Product Description

"1001 Classical Recordings" is a guide concerned with excellence in every field of classical music. The reader becomes familiar with the Gregorian chants of the Medieval age (pre-1400), the madrigals and more secular music of the Renaissance (1400-1600), the intricate ornamentation of the Baroque era (1600-1750), the structured pieces of the Classic period (1750-1820), and the emotionally charged Romantic works (1820-1900), right through to the innovative and sometimes challenging composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. From the great and inspiring Masses, choral works, symphonies, concertos, and operas, to the intimacies and subtleties of chamber music and pieces written for small ensembles and soloists, the reader builds up a full understanding of the variety of music in the classical genre, and is guided to the most outstanding recordings of each masterpiece. Each entry is potentially a gateway to exciting new territories of music for the reader to explore.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28932 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 960 pages

About the Author
Matthew Rye is a writer and journalist who worked for many years on the staff of BBC Music Magazine and more recently at The Strad Magazine, where he is currently working freelance as a reviews editor. He is a music critic for the Daily Telegraph, writing regular reviews of CDs and concerts, and he has also contributed to a wide variety of other titles on classical music. His publications include a chapter on twentieth-century opera for the Blackwell History of Music in Britain and contributions to the Rough Guides to Classical Music and to Opera.

Customer Reviews

Yes, don't be put off by that title...
I completely agree with Garth Winter's review. This book is part of a series of publications of 1001 'things' you shouldn't miss, which may suggest a publisher has just thrown together some classical CDs to make a up a music title. In fact, this is an extremely thoughtful guide and one I have found enormously rewarding since buying.

It differs from other classical CD guides available in the U.K. in a number of ways, the most obvious being that works are arranged in chronological order, from the 12th Century up to 2004. This actually makes a lot of sense; if you like one piece of music, in a style typical of its age, say a Tchaikovsky ballet, then browsing a few pages either side of Swan Lake (say), you find other works which may well appeal to you. More than, say, a Telemann concerto which would be listed in a conventional alphabetical guide. I think relative newcomers to classical music will particularly benefit from this (although as a long-standing collector I've already been inspired to try a number of works I've not heard before). Also this book is very well illustrated, with reproductions of CD covers, and full page photos of composers and conductors. I thought this was a bit of a waste of space at first, but there are some fine illustations; a front cover of Time magazine showing Shostakovich against a blazing Leningrad with the title 'Fireman Shostakovich' (although the CD cover illustrated for the Leningrad Symphony is completely wrong (Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony)). And on page 619 there is a delightful photo of Alban Berg and his young nephew, Erich; young Erich is looking up in something approaching awe at his uncle, whilst Berg himself seems to be on some literally, as well as physically, higher plane altogether. Grab a sight of this even is you don't buy the book.

Of course none of this would justify the book's publication if the advice offered wasn't sound, and here they also come up trumps. A number of highly experienced writers have contributed, including David Gutman, Erik Levi and David Nice. And what I particularly like is that they aren't just churning out old, much repeated, recommendations; where a recording really has stood the test of time (just a couple of examples- Previn's recording of Orff's Carmina Burana; the du Pre/Barbirolli Elgar Cello Concerto) then it's there. But which version of Dvorak's New World Symphony would you expect to be chosen? Kertesz? Kubelik? Their recommendation is Harnoncourt with the Concertgebouw. Listen to it and you'll know why. Also there are alternative recommendations for some works, but I think they were running out of space in what is already a hefty book.

It's a stimulating read for all, and a very good starter guide for newcomers. And I like the fact that Matthew Rye, the general editor, tells you in the introduction that you should really get out and hear music as was intended, in the concert hall. And then take advantage of the fabulous legacy of recordings Western civilisation has left us. And is continuing to do.

Better than the title suggests!
I like to think I'm a serious classical musician and collector, with thousands of CDs, but I found plenty in this book to send me in new directions, and for the relative newcomer to music it would be a truly fabulous resource. As the great cellist Steven Isserlis says in his foreword, the sheer variety of music available to us these days -- even within "just" the classical sphere -- is bewildering. Where are you to start? Well, this would certainly get you going, presenting as it does more or less the entire core repertoire of concert hall, opera house and chamber-music room.

The material is set out in clear chronological order, and the reviews of the suggested recordings of the music are written by well-known and respected critics. And in fact "1001 Recordings" is a considerable understatement, because they're not dictatorial about what they consider to be the best, and in many case they offer a list of equally interesting and worthy alternatives.

The book weighs a ton, but a heavy read it is certainly not. It is not the last word -- no book could ever be that -- but it is a steal at the price, and I recommend it wholeheartedly.

Spoilt by omissions in the index
This is an impressive piece of work which is spoilt somewhat by an inaccurate index to the works reviewed. I was curious about Wagner's Lohengrin and but to my surprise did not find it in the index. If you plough through the book, you will find that it is indeed included. Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto and most of the works by Schumann are also excluded from the index. A good effort spoilt by slack editing.

I took the trouble to write to the publishers to point out these omissions, but after a couple of months have received no reply whatsoever.