Books on Classical Music : Recommending / Considering

[SimonNZ]

Not just a good "music (auto)biography" but a good book, period. Hough can write, and has a distinctive style and voice. This only covers the early part of his life--through music school, so it's sort of a coming of age story.

I got given a copy of his Rough Ideas a couple of days ago. Not sure when I'll get to it. Have you read that one?

[Brian]

@Mookalafalas curious about two of the conductor memoirs you have read recently and how they handle more "dramatic"/sordid sides of things. Does Schwarz discuss his ejection from Seattle and the bitterness there? And does Brusilow discuss the unceremonious end of the Dallas Symphony on his watch? My understanding is that the orchestra brought him over from Philly as a bright young future star, but the orchestra went into the ground, donations dried up, and half a season was cancelled for lack of cash. The DSO then went into "dark ages" until being rescued by some super rich locals and Eduardo Mata. I'm curious if this is yet another incident where Brusilow says he is the good guy done wrong...

[Mookalafalas]

@Mookalafalas curious about two of the conductor memoirs you have read recently and how they handle more "dramatic"/sordid sides of things. Does Schwarz discuss his ejection from Seattle and the bitterness there? And does Brusilow discuss the unceremonious end of the Dallas Symphony on his watch? My understanding is that the orchestra brought him over from Philly as a bright young future star, but the orchestra went into the ground, donations dried up, and half a season was cancelled for lack of cash. The DSO then went into "dark ages" until being rescued by some super rich locals and Eduardo Mata. I'm curious if this is yet another incident where Brusilow says he is the good guy done wrong...

  Sorry, Brian, I just saw this. It's been a while since I read them...I don't think Schwarz mentioned any unpleasantness in Seattle. The second half of the book is how he built it up from rubble, and got a huge beautiful hall built. He did say his NEW MUSIC choices were sometimes unpopular. I vaguely remember wondering why he was moving on--if it was age or what.  And Brusilow never acknowledged any personal failings, whatsoever. I recall his "creatively" getting popular music recording contracts, to give the orchestra extra money. And he talked a lot about how Ormandy vengefully threatened to have any soloist who played with Dallas blackballed from the classical world, and scared them all away--except for Van Cliburn, who continued to play for him. I think he also talked about a music critic who had it in for him, although that comes up in a lot of the bios, and I could be mixing them up.
 

[Cato]

Has anyone seen this recent book as a physical copy? Published by Cambridge in the last few years and expensive - listed on Amazon as over 500 pages - MY INTEREST are the illustrations which I cannot determine from Amazon or the Cambridge website - in my mind a book of this type would require a LOT of great pics - can anyone help me decide on a purchase (now $36 paperback on Amazon but if I had $20 credit then a BUY!).  Thanks - Dave

I found this for you: it seems to have at least c. 100 photographs taken by the author "unless otherwise noted" according to the List of Figures:

https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_History_of_Stringed_Keyboard_Instrumen/60pgEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover

[vers la flamme]

Got myself a copy of this today:



So far, it's very good–detailed, but also quite to the point. I'm not sure how many Beethoven bios I really need, but I would love to read Jan Swafford's as well.

Still need to get my hands on good bios of Bach, Mozart, and Schubert... if anyone knows of any, I'm open to recommendations.

[Mookalafalas]

I got given a copy of his Rough Ideas a couple of days ago. Not sure when I'll get to it. Have you read that one?

Sorry. I don't come around that often.
   I do have that, and have read the first few chapters. It's fine, but it's more essays, without a unfiying theme to pull it together and inspire one to keep reading (like the bio). What I read had a sort of negative vibe--"What's wrong with classical music (and it's fans) these days," which does't exactly pull you in and make you want to keep reading like the bio does. However, the writing is strong, and his examples are interesting, as I recall.

[Brian]

Sorry, Brian, I just saw this. It's been a while since I read them...I don't think Schwarz mentioned any unpleasantness in Seattle. The second half of the book is how he built it up from rubble, and got a huge beautiful hall built. He did say his NEW MUSIC choices were sometimes unpopular. I vaguely remember wondering why he was moving on--if it was age or what.  And Brusilow never acknowledged any personal failings, whatsoever. I recall his "creatively" getting popular music recording contracts, to give the orchestra extra money. And he talked a lot about how Ormandy vengefully threatened to have any soloist who played with Dallas blackballed from the classical world, and scared them all away--except for Van Cliburn, who continued to play for him. I think he also talked about a music critic who had it in for him, although that comes up in a lot of the bios, and I could be mixing them up.
 

Thanks so much for the recommendation. My copy just arrived in the mail today! I started flipping through. There is definitely a music critic in for him, which is funny, because I've posted elsewhere about how that exact music critic's successor here is also an unusual figure...he believes everyone plays too loud, and reviews negatively any performance that exceeds his loudness rules 

Looking forward to reading the whole book. The Ormandy parts look...fiercely honest.

[Brian]

Sorry, Brian, I just saw this. It's been a while since I read them...I don't think Schwarz mentioned any unpleasantness in Seattle. The second half of the book is how he built it up from rubble, and got a huge beautiful hall built. He did say his NEW MUSIC choices were sometimes unpopular. I vaguely remember wondering why he was moving on--if it was age or what.  And Brusilow never acknowledged any personal failings, whatsoever. I recall his "creatively" getting popular music recording contracts, to give the orchestra extra money. And he talked a lot about how Ormandy vengefully threatened to have any soloist who played with Dallas blackballed from the classical world, and scared them all away--except for Van Cliburn, who continued to play for him. I think he also talked about a music critic who had it in for him, although that comes up in a lot of the bios, and I could be mixing them up.

We're having the slowest conversation in GMG history.  I'm reading the book now, enjoying it thoroughly. I'm still in the Szell years, wondering about the "Nazi collaborator violinist" who plays a solo with the orchestra on tour in Vienna in 1957. Google has been absolutely no help trying to find old concert programs from that tour. Wonder who the violinist was...

[Mookalafalas]

We're having the slowest conversation in GMG history.  I'm reading the book now, enjoying it thoroughly. I'm still in the Szell years, wondering about the "Nazi collaborator violinist" who plays a solo with the orchestra on tour in Vienna in 1957. Google has been absolutely no help trying to find old concert programs from that tour. Wonder who the violinist was...

   I wonder about his whole story about how Monteax turned from sweet, family-man mentor to "trying to destroy his career" all because Brusilow got married? That sounded like a LOT of key material was being left out. Tons of great anecdotes, though. His tell-all style is really refreshing compared to how timid and circumspect most of these books are with criticism of famous figures. The authors seem terrified of alienating anybody. I suppose because it's such a small, intertwined world...

[Jo498]

We're having the slowest conversation in GMG history.  I'm reading the book now, enjoying it thoroughly. I'm still in the Szell years, wondering about the "Nazi collaborator violinist" who plays a solo with the orchestra on tour in Vienna in 1957. Google has been absolutely no help trying to find old concert programs from that tour. Wonder who the violinist was...

Without being too cynical, "Nazi collaborators" were probably a dime a dozen in 1950s Austria. It was hardly a special distinction and although of course there was a broad range from ardent Nazis to mere opportunists, this had been faded sufficiently in the late 1950s that most people would not dwell on it.

[Brian]

Without being too cynical, "Nazi collaborators" were probably a dime a dozen in 1950s Austria. It was hardly a special distinction and although of course there was a broad range from ardent Nazis to mere opportunists, this had been faded sufficiently in the late 1950s that most people would not dwell on it.

This makes sense, thanks.

I wonder about his whole story about how Monteax turned from sweet, family-man mentor to "trying to destroy his career" all because Brusilow got married? That sounded like a LOT of key material was being left out. Tons of great anecdotes, though. His tell-all style is really refreshing compared to how timid and circumspect most of these books are with criticism of famous figures. The authors seem terrified of alienating anybody. I suppose because it's such a small, intertwined world...

There are a LOT of cases throughout the book where Brusilow seems like an unreliable narrator, or so proud of himself and pleased with himself that you can't help wondering what the truth is. Like how he, personally, ruined the friendship of Szell and Ormandy. And, yes, how he got Monteux to abandon all professionalism. And his consistent habit of violating the terms of his own contracts, then being surprised when his bosses get annoyed with him. The funniest one to me was when he has his touring chamber orchestra and thinks his brother is the most amazing, imaginative clarinetist, but it becomes clear that everybody else in the orchestra hates his brother's clarinet playing.  It was a very entertaining read overall, and I do feel like I learned a lot about a generation of great conductors. Actually I read all but 5 pages in a single day (yesterday) because he's so chatty and friendly you can't resist his company. But it does rather leave me feeling he should have stuck to concertmastering...

[Mookalafalas]

This makes sense, thanks.
There are a LOT of cases throughout the book where Brusilow seems like an unreliable narrator, or so proud of himself and pleased with himself that you can't help wondering what the truth is. Like how he, personally, ruined the friendship of Szell and Ormandy. And, yes, how he got Monteux to abandon all professionalism. And his consistent habit of violating the terms of his own contracts, then being surprised when his bosses get annoyed with him. The funniest one to me was when he has his touring chamber orchestra and thinks his brother is the most amazing, imaginative clarinetist, but it becomes clear that everybody else in the orchestra hates his brother's clarinet playing.  It was a very entertaining read overall, and I do feel like I learned a lot about a generation of great conductors. Actually I read all but 5 pages in a single day (yesterday) because he's so chatty and friendly you can't resist his company. But it does rather leave me feeling he should have stuck to concertmastering...

You definitely have to take him with a grain of salt. But even so, I love his Szell stories. The previous stuff I've read about Szell, even interviews with some musicians, seemed to be a whitewash. Brusilow's anecdotes about his rages are a nice counterbalance.
   His story about the violin really bothered me, though. To me, the whole way he received it had a deeply embedded "Pay it forward" set of expectations. The way he just sold it so he and his wife could enjoy the cash seemed really crass--and revealing. 

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

^ His description of the encounter with Karajan was interesting.  Pretty resentful about the man he considered as a Nazi sympathizer.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Have any of you read "Moscow Nights"?  Fun read?

[ritter]

I'd guess Elly Ney:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elly_Ney

She was a pianist, AFAIK.

[Daverz]

She was a pianist, AFAIK.

A Nazi and she couldn't even play the violin!

Bustabo, perhaps?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guila_Bustabo

Though that's more a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time rather than what I'd call collaboration.

[Crudblud]

A few off-the-cuff thoughts on having just last night finished Jan Swafford's Mozart: The Reign of Love.

This is a large, intimate, and highly detailed look at Mozart's 35 years. The book alternates between chapters of Mozart's personal and working life (with some attempt to suggest that they are essentially one and the same) and what I suppose are intended to be accessible analyses of various of his most celebrated pieces of music. The former consists in detailed accounts, with excerpts from letters, criticism, and a healthy dose of admitted speculation where gaps present themselves. The latter is largely made up of glimpses, sometimes fleeting, into the inner workings of Classical compositional logic on the one hand, and a lot of emotionalist padding on the other side.

I realise I'm largely on my own in thinking that music has no emotional content, but any time I read something like "[K.516] is not demonic from the outside, but rather anguished from within" (p. 544*) I feel a sense of second-hand embarrassment for anyone who could countenance such a description of a string quintet of all things. I suppose a piece of music could be demonic if it were composed by a demon, but anguished? Speculate as to the mental state of the composer during the composition process if you wish, but to say that a piece of music is itself experiencing such a state is to ascribe something that is in my view quite beyond its capacity.

This is of course a classic problem with writing on music generally. Because one must engage the music as music, in which case one is left with description and connection of abstract elements of a likewise abstract whole, one has essentially two choices: hard analysis or accessible description. Since Swafford is, as he says, trying to create something scholarly but broad in appeal, he ends up with a surface-level analysis couched in emotive language that serves neither to illuminate the work nor deepen one's appreciation for Mozart's genius.

Swafford's writing on the operas is considerably meatier than his writing on the instrumental works, or even other works with text like the Masonic musics and the Masses and Requiem (which Swafford can't seem to decide whether to resist the urge to fully engulf with mythology or not). However, sometimes 30 pages of plot description seems rather unnecessary, especially when most of the analysis, what a particular story might have meant to Mozart, whether it offered social commentary that had to be slipped in under the radar of Joseph II's censorious reforms, how effective its communication was as a result etc. etc. is largely outside these outsized and distended synopses.

Overall the book gives an excellently clear picture of Mozart as a man at home, in the concert hall, and in society. From his childhood under the overbearing Leopold to his profligate independence and late success in Vienna, we are witness to the complete evolution of a brilliant musical mind at a level of magnification that a shorter book perhaps could not have provided. The letter excerpts and their changing tones not just from person to person, but from childhood to maturity, are well and richly illustrated by Swafford with particular attention to how Mozart related to the people close to him, his business, and the world he inhabited, yet largely leaving flights of psychoanalytic fancy out of the picture.

I must leave off here, but with some mixed feelings I would say that this is a comprehensive portrait that anyone interested in Mozart, not just confirmed fans of Mozart, will find of interest and highly readable, at least at a casual level. It will be some time before I get around to it, but I look forward to reading Swafford's other composer biographies, despite knowing that I will take issue with them in part.

*in the paperback edition