Mainly, I imagine,
for MusicWeb’s readers, this book and
CD would interest, and be considered
as a gift for those - hopefully young
people new to music - who, as its back
cover proclaims: "wouldn’t normally
consider buying a book on the subject,
but who are interested in developing
a greater understanding of classical
music."
That ubiquitous British
broadcaster boldly credited on the book’s
front cover thus: ‘as presented by Tony
Robinson’, is only tenuously linked
with it. He just contributes the book’s
brief Foreword, something of an assurance
for those who might be approaching classical
music with some trepidation. [Tony Robinson
presented a radio series of the same
name on Classic fm in 2006. The
book is an accompaniment to this radio
series which has since been repeated
on Classic fm]
The Friendly Guide
to Music’s author, Darren Henley, is
UK’s Classic fm’s Station Manager.
Hanley at the outset
assures his readers that the book is
free of musical technical jargon and
then goes on to proclaim rather sweepingly
that: "The advent of pop music
meant that for a significant part of
the 20th century, classical
music came to be regarded as the preserve
of the cultured elite. Those people
on the inside of the classical club
didn’t seem to want to share the musical
delights that they had discovered with
those people who were outside the elite.
For people looking in, classical music
seemed to be surrounded by an impenetrable
ring of steel."
Not true – well
not entirely. Many of us involved
in music are keen to extol its virtues,
spread the word. We are deeply concerned
about dwindling and ageing concert audiences,
and dwindling and ageing membership
of composer societies and recorded music
societies etc. In my capacity as a music
journalist working for a number of international
music magazines, I have had the privilege
of interviewing a number of leading
international artists: conductors and
soloists; and they all expressed such
concerns. There are of course many reasons
for the decline in interest in classical
music and I could write paragraphs covering
them. But the situation is now so serious
that one might pose a question such
as: ‘What is the use of ‘Young Musician
of the Year’ contests when, without
encouraging young people to learn to
listen (and older folk, for 90 year
olds have attended my music appreciation
weekends), there could be a distinct
danger of those young musicians having
no audiences?
And this is where books
such as these are so important.
The Guide journeys
forward through the five main areas
of music: early, baroque, classical,
romantic and modern giving succinct
details about major composers of each
period and suggesting representative
works for listening. In 20 cases, excerpts
from Naxos recordings are referenced
to the CD. Early on, a time-line table
is featured giving composers’ birth
and death dates and, imaginatively,
showing ‘what else was going on in the
world’ (composers do not live in ivory
castles, their lives and attitudes were
often shaped by external events.) Included
is: The Classic FM Hall of Fame Top
100 – Classic FM’s listeners’ favourites
with Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto at No.
1; followed by Rachmaninov’s Second
Piano Concerto and Vaughan William’s
The Lark Ascending; and a section
on ‘Classical music used in films’ –
it is pleasing to note this book’s un-snobbish
approach to film music and appreciation
of its importance in introducing so
many people to good music. Amusingly,
there is even a ‘Classical Music Mood
Chart’ – music calculated to raise your
blood pressure (example Wagner’s Prelude
to Act III from Lohengrin) or
lower it (example: Barber’s Adagio
for Strings) Again, usefully, the
book’s list of musical excerpts on its
accompanying CD gives pointers to further
listening – eg. At the foot of the note
on Excerpt 19 which is from Elgar’s
Enigma Variations, is a footnote: "If
you enjoyed this, then try Elgar’s stirring
Cockaigne Overture."
The book’s main weakness
is a complete lack of illustrations,
no pictures of any of the composers
featured and not one musical stave.
It is printed in a dour monotone throughout
with only grey-tinted panels to relieve
the look of a densely packed page.
The book, however,
does suggest further reading: other
books going into more detail, plus other
material such as the New Grove Dictionary
of Music and Musicians, the database
of which may be accessed on-line, Gramophone
magazine and the invaluable The Concise
Oxford Dictionary of Music edited
by Michael Kennedy. To which I would
add my own recommendation, the profusely
illustrated Collins Classical
Music Encyclopaedia published by
Harper Collins in 2000 at £29;99 and
worth every penny – a mine of information
on composers, the development of music,
instrumentation and singing styles etc
with music examples, recommended recordings
and much, much more.
A friendly introduction
to classical music – buy it for a favourite
young person.
Ian Lace
