Classical Music by Phil G. Goulding Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Classical Music
Book Review: Helpful Guide and a Tweak to the Taste
Summary: 4 Stars
Phil Goulding's "Classical Music" is a helpful guide to the complex world of music destined to last the ages. It is a subject hard to condense into one volume; yet Goulding does exactly that, providing overviews that define classical music and the orchestra and then a chapter by chapter exploration of the 50 greatest composers and their 1000 greatest works.
One can argue Goulding's order (especially so the further down the list you go), the rigidity of his ranking system, his giving short shrift to 20th Century composers (which many others have mentioned in these reviews), his omission of American composers (which no one else seems to have minded but me), and more. One can also shrug at the suggested recordings; since many of the selections have become dated. Even so, this book provides a bird's eye view handbook to classical music for those who wish to listen, learn and appreciate.
The biography sections are perhaps the best--with facts and gossipy bits that are funny and enjoyable. There are many placements of composers in the rankings that will tweak the taste of the reader.
Book Review: I'm Sorry, But Why Did You Bother?
Summary: 2 Stars
The high marks that this book has received from reviewers really puzzles me. Apart from Goulding's extremely dubious attempt to "rank" the great composers (an utterly subjective call, if you ask me), the anecdotes and histories of these men are written on an extremely superficial level & the writing style is somewhat amateurish. In fact, the author celebrates his non-expert status; not the most comforting posture if a reader is reading a supposedly authoritative book on a complicated subject. Beethoven is treated in the traditional manner as "Thor", the angry, deaf genius. OK, sometimes true, but Beethoven's frequent bouts of humor & his fondness for scatological wordplay aren't emphasized. Mozart is portrayed as a supernatural wunderkind; undeniably true in some respects, yet he worked increasingly laboriously on his later masterpieces, and often revised them before being finished. Haydn is pictured as "Mr. Sunshine", yet his sometimes petty behavior & none-too-nice treatment of his wife are not considered. And Wagner (of course) is portrayed as Evil Incarnate. Wagner's prodigal generosity & his occasional tender behavior towards others is never mentioned. In other words, it seems to me that to pigeonhole the great composers is rather a disservice.
Also, this ranking thing really irritates me. Goulding takes the safe way out & ranks Bach as #1, as I suppose most classical commentators would. He then, however, admits that it's quite possible that Beethoven is the champ. Well, personally I much prefer Beethoven, but what do you care? Conversely, why should I care how another person would rank them? Perhaps enjoying the great composers' own individual merits without having them compete by proxy would be a better format. Incidentally, I find Sibelius, Borodin & Shostakovich to be ranked much too low. On the other hand, the unimaginative Mendelssohn & the repetitive Handel have a much too high ranking. I wouldn't have even included Palestrina.
I don't mean to jump all over this book, but there are much more responsible intro-to-classical music books out there. The Rough Guide to Classical Music has a much greater selection of composers, the important works are described in greater detail, and there isn't a ridiculous ranking system. Jan Swafford's Guide to Classical Music is more engagingly written & includes many worthwhile composers left out of this book.
Book Review: Informative but rigid
Summary: 3 Stars
This book presents a wealth of factual information and the author has obviously done a tremendous amount of research on the topic, the problem I have is with the presentation. The author is preoccupied with assigning numerical rankings to the composers and their works and with placing them in a rigid hierarchy: "It is exeedingly bad form to lower any of the seven Demigods to the level of Artists of a High Order, the 21-to-50 group...It is not authorized to drop the 11-to-20 composers from The List. They may be demoted." This type of mathematical juggling may be appealing to beginners approaching Classical music from the sciences, but not for those intimately involved in the arts. Ultimately Goulding comes across as someone who wishes to classify and systematize the body of classical music rather than someone who appreciates it for it's pure art and beauty.Book Review: Introducing Classical Music
Summary: 5 Stars
After many years away from the subject I decided to re-enter the world of classical music. I needed a good refresher course on building a basic library of CD's, as well as some memory jogging about the entire subject. Mr. Goulding's effort was remarkable in that it reintroduced classical music in a gentle and non-technical or academic manner. His book is easy to read and comprehensive in its coverage. For me it represented a core reference work, and fun at that. I have also used other sources of information on the subject, but I find that I am constantly opening Mr. Goulding's book just to double check other recommendations.Book Review: Introduction to the world of beauty
Summary: 5 Stars
I loved this book. I didn't know very much about classical music before I bought it, and the author helped me to discover music that I didn't know existed. I highly recommend this book to anyone who doesn't know where to begin to look for good references on great works of music.