I believe one way to circumvent the inability to edit old posts would be to make vertciel a Moderator.

Perhaps this thread could be moved over into the Publications category, with moderation privilidges enabled for him, for this very purpose.

Just a suggestion...

Just read this thread. A couple interesting items:

I used to play piano and compose with Rimm. Really interesting guy with some very insightful ideas.

Also, check out 101 Masterpieces of Music & Their Composers by Martin Bookspan- it has some great in-depth analyses, especially of the Beethoven and Haydn symphonies.

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Take a look at the Bandit's blog, The Classical Corner.

Grout is the college classic that college students have to read (music-majors, I mean). There is a wonderful Brahms biography by Jan Swafford that examines certain of his more famous music as they are written in Johannes' life.

I have a lot of old college books that I could probably post on this thread, I just don't know just how "interesting" they are.

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"Aufersteh'n, ja aufersteh'n
wirst du, mein Herz, in einem Nu!
Was du geschlagen
zu Gott wird es dich tragen!"
-Gustav Mahler

I'd just like to thank Chi-Town / Philly for recommendation of Steinberrg's The Symphony. It has been a great reference since i picked it up about a week ago. I know little theory, but the writing is concise and not too technical.

@World Violinist: I'd be interested in seeing what material you used in your college class. Feel free to post!

Pardon me if I missed any previous mention of these books while scrolling through the thread:

I can highly recommend Alex Ross's book The Rest Is Noise, published last year. It's a survey of 20th Century music written with such insight and enthusiasm that I felt compelled to get a recording and listen to each composition that he discusses. This book has actually influenced my listening and appreciation of music,

J.W.N. Sullivan's Beethoven is an old classic that contains one of the most profound discussions of meaning in music that I have ever encountered.

Paul Griffiths' Concise History of Western Music gives the big picture in less than 350 pages. Published by Cambridge U Press, it got some nice reviews last year, which is why I bought it. Might be a good place to start before delving in more detailed histories.

gee, there are so many good ones out there, I'll recommend a couple that i have recently read:

1. Conversations with Karajan - Interview with Herbert von Karajan with Osborne

2. Karl Böhm - A Life Remembered

I used to have quite a few music books but when I moved up north I had to leave most of my books behind. I had a Schubert bio by Richard Baker,also a Schunann bio,never got round to reading them tho. Would love a Mozart bio,also Haydn and Rachmaninov.

Now the only music book I have is the Collins Dictionary of Music by Michael Kenndey,1994. Has a photo of Sir Simon Rattle on the cover- an essential source of info!

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An artist must have the freedom to create-Edward Weston

Well I'm not very well read in this area, but one book I would recommend is "1001 Classical Recordings You Must Hear Before You Die", does what it says on the tin, good for classical newbies (like me!) and aficionados alike. It's a great reference and buyer's guide, it goes right from the 12th century to the 21st, everyone from Hildegaard Von Bingen to Karlheinz Stockhausen. Guaranteed to create a few arguments among classical buffs!

Principles of Orchestration by Rimsky-Korsakov.

Go online to the amazing Garritan Interactive Principles of Orchestration course. This uses the Rimsky-Korsakov text with audio files created of all the score extracts. It also includes video clips of sections of the orchestra and individual instruments and at the end of each chapter there is a series of exercies to do, with MIDI files and other resources available. And - it is free!

http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/...splay.php?f=77

Ugh, I purchased that a few months ago and every recording I've looked up to check out, they give the most obscure, unknown, quite-terrible suggestions. I've only saw a few that I agree with like Furtwangler's version of Beethoven's 9th and Soltis version of Mahler's 8th.

Anyhow, my most recent purchase was one of Harold Steinberg a few months ago. I believe it's called "The Lives of Great Composers." Gives both a musical and personal approach to all of the important composers.

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Music is the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend. -- Beethoven

I've been teaching myself how to read and play classical keyboard and I've found some pretty good info in :
Elementary Training for Musicians by Paul Hindemith
Piano Playing With Piano Questions Answered by Josef Hofman
Piano Technique by Walter Gieseking and Karl Leimer

Great site! Thank you!

The are so many books about Elgar, but three that made a particular impact on me are the following. They're all about Elgar's friendships with women, but reading them changed certain aspects of how I listen to his music.

1. Edward Elgar. Memories of a Variation by Dora Powell

Dora is the 'Dorabella' of the Enigma Variations. I felt as if I knew her already, in a way, through the music of her variation, and that's true of course. But that knowledge of the music affected the way I read her utterly delightful book. And after I'd read the book, the music acquired an extra delicacy and specialness.

2. Edward Elgar: Record of a Friendship by Rosa Burley

Rosa Burley was an important friend who was the headmistress of the school where Elgar taught violin lessons (badly) before he was famous. She often went cycling with him. She provided him with a certain kind of support that was clearly important to him, but nothing at all like the semi-flirty but innocent relationship he had with Dorabella. She doesn't appear as an Enigma Variation, surprisingly. She herself claimed, jokingly, that she was 'the Theme'! Again lots of insight into Elgar the man, and through that knowledge, insight into the music.

3. Elgar in Love: Vera Hockman and the Third Symphony by Kevin Walter Allen

This was a revelation to me when I read it - I'd had no notion of this late-flowering love affair in Elgar's life. But after I'd read this book, I never listened to the Third Symphony (or rather, Anthony Payne's wonderful reconstruction) again in the same way. I always find myself listening for 'Vera's theme' when it appears as the lovely second motif in the first movement.

Folks, what do you recommend as a good general reference that covers instruments, terminology, composers etc? It does not need to be the latest so I have been thinking of an older edition of the Grove, namely that by Eric Blom which is available for a reasonable cost second hand. Single volume refs like the Oxford Companion tend to be a bit too undetailed.