aren't to anything very standard. Mr. Ross also seeks to describe the twentieth century as seen through its composers. Although he certainly develops some useful themes like the role that governments play in encouraging and discouraging composition, I thought that this aspect of the book worked less well by being incomplete. But where important themes were addressed, the material certainly was interesting.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
MAKES SENSE OF THE NOISE,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Rest Is Noise (Hardcover)
I agree with most of what was said in the other reviews so I will add my personal take.I am a performing musician and a professor of music. I have peformed in everything from a punk band to symphony orchestras. These days I primarily play in a free form jazz group and in a noise group. I teach a music history course and a history of jazz and blues. I am quite aware of 20th century music and have a familiarity with most of the composers discussed in the book. In the 1960s when I was attending Manhattan School of Music I was also attending all the avant garde concerts in such places as Carnegie Recital Hall and the Columbia University auditorium (where I had performed as a student in the Columbia Symphony). I am a huge fan of people like Cage and Stockhausen. And of Eliot Carter and Gunther Schuller. I am not a great fan of minimalism but I do understand its importance. I am also a huge fan of some of the more "out" jazz, especially the music of Mingus, Max Roach, Monk, and Coltrane, as well as some of the more avant garde music coming out on small labels. What this book does is to create a narrative showing how the century unfolded and how different developments influenced later developments, whether directly or in reaction to what had come before. I also like how Ross brings in how various pop musicians have been influenced by classical composers. As I like to point out in my class, there would be no Beatles if there had been no Beethoven, it seems there would be no Beatles if there had been no Stockhausen. Putting this altogether in a way that makes sense is a real achievement. My only criticism is that Ross could have been a bit more explicit about some of the developments in jazz and how sililar they are to developments in classical music.
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Rest is noise,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century (Paperback)
This is a brilliant book! As one who has listened but not understood or liked very much of 20th century music, it was a revelation of staggering proportions. I cannot read music, but Ross' explanation of the technical terms gave me enought musical notation literacy to understand the work. It finally put so much into perspective for me; it is like being given a whole treasure chest full of goodies. It was a wonderful experience to read it and even more wonderful to be able to listed to a great deal of very good music properly for the first time. Be forwarned - you will be hauntng music stores and emptying your bank acocunt after reading this book. But loving every minute of it.
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