The Classical Music Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained by Katie Derham

The Classical Music Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained Reviews

• 
  Michelle Curie

  I've seen these Big Ideas books around a lot, since they're all eye-catching and thematically intriguing, but this was the first one I picked up! And it can serve as an approachable and accessible introduction to classical music indeed.
  
  
  
  Chronologically structured, it's a timeline of classical music's history. I liked that a lot, since the reason I picked this up was to fill in gaps I had in my own knowledge of the genre. It starts with Early Music from the 11th to 15th century and then covers the Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Nationalism and finally Modern and Contemporary. In a way, this structure helps to put information in context.
  
  It's introducing artists by picking a piece each. I think this is a successful approach, considering the target group for this consists of people who know classical music, but aren't experts on the subject (or so I'd assume?). With most artists, there's an article on that particular piece, retelling its history, why it mattered and what makes it special and is accompanied by a short biography of the artist. There's no point in reading the chapters if you're not willing to actually listen to the music, but they're all available somewhere on YouTube or Spotify or whatever medium you like to listen your songs on.
  
  It's a bit quantity over quality. While the articles themselves were insightful and accessible to people who aren't familiar with musical terminology or music theory, the chapters themselves don't go particularly in depth – which they also don't claim they do. As said before, they focus on one piece per artist and you won't necessarily know what was happening beyond that. It teaches you just enough to find out what sparks your interest, though, and then you can go on and pursue further knowledge, which makes this pretty successful, I'd say.
  
  While giving an overview more than teaching in-depth-knowledge, this was a pretty dense read that took me several months to work through. I had a good time and would definitely recommend this for people curious about classical music without already established expertise on the subject.
• 
  Tina Doncheva

  Chronologically speaking and design-wise, the book is very good. Content-wise, it could be improved a lot. Still, it is a good basis for those who are interested in classical music and are making their first steps into it. Thus, it would seem boring to those who already have some knowledge, as it does not say much. (Not to mention, it does not give the best examples or illustrations.) It vaguely touches upon some topics and just when one thinks that something particular would be reviewed in-depth and analysed, it stops right there, with no further information. Also, it would have been better if there was a CD (or, rather, CDs) with a compilation of at least some of the mentioned pieces.
• 
  Mr Shahabi

  I think this book would make more sense with accompanied music
• 
  Heidi

  Brought back good memories from Music Literature class. I especially liked the sections about Hildegard von Bingen and Vivaldi's The Four Seasons.
• 
  Robert Gebhardt

  I cannot for the life of me fathom why they would release an audiobook about classical music without any music. I understand this was originally a print book, but if they went through the trouble of professionally narrating it, and as far as I can tell pretty much every piece of music discussed is in the public domain, I don't understand why they wouldn't add the music. Especially given that there are certain lines like these:
  "The apparently unrelated chords of F, B, D# and G# form the basis for the work's harmonic instability."
  "...landing not merely in a key (E major) unrelated to the first chord (B flat), but a diminished 5th (a semitone less than a 5th) below it, resulting in a tri-tone, an interval in 3 tones"
  "each chord is to be appreciated for the sensuality of its sound"
  
  One can only really follow if they know the pieces by heart, or if they can listen to them. Granted, I can go online and find these (and I did for several), but I often cannot, like when I'm driving, etc. I can't help thinking it was just laziness.
  
  So, aside from this the book was very interesting, although much of it seemed to be over my head.
  
  Some of my notes:
  Jacopo Peri apparently created the first opera (Dafne, and the first that still exists, Euripide). He worked for the De Medici family, which means the De Medici brought us the first opera, as well as, you know, the renaissance.
  
  Henry Purcell probably would have started opera in England had he not died early. In the end it was the german Handel (who performed for King George on a boat in the Thames).
  
  I want to read more about Stravinsky and the first performance of Le Sacre du printemps
  "1912: Igor Stravinsky pastes a cord of a dominant 7th on E flat over a cord of F flat major and causes an outrage"
  
  
• 
  Lucy

  I really liked this book. Even though as a music major, I took music history, I've forgotten a lot of what I learned. I liked seeing pictures of some of the personalities of music, performers as well as composers, old productions as well as new. I think it accomplished its purpose of making me want to learn more and hear more. Thanks to modern technology such as YouTube, we can look up any musical piece that sounds like it might be interesting and listen to it. With some pieces, there will be many, even dozens, perhaps hundreds, of recordings. Those we really like, we can download or even find on CDs or vinyl.
  While not in-depth, the book covers a lot of territory, leaving the reader the choice of further study. And unlike my music history class, this book mentions female composers and contemporary music. The last piece mentioned was composed in 2011, Alleluia by Eric Whitacre.
  Chapters are: Early music (1000-1400); Renaissance (1400-1600); Baroque (1600-1750); Classical (1750-1820); Romantic (1810-1920); Nationalism (1830-1920); Modern (1900-1950); Contemporary. After the chronological chapters, there's an equally chronological Directory of composers, starting with Johannes Ockeghem (c1410-1497) and ending with Magnus Lindberg (born 1958), James MacMillan (born 1959), Marc-Anthony Turnage (born 1960), and George Benjamin (born 1960). There's also a glossary and an index.
• 
  Deb

  Loved the design and layout. Really interesting to read. I realized that besides Eric Whitacre, I know none of the contemporary classical composers. This was a fun review! Need to bush up on my classical composers and work. Also, so glad to discover Dmitri Shostakovich! I've heard his work, but now I can associate the name!
  
  The book was also full of quotes. About music and from composers admiring their contemporaries. Really enjoyed seeing what they had to say about each other! Here are a few:
  
  * To sing is to pray twice. Magnus liber Organi (c.1170) Leonin (p.28)
  * The end of all good music is to affect the soul. Claudio Monteverdi (p67)
  * The end and final of all music should be none other than the glory of God. St Matthew Passion (1727) JS Bach (p.98)
  * An audience shouldn't listen with complacency. Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21 (1912), Arnold Schoenberg (p. 240)
  * I haven't understood a bar of music in my life, but I have felt it. Le Sacre du Printemps (1913), Igor Stravinsky (p. 246)
  * Stand up and take your dissonance like a man. Symphony No. 4 (1916), Charles Edward Ives (p. 254)
• 
  Mácio Meneses

  Um dos meus hobbies favoritos é montar playlists de músicas, e sempre faço pesquisas antes de montá-las. Nesse final de ano, eu queria montar uma playlist sobre a música erudita (ou música clássica, ou música escrita - como preferir), e não estava encontrando as informações na internet de forma fácil e "mastigada".
  
  Com esse livro, encontrei tudo o que precisava e mais um pouco. Descobri que eu precisaria não de uma, mas de oito (!) playlists para contar um pouco da história da música clássica. Descobri um mundo imenso que têm redimensionado a forma que eu entendo a música como arte. Recomendo a leitura a todos que se interessam por música.
• 
  Wendell Ramat Cabán

  Siempre me ha fascinado la música, personalmente toco el piano y ukelele. El conocer el origen cronológico de la música y el impacto que ha tenido en la sociedad es inspirador. El libro contiene piezas musicales de compositores famosos que tienen siglos y aún en día suenan a nuestro alrededor. Es muy entretenido tanto leerlo como mirar las páginas, tiene muchas imágenes y "quotes". Uno de mis "quotes" favoritos que menciona el libro es; "La vida es como el jazz, es mejor cuando improvisas". La música es tan importante en nuestra vida, que forma parte de lo que somos. Lo recomiendo, muy educativo.
• 
  Laurel

  🎹🎼🪗🥁🎸🎺🎻
  
  I wonder how classical composers would react if they were here today in the culture of auto-tune, capitalistic musicals and classical covers of contemporary pop music - I wonder which one would love it and which one would hate it - trying to picture Beethoven or Mozart trying to succeed in the 21st century - I think the majority of the pioneer composers would love the open creativity and would probably use social media and YouTube to spread their pieces 🎹
  
  Maybe BTS could collab with Brahms or Bach - Omgosh that would make an excellent movie …
• 
  Hal

  A very nice chronologically oriented review of the evolution of classical music. The book highlights key works of every composer through the ages with individual profiles and interesting facts. The graphics are splendid. A commendable addition to any audiophiles collection as well as those looking to explore classical.
• 
  Miku

  As someone who have no idea of this subject I can say that this is a worthwhile book. I recommend this book to people who have no idea of this subject and a beginner. This is a great book to introduce yourself to the subject.
  
  But my only problem is that if or is there anyway for us to know the form of music and what they sound like.
• 
  Scott Vandrick

  A beautifully illustrated overview of evolution of classical music from early music to contemporary. As a complete “self-lesson” I would recommend listening to the highlighted pieces of music in each chapter. A comprehensive overview.
• 
  Indah Threez Lestari

  523 - 2019
• 
  Andre Simoni

  Enciclopédico livro básico sobre música clássica, muito bem ilustrado e abrangente a todas as fases deste apaixonante gênero.
• 
  Özgür Baltat

  Klasik müziğinin gelişimi, başlıca akımları, önemli besteciler ve başlıca temel eserlerinin analizlerini içeren çok iyi bir ansiklopedik çalışma.
• 
  Beatriz

  Rigurosa y completa evolución de la música clásica.
• 
  Sergio Medinaceli

  Este libro se disfruta mucho, muchísimo con un buen par de audífonos y YouTube. Extrañé a Rachmaninoff.
• 
  Jorge Alberto Silva

  Este libro fue todo un viaje. La historia de la música clásica en poco más de cien obras desde la Edad Media hasta nuestros días. Recomiendo leerlo y, al mismo tiempo, escuchar las piezas incluidas.
• 
  Rina Takahashi

  Everything is fine for a sort-of text book, BUT WHY IS THERE NO MENTION OF RACHMANINOFF AT ALL!!
• 
  Alain del Risco

  Impressive!!!! Makes me want to analyze the book every time I buy a cd.
• 
  Shelly

  Another wonderful, informative, and inspiring (I'm inspired to listen to more classical music and to explore some new composers) book from this delightful series of educational books.
• 
  Paola Piliado

  
  This is an excellent compendium of facts, chronologically -edited and explanations of the evolution and history of music with incredible illustrations and biographical notes from the composers. It gets a little bit technical at times but if you are interested in learning, I found it was best accompanied by hearing the example that was being explained while reading. I have learned so much from this and has made me a lot more interested in classical music. It also made me really curious to explore the rest of the books in this series as a way to expand my knowledge in other interesting topics to me, as the layoff of the book is so digestible if you are patient.
• 
  PottWab Regional Library

  SM