Classical Music: An Informal Guide

A handbook to classical music covers the baroque, classical, and romantic eras, discusses the life stories of key composers, analyzes their significant works, and recommends recordings

Oversimplification and less-than-rigorous standards of accuracy tend to compromise the quality of music appreciation literature. Classical Music suffers from this tendency but has "recommended listening" sections appearing after each discussion that help make it a reasonably useful compact disc guide. To those unfamiliar with Western art music, any discographic guidance is sufficient, but the topically oriented recommendations provided here offer the reader a variety of selection strategies. Carlin, a writer/reviewer (e.g., the "World of Music" series, Facts on File, 1987-91), first discusses performers, history, and instruments, and then devotes most of his energies to biographical sketches of the great composers. Occasional sidebars enliven the flow of text with diversionary anecdotes, and the book ends with record company addresses, a historical timeline, glossary, and bibliography. For large music collections.
- Daniel Fermon, Museum of Modern Art Lib., New York
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.