Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hilariously fun and educational experience, June 27, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: The Record Shelf Guide to Classical CDs and Audiocassettes: Fifth Revised and Expanded Edition (Insider's Guide to Classical Recordings) (Paperback)
How many classical music afficionados do you know with a sense of humor, and a willingness to use it even in regard to the music they love? In all of my years of studying music I have come across only one (and he's not an academic) : Jim Svejda, one of the funniest men to ever write about music. For his incredible humor alone this book is easily recommendable enough. Where the problem starts for me is in Svekda's personal tastes -- they are quite conservative. How ironic that such an iconoclastic and irreverent guy can be so orthodox in his tastes in music, but then again that is part of the charm I guess that makes him so inimitable; you never can predict him, and if you try you are inevitably wrong! That is how I found the experience anyway due to the paradox that Svejda represents. Case in point: despite loathing just about every bit of modern music he comes across, he praises almost everything Schoenberg ever did. If there is one point of contention I would have with The Record Shelf it would be this phobia of modern music. Missing from the book are names like Cowell, Crumb, Riley, Partch, Reich, and scads of others who I had hoped would receive at least a passing remark given the book's 800-page length. It wasn't that he was required to like it - a guy as outspoken as this could easily tell us why these composers don't deserve recognition. Even Ligeti is left out, at the expense of scores of people of whom I have never heard. But Svejda's objective here, was to present music that one is likely to HEAR; not necessarily names that one is likely to know. So you can expect to find out about some composers you don't know, but ought to try. In addition, he does not take the stance so common in academic circles, whereby innovation is the only prerequisite for quality. So for example, composers such as Roy Harris, or John Field -- who get little more than an obstinate grunt of arrogant and self-satisfied disapproval from all the professors I have ever met -- get good remarks for the engaging elements of their music overlooked by scholars. I marvel at the man's super-human ability to actually remember so much data about so many recordings, performers, composers; anecdotes about performances, conductors, and yet still have enough brain matter leftover to make references to literature and more. He must have a photographic memory. I have almost nothing in common with Svejda on a musical level, and yet still every page is a revelation of some sort or another. Absolutely recommended to anyone except those afraid to enjoy themselves.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Outdated 1996 version still useful, March 23, 2005
This review is from: The Record Shelf Guide to Classical CDs and Audiocassettes: Fifth Revised and Expanded Edition (Insider's Guide to Classical Recordings) (Paperback)
While what music-critic Jim Svejda writes is informative, funny and interesting, the survery of available recordings in this 1996 is limited and misses the last decade of newer recordings, reissues and compilations. But it will cost you a bundle more to have the latest edition. However, this is the type of guide that "distills" the more legendary recordings from the pack - at least in terms of Svejda's viewpoint - so is loaded with tons of experience. Generally, such a guide is not recommended as one's primary source of review/opinion but more as a second or third source. For this it is helpful and certainly entertaining given his often irreverant tone (unlike Penguin Guide's overly-prim-and-proper tone). His descriptions of the major works are interesting too. While the most comprehensive guide is Penguin and my favorite other source is "The Third Ear Essential Listening Companion for Classical Music, " Jim Svejda offers a fresh, highly opinionated perspective that often gives new insights the other guides did not.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best guide to the best classical recordings, July 19, 1998
This review is from: The Record Shelf Guide to Classical CDs and Audiocassettes: Fifth Revised and Expanded Edition (Insider's Guide to Classical Recordings) (Paperback)
Of all reviews of classical music, I trust only the American Record Guide (a periodical) and this book. The author has a wry wit and a wonderful feel for what is and isn't good. Face it; there are many pieces of classical music (particularly 20th century) that just sound bad. Svejda essentially says "don't let anyone tell you that this sounds good...it doesn't", and he's right. Perhaps his tastes are mine are alike. It's uncanny just how much they are alike, so I attribute it to telling it like it is.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
