Classical Music For Dummies^? (For Dummies)
Customer Review: Lose the jokes
Very good but loses a star for silly jokes which are unecessary and really annoying. Should be edited and republished without the jokes. CD is lovely

Customer Review: An excellent and entertaining introduction
I’ve been passionate about classical music for about two and a half years now, but was still interested to learn more about things such as (for instance) the structure of a typical symphony (as I was not trained in music myself). This book answered all of my questions, and many more.

Whatever your level of understanding (and including if you are a complete newcomer to the subject), I would say that this is the book for you. It is clearly written, does not assume any prior knowledge, and yet also has plenty of new information for someone such as myself.

Additionally, like many such books, it is written with the aim of being funny and entertaining. The revelation in this case is that the authors actually succeeded in making me laugh on a number of occasions…something that is quite rare with this sort of style I find.

I would advise newcomers to classical music to read this book, and also “The Lives of the Great Composers” by Harold C. Schoenberg (for a more in depth look at particular composers) and “The Rough Guide to Classical Music” by Joe Staines (for reference and advise on which recordings to buy). With these three books under your belt, you’ll be ready to fly!

-

Search CLASSICALmanac, Today in CLASSICAL music SEARCH
Reviews of contemporary and traditional classical music. Updated monthly.

Scotland’s Music: A History of the Traditional and Classical Music of Scotland from Early Times to the Present Day
Customer Review: A tour de force
John Purser’s revised and updated book is sure to become the seminal work on this subject. Yes, it is written from his own point of view, but Purser has done so much to uncover the huge musical heritage of the Scottish Nation that he must be allowed the occasional foray into that state. Through his untiring advocacy, the works of notable composers such as Carver and Thomson have received a new lease of life. There is no other source book on this subject, and I can wholly recommend it.

Customer Review: Excellent study of the music of Scotland
This book is both an indispensable textbook for students of music who are studying the music of Scotland and a fascinating, vivid and enjoyable book to dip into. It charts music in Scotland from the earliest musical instruments discovered by archaeologists to present day music, encompassing the traditional, the sacred, the secular and the more ‘classical’ styles through the ages.

My only reason for witholding a star is that it is written very much from the author’s point of view, which is great if you are reading for pleasure but less than ideal if you are using it as a research textbook. Perhaps it was not written with such a use in mind, however, there are not many in texts on this subject and therefore this is often recommended as essential reading for students. It is great to see this book being reprinted as it was difficult to obtain for many years.

-

Immerse yourself in the land of classical music when you travel with an intimate group of music lovers on a WKSU sponsored tour of Austria. … Continue …

Robin Hood (Classic Literature with Classical Music)

-

The American Classical Music Hall of Fame celebrates the exceptional individuals and institutions of the past and present who have provided the foundation … Continue …

Separated from the rest of Time Out's music listings, this listings service describes coming opera, orchestral, choral and ensemble performances. Continue …

A Child’s Introduction to Ballet: The Stories, Music and Magic of Classical Dance (Book & CD): The Stories, Music and Magic of Classical Dance (Book & CD)

-

Classical Music. The Force of Destiny. Or how to overcome unbelievable librettos and mushy tenors. by Alan Sherrod. Any opera company that stages Giuseppe … Continue …

Classical music news, reviews, interviews, streaming concerts and more. andante.com — a comprehensive online destination for classical music lovers. Continue …

Classical Music (Eyewitness Companion)
Customer Review: My Favourite Classical Music Book

As classical music guides go, this is one of my favourites. It’s described as `hardcover’ but is more `stiff paperback’ like the other Eyewitness Companions in this series.

The book is produced in association with Classic FM, which is one of the main reasons it is so readable and yet informative. Classic FM, having spent more than a decade successfully popularizing classical music, have helped present the information in layman terms instead of the rather `dry’ methods used by some authors.

Divided into ten main sections, with a foreword by Lady Solti (of the late Sir Georg Solti), the book is on quality paper with numerous colour illustrations and photographs.

The contents are briefly as follows:

THE ELEMENTS OF CLASSICAL MUSIC (7 pages) - a very brief intro to the basics of classical music.

CLASSICAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS (11 pages) - a run down of the popular instruments of the orchestra.

CLASSICAL MUSIC IN PERFORMANCE (7 pages) - where and how classical music is performed.

EARLY MUSIC (29 pages) - from Middle Ages to Renaissance.

THE BAROQUE ERA (49 pages) - from 1600 to 1750.

THE CLASSICAL ERA (39 pages) - from 1750 to 1820.

THE ROMANTIC ERA (65 pages) - from 1810 to 1920.

THE ROMANTIC OPERA (39 pages) - opera from 1810 to 1920.

NATIONAL SCHOOLS (107 pages) - 1830 to 1950, an account of each composer from their respective country.

MODERN MUSIC (120 pages) - 1900 to the present, a large section covering the period variably described as `neo-classical’, `modern classical or `minimalist’.

This book comfortably fills the gap between an all-to-brief `pocket guide’ and an all-to-heavy encyclopedic `tome’. It is easily my first choice recommendation for the newcomer to classical music, while still offering an excellent read to the more knowledgeable classical music enthusiast.

-

Classic Cat - the free classical music directory
Classical Music America. Classical music radio online. One of America's first classical music radio stations online. Your place for Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, …

The Rough Guide to Classical Music (Rough Guide Music Guides)
Customer Review: Informative, exciting, and positively opinionated
The fourth edition of this invaluable guide is packed with information on classical music and should appeal to the novice and the longtime enthusiast - fact, anecdote, explanations of musical styles, explorations of musical forms, biographies and assessments of leading composers and musicians. It's an exciting, entertaining, informative, stimulating smorgasbord of a book which you can browse, read, use as reference material, or employ to settle arguments.

It may, however, start as many arguments as it settles, for the material here does not sit on the fence. The assessments of various composers will fuel the ire of some fans … and bring a smile to the faces of others. This is information and professional opinion, not gospel. This is a reference book with presence, personality, and little pretension - it's never glib or trite. A book to stimulate those little grey cells, not one which will gather much dust.

Customer Review: The best place to start to explore classical music
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).

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!

-

CLASSICAL MUSIC ARCHIVES - CLASSICAL MUSIC
The largest classical music site on the web. Tens of thousands of classical music files. Most composers and their music are represented.

The Gramophone Classical Music Guide 2008

-

Classical Music Streaming-Music Collection at Naxos Music Library
Birth and death dates, pronunciation, and nationality of composers.

calendarlive.com - Classical Music
Concerts, album reviews, pop, jazz and classical music news from the Los Angeles Times.

My First Book of Classical Music: 20 Themes by Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin and Other Great Composers in Easy Piano Arrangements
Customer Review: Twenty _NINE_ themes
This slim volume has a nice card cover so should stand quite happily on your music stand.

All the italian terms are listed and defined in a preface.

Each piece is preceded by a short paragraph giving a little history of the piece or composer.

There is plenty of space around the staves for your own notes.

Only one piece spans more than two pages (and is the only piece that requires a page to be turned whilst playing), and that is both a slow piece and has “turn” marked in the score to remind players.

Overall an ideal book for beginners, or for sight reading practice by intermediate students.

The only thing missing is an assessment of the difficulty of the pieces (or a list roughly ordered by difficulty as appears in some other volumes of the “My First Book of…” series)

Customer Review: Nice!!!
This book is lovely for the starting pianist, simple yet not boring, great even for more experienced players. The “my first book” series are all great, i have about 15 of them, they range from christmas top jazz, they-re all great. oh and the price is marvellous!!

-

Impulse Classical Music Website
Search here for pages on contemporary classical composers and performers - photographs, biographies, reviews and down-loadable musical tracks.

Classical Music America - Classical Music Radio Online
Classical Music America. Classical music radio online. One of America's first classical music radio stations online. Your place for Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, …

Classic Women’s Short Stories (Classic Literature with Classical Music)

-

classical music directory, directory, music education, music instruction, virtual concert hall, concert hall, web concert hall, online music directory … Continue …

Stephen Fry’s Incomplete and Utter History of Classical Music
Customer Review: Does what it says on the tin
The thing to understand about this book, apart from the fact that it isn’t really written by Fry himself, is that it is indeed incomplete, as it says in the title. I approached this with high hopes after reading his excellent book on poetry, and found myself somewhat disappointed. If I had read it first I suspect I may not have been so underwhelmed. As it is, there are very few books available which offer a readable, albeit necessarily potted history of classical music, and when approaching the subject as a rank amateur, desperately in need of a way into the genre one takes what one can get. It isn’t technical, it doesn’t have all the answers, it doesn’t cover everything and there are some terrible jokes in it, but it does offer a glimpse into and reasonable overview of the world of classical music without either being 12 billion pages long, or so technical you haven’t a hope in hell. This, in my opinion, is a good thing.

Customer Review: Oh deary me…
I was so excited when I bought this book. I love classical music, I love Stephen Fry’s wit and so I thought this happy union would have me wetting my pants with some Bach playing in the background.

As the title suggests, it is very very incomplete, but far from utter. I’m not a huge fan of Mozart, but I found it slightly unfair that he was given a total of around 6 pages of the book, whereas Fry’s favourite composer, Wagner (given a larger font throughout he book - somewhat annoying) gets a whopping 30 pages. Which is not very respective of the two composer’s works.

Fry’s wit is in there, alright. But reading his wit just isn’t the same as hearing it. I found it frustrating that I had to keep thinking how Fry would have said this or that line, to have even the faintest dribblings in my seat. Even then, Fry uses the same jokes over and over again. Tedium sets in after a while.

Perhaps the most annoying thing, though, is that this book is NOT a history of music. It is a very incomplete narrative of historical events interspersed with the odd musical reference. If I’m reading a book concerning the history of classical music, am I likely to care about the population of China in the 18th century? I think not.

In short, those who want to have a little chuckle would do better with either the Liar, Moab or the Tennis Star’s Balls. Those who want a little background to music would be better off buying the Groves Encyclopoedia. It may cost a lot more than the Incomplete and Utter History, but you get what you pay for.

On the back cover, R Schumann gives “his” views on this book. “I threw it in the Rhine”. I know the feeling, and will be quite happy to throw it in the Danube.

-

Links to free Classical Music downloads on the internet. Continue …

Easier - Some people think of classical music as anything that is played in a concert hall. Others consider it any music that has lasting value such as … Continue …