The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century - Softcover

9780312427719: The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century
View all copies of this ISBN edition:
 
 

Winner of the 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism
A New York Times Book Review Top Ten Book of the Year
Time magazine Top Ten Nonfiction Book of 2007

Newsweek Favorite Books of 2007
A Washington Post Book World Best Book of 2007

In this sweeping and dramatic narrative, Alex Ross, music critic for The New Yorker, weaves together the histories of the twentieth century and its music, from Vienna before the First World War to Paris in the twenties; from Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia to downtown New York in the sixties and seventies up to the present. Taking readers into the labyrinth of modern style, Ross draws revelatory connections between the century's most influential composers and the wider culture. The Rest Is Noise is an astonishing history of the twentieth century as told through its music.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:
Anyone who has ever gamely tried and failed to absorb, enjoy, and--especially--understand the complex works of Schoenberg, Mahler, Strauss, or even Philip Glass will allow themselves a wry smile reading New Yorker music critic Alex Ross's outstanding The Rest Is Noise. Not only does Ross manage to give historical, biographical, and social context to 20th-century pieces both major and minor, he brings the scores alive in language that's accessible and dramatic.

Take Ross's description of Schoenberg's Second Quartet, "in which he hesitates at a crossroads, contemplating various paths forming in front of him. The first movement, written the previous year, still uses a fairly conventional late-Romantic language. The second movement, by contrast, is a hallucinatory Scherzo, unlike any other music at the time. It contains fragments of the folk song 'Ach, du lieber Augustin'--the same tune that held Freudian significance for Mahler. For Schoenberg, the song seems to represent a bygone world disintegrating; the crucial line is 'Alles ist hin' (all is lost). The movement ends in a fearsome sequence of four-note figures, which are made up of fourths separated by a tritone. In them may be discerned traces of the bifurcated scale that begins Salome. But there is no longer a sense of tonalities colliding. Instead, the very concept of a chord is dissolving into a matrix of intervals."

Armed with such a detailed aural roadmap, even a troglodyte--or a heavy metal fan--can explore these pivotal works anew. But it's not all crashing cymbals, honking tubas, and somber Germans stroking their chins. Ross also presents the human dramas (affairs, wars, etc.) behind these sweeping compositions while managing, against the odds, to discuss C-major triads, pentatonic scales, and B-flat dominant sevenths without making our eyes glaze over. And he draws a direct link between the Beatles and Sibelius. It's no surprise that the New York Times named The Rest Is Noise one of the 10 Best Books of 2007. Music nerds have found their most articulate valedictorian. --Kim Hughes
About the Author:

Alex Ross, music critic for The New Yorker, is the recipient of numerous awards for his work, including two ASCAP Deems Taylor Awards for music criticism, a Holtzbrinck Fellowship at the American Academy in Berlin, a Fleck Fellowship from the Banff Centre, and a Letter of Distinction from the American Music Center for significant contributions to the field of contemporary music. The Rest is Noise is his first book.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

  • PublisherPicador
  • Publication date2008
  • ISBN 10 0312427719
  • ISBN 13 9780312427719
  • BindingPaperback
  • Edition number1
  • Number of pages720
  • Rating

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780374249397: The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  ISBN 13:  9780374249397
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007
Hardcover

9781841154763: The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century

Harper..., 2009
Softcover

9781841154756: The Rest is Noise

Fourth..., 2008
Hardcover

9780007326754: Rest is Noise

Harper...
Softcover

9780739497777: The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century

Farrar..., 2007
Softcover

Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace

Stock Image

Ross, Alex
Published by Picador (2007)
ISBN 10: 0312427719 ISBN 13: 9780312427719
New Paperback Quantity: 9
Seller:
BookOutlet
(Thorold, ON, Canada)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. Paperback. Publisher overstock, may contain remainder mark on edge. Seller Inventory # 9780312427719B

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 8.38
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.25
From Canada to U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Seller Image

Ross, Alex
Published by Picador (2008)
ISBN 10: 0312427719 ISBN 13: 9780312427719
New Soft Cover Quantity: 10
Seller:
booksXpress
(Bayonne, NJ, U.S.A.)

Book Description Soft Cover. Condition: new. Seller Inventory # 9780312427719

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 18.96
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Alex Ross
Published by MacMillan Publishers (2008)
ISBN 10: 0312427719 ISBN 13: 9780312427719
New Softcover Quantity: > 20
Seller:
INDOO
(Avenel, NJ, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. Brand New. Seller Inventory # 0312427719

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 16.22
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 3.99
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Ross, Alex
Published by Picador (2008)
ISBN 10: 0312427719 ISBN 13: 9780312427719
New Softcover Quantity: 14
Seller:
Lakeside Books
(Benton Harbor, MI, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. Brand New! Not Overstocks or Low Quality Book Club Editions! Direct From the Publisher! We're not a giant, faceless warehouse organization! We're a small town bookstore that loves books and loves it's customers! Buy from Lakeside Books!. Seller Inventory # OTF-S-9780312427719

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 17.52
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 3.99
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Alex Ross
Published by Picador (2008)
ISBN 10: 0312427719 ISBN 13: 9780312427719
New Softcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Roundabout Books
(Greenfield, MA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. New from the publisher. Seller Inventory # 1557137

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 22.54
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Ross, Alex
Published by Picador (2008)
ISBN 10: 0312427719 ISBN 13: 9780312427719
New Paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldenWavesOfBooks
(Fayetteville, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New. Fast Shipping and good customer service. Seller Inventory # Holz_New_0312427719

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 20.22
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.00
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Ross, Alex
Published by Picador (2008)
ISBN 10: 0312427719 ISBN 13: 9780312427719
New Softcover Quantity: 8
Seller:
Lucky's Textbooks
(Dallas, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # ABLIING23Feb2215580107989

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 20.33
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 3.99
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Ross, Alex
Published by Picador (2008)
ISBN 10: 0312427719 ISBN 13: 9780312427719
New Paperback Quantity: 3
Seller:
Ergodebooks
(Houston, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # BKZN9780312427719

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 24.91
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Ross, Alex
Published by Picador (2008)
ISBN 10: 0312427719 ISBN 13: 9780312427719
New Paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
Textbooks_Source
(Columbia, MO, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. First. Ships in a BOX from Central Missouri! UPS shipping for most packages, (Priority Mail for AK/HI/APO/PO Boxes). Seller Inventory # 000910958N

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 21.72
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 3.99
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Féraud, Raymond
Published by Féraud, Raymond (2018)
ISBN 10: 0312427719 ISBN 13: 9780312427719
New Hardcover Quantity: 2
Seller:
Ami Ventures Inc Books
(Houston, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description hardcover. Condition: New. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. Seller Inventory # BKZN9780312427719

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 25.75
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds

There are more copies of this book

View all search results for this book