Whilst writing yesterday's post, the Tippett & Messiaen bit, I had at the back of my mind Alex Ross's The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century, a tome I've had it in mind to purchase since coming across the very handsome hardback in Borders a few months ago. Just a quick browse was sufficient to confirm the quality of the writing, and since Mr Ross covers the kind of stuff I like to listen to but few others seem to, it seemed to me a must buy. Actually I assumed then it was a relatively minor sort of book and have been very gratified to see it winning prizes and getting an excellent review in a recent New York Review Of Books, which anyone interested in can access here. I think it comes out in paperback soon and that's when I'll be grabbing it.
I've also got in mind a couple of books by Jan Swafford, one on Brahms and another general survey of 'serious' music. It's not that either topic gets my pulse racing, but Swafford's biography Charles Ives: A Life With Music is the best book I've read on any musician of any type - proof that it is possible to write about music and communicate something of the experience of listening to it. I'd recommend it to anyone, even if they didn't particularly care for arguably the greatest of all American composers. It's just a tremendously insightful about a fascinating sort of chap. I'm hoping Ross gives Ives some coverage.
Oh and I saw a book about The Clash when we were last in KL that I wish I'd have bought - one with a green cover - so I'm the lookout for that. The wishlist just gets longer.
By the by, antestorm posted a spot-on comment regarding Funeral one of my picks for the CD changer. One of the truly great CDs for driving or otherwise. Strongly recommended for anyone with open ears.
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