Discover Music of the Classical
Era is part of the excellent Discover
series from Naxos Books. It is meant
as a companion to showcase and access
the relevant music on their website
www.naxos.com/naxosbooks/discoverclassical.
One of the objectives
of Naxos is for the reader to buy
the CDs of which you can hear samples
on the site mentioned above, but it
is actually much more than that. This
is another fabulous little book that
can literally and easily be put in
one’s pocket. Despite its size it
is comprehensive and educational,
pleasant to read and informative.
All this in only 128 pages!
After the contents
list, the first two pages are dedicated
to explaining how one accesses the
website (requires free registration).
It contains all the information needed
and is illustrated with screen prints,
which make things even simpler, particularly
for those who may not be so familiar
with the internet. It is then organised
in twelve chapters that thoroughly
explain, in an easy to read manner,
the music of the classical period.
The first is a kind of introduction,
which aims at answering the question
"What was the classical era?"
The chapters that follow comprise
all the great composers of this time:
the really famous, like Mozart, as
well as the lesser known, as for example
Albrechtsberger, detailing their importance
and some of their most influential
pieces. This is illustrated with extracts
of the various works and with the
clear indication where they are in
the website thus enabling one to listen
to the music, as one reads the carefully
written explanations about each composition.
Generally, the links to the music
work well though some download slower
than others. There is a control panel
available at the bottom of the webpage,
for each track, when you click on
the "Listen" icon and this
is clearly explained at the top. You
can also go straight to the detailed
catalogue page when you click on the
relevant CD icon or on the numbers
in italic. You will then be
able to purchase the work. The sound
quality is generally very good and
one is given the choice of listening
to the extracts in two different modes:
FM quality (20 kbps) or near CD quality
(64 kbps). The recordings chosen are
all by established, distinguished
artists, delivering critically acclaimed
interpretations and giving excellent
performances.
The book is user-friendly
and written in an accessible language
that any person will understand whether
he or she is musically literate or
not. The author, Stephen Johnson,
who is also a distinguished journalist
and broadcaster, writes in a clear,
fluent style. He calls things by their
proper names but without ever sounding
pompous or too intellectual to scare
off some readers who are keen listeners
but may struggle with the way in which
some musicologists or music historians
write, often too technical and flourished
for easy comprehension.
Adding to the informative
value of the book, there are reproductions
of portraits of the composers named
in it, as well as of accounts written
by their contemporaries. Stephen Johnson
also takes great care in the historical
references, giving a general, summarised
idea of what was going on politically
and continuously referring to important
works of the time, which were also
being accomplished in other arts,
like in literature, visual arts and
architecture. At the end of the book,
there is an excellent chronological
table, spanning from 1750 to 1816
- the period usually denominated as
classical in music - and containing
the birth and death of each significant
composer, the date of completion of
their most important compositions,
set against the historical events
of the same year, as well as the events
in art, architecture and literature.
This is a very useful table that will
help one put things in perspective
and understand what changed in the
arts after the Baroque period, why
it happened and how it lead to Romanticism.
Commendable is also the glossary,
explaining the musical terms used
in the book and, unusual but very
interesting, the map of Europe, which
graphically indicates where all the
composers of the classical period
were born. This is complemented by
a brief list with all their names,
dates and places of birth and death.
Discover Music
of the Classical Era is really
a lively little book, interesting
and informative to read on its own
and particularly enjoyable if you
read it and listen to the music on
the Naxos website, as you go along.
It will make for a very pleasant experience
whether one enjoys the music of this
period or not, helping to understand
how rich it was and why it all came
to be.
I personally found
it delightful and would recommend
it to any person who loves music in
general and the composers of the classical
period in particular. Let us hope
that Naxos will continue to publish
such fabulous, little books to accompany
their generally excellent CD recordings.
Margarida Mota-Bull
Delightful. I would
recommend it to any person who loves
music ... see Full Review
With each Life &
Music biography comes access to a
dedicated website for that composer,
containing hours of extra music to
listen to. The works featured on the
CDs may be enjoyed in full on the
website (so in the case of Mahler,
there are seven symphonies and four
major vocal works!) plus many pieces
by contemporaries of the composer.
There is also a substantial timeline
showing the composer’s life beside
concurrent events in arts, literature
and history.
These websites, together with the
book and CDs, make for an unrivalled
multimedia approach the biographical
format and a uniquely rounded portrait
of each composer.
