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  • Published: 5 November 2019
  • ISBN: 9780143111085
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 504
  • RRP: $49.99
Categories:

The Indispensable Composers

A Personal Guide



When he began to listen to the great works of classical music as a child, Anthony Tommasini had many questions. Why did a particular piece move him? How did the music work? Over time, he realized that his passion for this music was not enough. He needed to understand it. Take Bach, for starters. Who was he? How does one account for his music and its unshakeable hold on us today?

As a critic, Tommasini has devoted particular attention to living composers and overlooked repertory. But, like all classical music lovers, the canon has remained central for him. In 2011, in his role as the Chief Classical Music Critic for the New York Times, he wrote a popular series in which he somewhat cheekily set out to determine the all-time top ten composers. Inviting input from readers, Tommasini wrestled with questions of greatness. Readers joined the exercise in droves. Some railed against classical music's obsession with greatness but then raged when Mahler was left off the final list. This intellectual game reminded them why they loved music in the first place.

Now in THE INDISPENSABLE COMPOSERS, Tommasini offers his own personal guide to the canon--and what greatness really means in classical music. What does it mean to be canonical now? Who gets to say? And do we have enough perspective on the 20th century to even begin assessing it? To make his case, Tommasini draws on elements of biography, the anxiety of influence, the composer's relationships with colleagues, and shifting attitudes toward a composer's work over time. Because he has spent his life contemplating these titans, Tommasini shares impressions from performances he has heard or given or moments when his own biography proves revealing.

As he argues for his particular pantheon of indispensable composers, Anthony Tommasini provides a masterclass in what to listen for and how to understand what music does to us.

An exploration of the question of greatness from the chief classical music critic of The New York Times

Anthony Tommasini has devoted particular attention to living composers and overlooked repertory. But, as with all classical music lovers, the canon has remained central for him. Tommasini resists the neat laws of canon formation—and yet, he can’t help but admit that these exalted composers have guided him through his life, resonating with his deepest emotions and profoundly shaping how he sees the world.
 
Now, in The Indispensable Composers, Tommasini offers his own personal guide to what the mercurial concept of greatness really means in classical music. As he argues for his particular pantheon of indispensable composers, Tommasini provides a masterclass in what to listen for and how to understand what music does to us.

  • Published: 5 November 2019
  • ISBN: 9780143111085
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 504
  • RRP: $49.99
Categories:

Praise for The Indispensable Composers

"A spirited musical compendium to the best of the best...[Tommasini's] goal is to keep his assessments simple, insightful, and jargon-free, and he succeeds...Entertaining, highly enthusiastic, and very knowledgeable, he's the perfect guide [to the great composers]...all exuberantly presented for your edification and enjoyment." --Kirkus

"Insightful...Tommasini twines engaging biographical sketches of the maestros and their tragic ailments, love affairs, and endless scrambles for money with appreciations of masterpieces, the latter enriched by his memories of hearing and performing them...he excels at the difficult task of capturing music in words...The result is an engrossing study that will appeal to both classical music aficionados and novice listeners who want a road map."--Publishers Weekly

"A treasure trove of biographical information and a primer on the language and notation of music itself...Tommasini makes a potentially dry and academic subject accessible."--Library Journal