Customer Reviews

The Penguin Companion to Classical Music

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

 

 

I'm more than a little surprised that this book, published in August 2005, hadn't already received a review by the time of my own review here in mid-February 2006. There has been a lot of buzz about the book, not least because it is the work of one man: Paul Griffiths, former music critic of The New Yorker and the New York Times. The book goes toe to toe with other similar books like the Oxford Dictionary of Music or the Harvard Dictionary of Music, and others of that ilk. It appears to me to be the equal of those which were written by committees of musicologists. And it has the advantage of putting forth the viewpoints of a single author. I found myself browsing with utter delight. My problem with browsing was that when I was referred from an article on, say, Beethoven to one on Handel, I would get side-tracked when, as I turned pages, I came across an article on Frau ohne Schatten, Mirella Freni, or the French sixth. But then that's part of the pleasure of a book of this sort. I took to writing down where I wanted to eventually get to in the book because most times I would get so caught up in the intervening reading that I'd forgotten where I had intended to go.

The book contains short articles (and some not so short -- the one on Beethoven, for instance, takes six pages) on innumerable topics, covered in nearly 900 pages. It covers composers well-known (Beethoven, Bach, Brahms) and those barely heard of (Franchetti, Nanino, Gruenberg), as well as instrumentalists, music publishers, conductors, singers and the like. Basic (and some not-so-basic) musical terms are defined and sometimes examples given. There are articles on the various musical instruments and their histories, as well as disquisitions on various musical forms, techniques, styles, artistic movements et al. There are brief articles on important musical works (e.g. Goldberg Variations) and he provides brief synopses of operas.

Griffiths writes in a smooth modern authoritative-yet-casual style that is extremely easy to read; this is no surprise as he is also a published poet and novelist. He includes enough oddities and rare facts to make a grizzled veteran like myself want to keep reading. Yet he covers the basics without becoming pedantic or pompous. When in an article he uses an abbreviation or set of initials (e.g. LSO: London Symphony Orchestra) one can find the definition under the alphabetical listing for that term. One small deficiency is that he makes no effort to provide pronunciations of non-English terms. As in any work of this scope, he has had to make decisions about what to include and what to leave out. Thus, pianist Marc-André Hamelin rates an article, but his pianistic colleague Stephen Hough does not. One is amazed, though, at how much he manages to include without the work assuming truly gargantuan proportions; in its paperback format the book is easy to handle and will not break your toe if you drop it. It has an attractive format, the paper is sturdy and the print easy to read.

This book would be a valuable addition to any musiclover's library. Strongly recommended.

Scott Morrison

Outstanding book. But the inability to search easily renders it useless on the kindle platform. For example I challenge anyone to find the entry on Beethoven in under 5 minutes. Certainly a search of the word will reveal over 70 pages of references to 'the word' in references far and wide, but hidden amongst them will be the primary entry, I could not find it. One is left having to guess the likely page number, and move forward or backwards from there.
Extremely dissapointing on Kindle and not recommended as it stands.

If there is a better one-volume reference on classical music, I'm not aware of it. Everytime I need info on a composer, even obscure ones, or a particular work or style, I turn to this outstanding book by Paul Griffiths and am not disappointed.

I happily side with most of what reviewer Morrison has said. A very engaging work, fun to dip into and the ideal bedside reading. As a work of reference,however, it violates a tenet, namely that scope,intent and any idiosyncracies be clearly set forth for the prospective buyer/user. Instead, the author indulges in all sorts of caprice, with the end result that you never know when to grab this book, rather than another, to look something up in. Here's a list of missing names which every music lover will recognize: Kipnis (both father/singer and son/harpsichordist & scholar), Abendroth, Schuricht, Scherchen (Conductors; in the latter's case all the more absurd since his daughter, Scherchen-Hsiao gets an entry); Quasthoff, Rethberg, Hanson, Netrebko, Pape, Schlusnus, Rosvaenge, Schorr, Battle, Cebotari, Battistini, Gobbi, Ivogun, Erb, Kirkby, Schipa, Muzio, Vinay, Varnay, Thorborg, Simionato (Singers - and all of them first rank. Conversely, Lily Pons and Maria Jeritza who were better known for their looks than their vocal art, are included); Moravec, Solomon, Wild, Kapell, Katchen, Larrocha, Gulda, Anda, Watts, Cziffra, Kempff, Friedman (pianists). The Juilliard and Budapest Quartets are in, the Emerson and Hollywood String Quartets are out. We have frivolous/superfluous entries for Francoise Sagan's novel 'Aimez-vous Brahms', and for Chester Kallman. And for Richard Wagner, the author is warming up the hoary story once again about his paternity having "never been resolved". The subject became a matter of interest in certain quarters when Geyer, who became Wagner's stepfather after the father's death, was thought to have been Jewish (this started with Nietzsche). Since it has been established to be utterly without substance, it has made the paternity issue irrelevant. Wagner himself never thought that Geyer was his father.
A last word about his choice of singers: He didn't miss a single prominent Richard Strauss interpreter!

This is a very worthwhile book to have. I am so glad to have purchased one since it is now out of print, maybe they should consider reprinting another edition.

I enjoy reading the kinds of books that provide background information about artists, composers, and music to enhance one's enjoyment. So, I have several in my library at home.

Unfortunately, this "companion" pales in comparison to others. For me, its weaknesses are in the writing and comprehensiveness.

The writing style is a bit on the terse, joyless side; it isn't particularly engaging or interestingly written. When it comes to the human side of classical music, I want to get a flavor of the people and their place in classical music. But the style here is pretty dry. Overall, the writing is not *bad*, it's *ok*.

Respecting comprehensiveness, it lacked many entries I was expecting to find, particularly from this source - Penguin. They're the people who bring us the Penguin Guide to Classical Music, containing a kajillion ratings of classical music recordings on CD and DVD. When I look at that Penguin Guide, there is a lot of music, artists, and composers rated there that may be less familiar to the public, but they're not in this "companion" guide. I guess I was expecting some kind of relationship, or more integration between the two Penguin tomes. Also, in many instances, I knew that there should/could have been more information in the entries I did find.

Ultimately, I consider this companion guide best for the beginner to intermediate listener.

I eventually gave mine to a friend whom has just begun to get into classical music, and he is enjoying it.

For an example of one that I feel is more enjoyable and will take you farther in your music-listening journey, check out the NPR Listener's Encyclopedia of Classical Music. Ironically, it reads more like a companion, and the Penguin Companion reads more like an encyclopedia!