Customer Reviews

The Danger of Music and Other Anti-Utopian Essays (Roth Family Foundation Music in America Imprint)

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A very entertaining writer and strong scholar (particularly of early music), but, to me anyway, reactionary and often infatuated with polemic. For instance, what's up with his obsession with the late Milton Babbitt? I'll admit I probably don't like Babbitt's music any better than Taruskin (or nearly anybody else on earth) does, but does he (a minor composer and marginal theorist at best) really need to be dragged out as the bogeyman every time music influenced by Schoenberg is discussed? He even uses the same (Gotcha!!!) quotation every time.

I enjoyed the book (and learned from it), but I find it difficult to take Taruskin (and his opinions) as seriously as he takes himself (and them). I'm disappointed that a scholar of his caliber and a writer of his skill so often uses these opportunities (mostly reviews of books and concerts) as vehicles for expressing his own reactionary bias rather than engaging in discussion.

It saddens me to see how deeply neocon ideas and methodologies have penetrated our culture.

The good news: This book, made up of essays collected mostly from relatively high-brow general interest periodicals, covers a wide range of musical subjects, conveys a lot of information, and should be easily accessible to any reasonably musically literate reader. The essays tend to be thought-provoking and encouraging of exploration.

The bad news: The writerly tone is too often arrogant, bullying, and petty. The author seems to have a need to try to prove himself smarter than everyone else, and too plainly enjoys settling scores with his "adversaries." If you've ever experienced the surreal nastiness of a university arts or humanities department, you'll recognize the tone immediately.

Reading the book left me feeling simultaneously intellectually stimulated, depressed, and cranky. Perhaps that's how it feels to be a musicology professor . . .)