Customer Reviews

This is Music: A Guide to the Pleasures of Listening

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David Randolph blows the dust off 500 years' worth of serious music, and explains how best to approach the art--as a purely abstract medium that is incapable of conveying concretes. If you think you should be "seeing" swans when you listen to Saint-Saens, or rivers when you hear Smetana's "Moldau", or little Napoleons in Beethoven's "Eroica", then you definitely need this book. That is its main value: clearing the way to an understanding and genuine enjoyment of serious music by disposing of the myth that it can convey anything other than generalized emotions. Along the way, Randolph also offers an elementary course in basic musical forms, and a cogent analysis of musical styles peculiar to the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods. He also discusses whether the creation of music is (or should be) an "emotional outlet" for either the composer or the performer. (If his answer to the question surprises you, and you accept it, you'll never again see the more flamboyant of classical music's performers--and, especially, orchestral conductors--in quite the same light!) My only reservation is that Randolph's listening suggestions are a bit sparse, and include too many pieces that most newcomers will likely find less than immediately appealing.

I have had the pleasure of singing under David Randolph for the past three years as part of the St. Cecilia Chorus in New York City, and I have never met a conductor with such knowledge, understanding, and genuine love for the music he conducts. David's expertise (yes, he's 91 - and full of energy) is only matched by his appreciation for the subject at hand - it's impossible to work with him (or read this engaging book) and not fall in love with the music he so eloquently describes. He treats music as the whole experience, and appreciates that listeners (and readers) are looking at a piece of music from various levels of technicality. He shares how to fully appreciate a classical work whether you're analyzing the intricacies of Baroque counterpoint or simply marveling at a stage full of violin bows moving up and down in unison. I can't recommend this book enough - it will allow you to listen to music in a whole new way.