The Best Books on Classical Music

Thanks for the advice Parla, but because I can barely read music, I think I should concentrate on how the music makes me feel, rather than comprehending it.

'[Herbert von Karajan] once said to fellow conductor Simon Rattle that after the first hundred performances of [Beethoven's] the Fifth Symphony, one begins to understand the work!'

from the book Teach Yourself Classical Music by Stephen Collins

I see that Charles Rosen's absolutely essential books on classical and romantic music have been mentioned. Apart from them, I would recommend the following book on recent 20th century composers, because it consists of the thoughts of a conductor on composers he has worked with and his interviews with them - very absorbing and illuminating:                                       

Richard Dufallo - Trackings: composers speak with Richard Dufallo           

 I can't think of another book on modern music to which I have returned so often and with such pleasure (and that includes Alex Ross, whose writing follows the law of diminishing returns). Of course it is always worth reading what composers have to say, which is why various books by (for instance) Busoni, Van Dieren, Schönberg, Stravinsky/Craft, Tippett, Boulez and Jonathan Harvey will survive after all opinionated effusions by journalists have disappeared in the maw of oblivion.

I am wondering, has anybody yet picked up a copy of "Three Questions for Sixty -Five Composers" by Balint Andras Varga (Rocester Press)?

Just out of interest, here are the three questions:

1. Do today's composers draw inspiration from life experiences or from, say, the natural world?
2. What influences, past and present, have influenced recent composers?
3. How essential is it for a composer to develop a personal style, and when does this degenerate into self-repetition?

Sprowsing it is!

I'm not got access at the moment to Spotify (and forgive me if this is teaching my granny to suck eggs) so don't know if it's available on there, but the Soile Isokoski recording on the Ondine label is a lovely version of the Strauss.

I 'sprowsed' last night to find a particular recording of the Berceuse from Godard's Jocelyn and ended up journeying down some extremely obscure byways involving historical singers from the turn of the (19th/20th) century, which is a particular interest of mine. I really must go on some sort of self-discipline course to get me back on the straight and narrow.

Getting back on to the topic of the thread, another book which I'm enjoying re-reading at the moment is 'Caruso and Tetrazinni on the Art of Singing'. A slim volume, obviously ghost-written, but containing several gems and very illuminating for those interested in the field. 

Readers might be amused that my new word was accepted by Urban Dictionary.  (My pseudonym there is '1john' because 'kev' was already in use).

Mark, I wonder, however, how Mr. Ross justifies (or explains) the "subtitle" Shostakovich gave to his great 5th Symphony : "The reply of a Soviet Artist to just criticism". It's subtle irony on one hand, but, on the other, it doesn't cease to be what the "subtitle" clearly states.

Shostakovich case is a much more complicate story than a political one, I suspect.

Parla

Not exactly about music as such but with the comments about Wagner on another post I found the book The Wagner Clan by Jonathan Carr detailing the family feuds amongst his Welsh daughter in law, his grandchildren & their involvement with the Nazis & Hitler quite an entertaining read.