Customer Reviews

Infinite Variety of Music

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Bernstein knew his music and his enthusiasm for its variety and richness is infectious. Everyone who has used iTunes or other online music downloads sites knows that we as humans have insatiable appetites for endless variety. This book channels that nature and passion in an uplifting manner to harness it towards refining one's appetites for more of the classical and folk styles of music and the many variety's of rich music in such genres. Bernstein opens with a dialogue about what it means to truly listen to rather than simply hear music and progresses onto an analysis of what makes music rich, concluded with in depth analysis of several music masterpieces. This book is for both the layman and connoisseur of music. For me it provided numerous references to music both familiar and new that I am excited to download in the future and add to my iTunes playlists! You can preview most of this book on google books, but it's definitely worth it to buy a hardcopy of this work for home reference.

Bernstein was a great teacher, and along with his tremendous knowledge of Music he conveys a great enthusiasm for it. He says early on that reading music is a vital skill, and should be a part of the education of everyone. He says that the ability to play a piece oneself is to understand the music in a way one cannot simply by hearing it.
A number of these chapters are transcripts of five television talks he did.
Bernstein shows the way Music's complexity is built up from simple elements. He takes a subject like 'rhythm' and gives a whole host of musical illustrations. These will be very helpful to those who can read the music as at least half the text of the book is the notes of the music.
Speaking more generally Bernstein advocates a new development in American music. He wonders why the music written over the past half- century has not entered the concert hall in a true way. He notes that Classical music was primarily contemporary music, and educated audiences had enthusiasm for the latest things. He wishes to get to something like that in American music.
There are many insights given along the way about music by Bernstein. And these make the book a valuable one.

Inspite of having been written so many years ago, these talks are still valid and outstanding.- I am a commentator on Music on Television, and Leonard Bernstein has been, and continues to be, my model and idol in this respect.- Very recommended indeed.-

This book is everything you would want in a detailed discussion of music and then some.