Customer Reviews

All Music Guide to Classical Music: The Definitive Guide to Classical Music (All Music Guide Required Listening)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This giant, 5 lb, small-print guide is not exactly a book you nestle down with in your reading chair. Let the buyer beware: if you are a person who cannot or does not like to read really, really FINE PRINT, then this guide is probably not for you. It has by far the tiniest print I have seen in a book - even smaller than the "Third Ear Guide to Classical Music" if you are familiar with that one.

In my first look at this monster-of-a-guide, I could not get beyond this tiny print and the overly-plain visual layout. But, with another long look, the value of this unique guide started to stand out clearly. There is a reason for such tiny print - to cram in an unbelievably vast amount of information in one volume. The All Music Guide is enormously ambitious in what is contains:
o BIOGRAPHIES of over 500 composers AND 800 performers (unprecidented in one volume)
o Fairly detailed PROGRAM NOTES for an impressively large number of works (not just the major ones)
o Listings of 2-6 RECOMMENDED RECORDINGS for each work (but no comparison or explanations of the choices like Penguin)
o ESSAYS on the major musical periods and forms (difficult to read these longer sections with the tiny font size!)

The amount and level of detail of the program notes is impressive - giving musical history, perspective and minor analysis for not only a given category of work (say, Mozart's 27 piano concertos) but also most or all of the individual works! These essays are not unlike those found in a CD liner notes. So, with this guide, you can look up the background and musical insights of Mozart's concerto #20 as well as see what recordings/astists are recommended for that one concerto. The only other guide that does this is Penguin Guide. So, now can you appreciate why this book has such tiny print and weighs a ton? But, as enormous as this guide is, don't expect EVERY composition to be listed. For instance, under "Beethoven" there is ample discussion about the string quartets, there is little text or recordings for the ten violin sonatas and early string trios.

Another valuable aspect for many will be the biographies of the great past and present PERFORMERS. This volume contains fairly detailed highlights of each artist career (2-4 paragraphs) AND a listing of their finest recordings for performers like Argerich, Grumiaux, Perlman, Perahia, Rubinstein, Horowitz, Galloway, Holzinger, Bain and so on. (But some of your personal favorites may not be there - like Rachel Podger and Pamela Frank for me). However, I found the performer biographies a bit dry with not enough juicy details about their lives, styles and sometimes quirky sides to make it really compelling and interesting. (tip: one of the best books for fascinating personal stories on the great pianists is David Dubal's book, "The Art of the Piano").

Also, keep in mind that the AMG is NOT a CD/DVD guide as it only LISTS a few recommended recordings and does not compare/contrast/explain them (like Penguin, Third Ear, or Gramophone Guides). But, then again the title says "Guide to Classical Music" and not "Guide to CD's DVD's" like the others. So, its a different animal. But, I thought the AMG's focused recommendations were up-to-date and reliable overall, giving a good range of historic, modern, and budget choices. All-in-all, a valuable addition if you already have Penguin, Gramophone and Third Ear Guides to Classical Music.

Published in 2005, the All Music Guide to Classical Music (AMG) is a handy home version of some features from its webpage. As a published guide, is more a direct competitor to the The Rough Guide to Classical Music and does not directly compete with buying recommendation guides like The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music and Classical Music: Third Ear. Like Third Ear, the AMG assigns composer coverage to a single individual -- usually more than one writer works on different sections of a composer's output; sometimes a different writer covers each symphony or concerto of a composer -- giving readers what amounts to an individual, not group, recommendation. This is one of the principal shortcomings of Third Ear, which operates the same way.

Among its best points, this is a comprehensive guide to composers and performers, perhaps more so for the latter than the former, giving both new and experienced collectors a tad of information on their favorite orchestras, ensembles, conductors and performers. I learned in this guide violinsit Joshua Bell was born in 1967, making him older than I suspected and two decades older than he appears on the cover of his new Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. I'd never read his birthdate in any of his recordings or in the music dictionaries I own. I tried to find violinist Janene Jansen's age; she isn't represented in the book.

Another plus: the AMG provides recommended recordings for every individual and group it discusses. Fans of the English Concert may or may not agree with recommendations for its recordings of Haydn's "Sturm und Drang" symphonies, Handel Orchestral Suites, Vivaldi Concertos, Bach Brandenburg Concertos, and Handel's complete Organ Concertos. I've heard many of these recordings and the recommendations seem judicious.

The recording recommendations in this guide are safe and sometimes better. The writers often recommend very well known and long established recordings, always on major labels. In the section on British symphonist Ralph Vaughan Williams, each writer discussing VW's individual symphonies recommends the most well-known stereo recordings of Boult, Hickox and Barbirolli. Not a single writer recommended any Vaughan Williams recording of Vernon Handley, one of the best living interpreters of this composer. Nor does one recommend a single recording from the VW Naxos series that has garnered acclaim all over the place.

As a result, for all AMG's worthwhile descriptions of composers and performers, the recording recommendations require amplification from elsewhere. The book is also not thorough with every composer. Its section on one of my favorites composers, Franz Krommer, does not discuss or make recording recommendations on his best and most popular body of work, his Octet-Partitas. Neither is there any section describing the time and work from one of my favored minor composers, Joseph Triebensee; nor is there a section describing one of my favored lesser recorded conductors, Claus Peter Flor. So, while good, this tome is far from complete. You may located some missing material at the All Music Guide's Web site, if you choose.

The guide describes itself this way: "A handy, single-volume guilde to the kaleidoscopic world of classical music - one that doesn't cost a fortune and doesn't require an advance degree to understand." Maybe it doesn't cost a fortune; the one I have is labeled $34.95; you can get it for much less here. And maybe it's straighforward much of the time but not always. In fact, the composer sections and sections on recordings are written by musicologists that often go into musical detail beyond the average listener.

Here's an excerpt from the descripton of William Walton's Sympony No. 1: "Write a fugue...the result was a dam-breaking fugue three minutes into the movement before the pace switched from Brioso ed ardentemente (spiritiedly, ardently) to Vivacissimo, leading to a return of the Maestoso materials that began it."

The AMG is, in the main, a useful guide to the realm of classcial music performers and recordings. It is superior to the Rough Guide to Classical Music and operates in similar bandwidth. It tries to tell you a little about everything and, to some extent, it succeeds and gives information other books skip.

This is a excellent starting point for a beginner that offers a little about everything and everyone and is vastly superior to the Rough Guide. For more experienced listeners and collectors, it makes a meaningful addtion to your library that already contains the Penguin Guide, Third Ear and a good encyclopedic tool such as the Oxford Dictionary of Music of The Penguin Companion to Classical Music, all of which offer more detailed information in their specific areas of expertise.

I agree that this volume is not a buyer's guide, but it does not purport to be. For great buyer's guides, turn to Penguin or Grammophone. The All Music Guide is a fantastically comprehensive guide to the lives and works of many hundreds of classical composers and performers, many of whom are omitted in other guides such as Rough. Yes the print is small, but I'm happy to use a magnifier to read about the many obscure composers I like. I know of no other one-volume reference with this much information about this many composers and performers.

The previous reviewer made it seem as though the only disadvantages to this book were the small print and the dry writing style--those are minor flaws. The main disadvantage to the AMG is that it is a very, very poor buying guide. There is no discussion of the many CDs that are usually available for a particular piece with an analysis of the orchestras, conductors and soloists. There is simply a write-up about the particular composition followed by typically 2-4 recommendations. There is no mention in the write-up about orchestra, conductors, musicians or anything else relevant to helping one choose one particular recording over another. The write-up is not tied to their recommendations--they're totally independent! I gave the AMG 2 stars because it is marketed as a shopping guide, which it is not. If it were marketed as an encyclopedia of musical data it would earn 4 stars.

By contrast, The Third Ear discusses enough about the music to give you some sense of it and a broad and sometimes comprehensive discussion of the various performances of the piece. It often traces the earliest recordings of the piece and tells you whether or not they are available on CD. For Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, for example, The Third Ear cites over 30 different recordings with key aspects about each performance along with the recording label and catalog number. The Third Ear gives you lots of data with which to make a shopping decision or, at least, to narrow down your search. I found it useful to know that it is the opinion of some musicologists that Stokowski's various pre-stereo versions of Scheherazade are considered by some to be definitive and which labels they are available on. I like knowing that Reiner's interpretation of the final movement is "hair-raising" and that the "Living Stereo" (RCA 68168) release is superior to the Gold Seal (RCA 60875) pressing. I will stay away from Jarvi because his "tempos are sluggish and the acoustics are over-reverberant".

In summary, the AMG discussions of the musical piece are disembodied from the recommendations. It's like one person wrote about the composition and another spat out 2 or 3 labels with catalog numbers. One has no clue as to why the particular recommendations were made which are sometimes poorly reviewed by Amazon reviews, The Third Ear, Gramophon (which is also a poor buying guide for different reasons than for why the AMG is poor) and Penguin (also not good compared with The Third Ear). If you need an encyclopedia of music and want to know, for instance, the story of Scheherazade, then you'll need an encyclopedia of music--maybe the AMG. But if you want a shopping guide, then The Third Ear is your best choice.

I do find it curious, however, that both The Third Ear and the AMG are both published by Backbeat Books!

This is a work of vast knowledge which encompasses not only biographies of composers and artists, but analysis of well known and obscure compositions. And although there are CD buying recommendations, this is not really the choice for that. If that is your preference then The 2008 Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music is a much better choice. This book is much more for enlightment than browsing.

Beware,though, of the fine print. If your vision is not the best you might want to buy a magnifying glass before purchasing this enormous wealth of information.

One could buy multiple volumes of other material before approaching what is found between the covers of this massive work. And you can't beat the price for what you'll get. Do yourself a favor and buy this book.

If you possessed limited knowledge of classical music before, after you purchase this book that will all change. And deepen your enjoyment of the greatest music ever written.

Very good for the person who doesn't know anything or need to brush up on there facts, about classical music.

This big volume gives the reader an excellent overview of the periods in music by difining the era and then listing the composers in Alphabetic order with a further list of their music.
Great volume to have in your home library.
mDixon

This is an extremely valuable reference book on classical music, even for the sophisticate music lover. Highly recommended.

I'LL SAY IT'S FAIR IN THE REVIEW. SOME CONDUCTORS WHERE NOT MENTIONED,
OUT DATED WITH CONDUCTORS NOW LIVING AND MAY BE NOT LIVING SOME NEWER
CONDUCTORS THAT ARE NEW WHERE NOT EVEN MENTIONED, SO I WOULD SAY ITS FAIR
NOT ENOUGH WHEN INTO RESEARCH ON CERTAIN, IN CLOSING SHOULD HAVE BEEN
IMPROVED.