It’s that time of the year when you dust off the beach umbrella, slap on the 50+ sunscreen, and find a great read to while away those lazy summer afternoons. Martin Buzacott trawls through some recent releases.
The Silent Musician: Why Conducting Matters, by Mark Wigglesworth
Ever sat at a concert wondering what it is that a conductor actually does? You’re not alone, and in The Silent Musician the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor Mark Wigglesworth gives you the answers. Superbly written with affection and humour, this rave-reviewed book offers a rare insight into a dark art where musicality, physicality, technique and sheer charisma combine together to create something magical. And it’s filled with pithy, often profound insights like this: “Risking failure is an important prerequisite for ultimate success and it can be dangerous to play safe. It is easier to swim if you are in the deep end of a pool.”
Alice to Prague, by Tanya Heaslip
Superficially this isn’t a music book at all, but while reading it, you soon come to realise that music is the common language that binds all humanity together. In 1994, with a battered copy of Let’s Go Europe stuffed in her backpack, Tanya Heaslip left her life as a lawyer in outback Australia and travelled to the post-communist Czech Republic. There, she falls in love — with Karel, with the city, and with a culture that through centuries of political turmoil has never lost its musical soul.
Rough Ideas, by Stephen Hough
It’s no surprise to discover that Stephen Hough’s latest book is another cracker. He may be one of the world’s great pianists, but his writing career, much of it targeted toward the British mainstream press, has been equally lauded. He’s in a golden period, having written a novel and a book on religion immediately prior to this. Essentially a series of musings on the nature of music, this collection of essays is like the man himself: witty, wise, and filled with wonder, not just at the beauty of music, but at the world at large. Rough Ideas is simply one of the great minds of music in top form.
Playlist, by James Rhodes
He’s the iconoclastic British pianist who earlier this year guided Vanessa Hughes through her introduction to piano. And if you liked James’s offbeat style in his video links with our ABC Classic Drive presenter, you’ll find that his Playlist is in a similar vein.
For James Rhodes, Bach, Mozart and Beethoven weren’t old dudes in wigs but the rock stars of their time — and he tells the stories to prove it. Perhaps the first psychedelic introduction to classical music, it includes brilliant artwork, musical recordings, and is targeted at younger readers and those who are taking their first tentative steps in classical music. If you know a teenager, or maybe even an old rocker, who thinks classical music is boring, buy them this for Christmas.
The Karl Muck Scandal: Classical Music and Xenophobia in World War I America, by Melissa D. Burrage
Want something a little meatier to get your teeth into? This is a harrowing read but the story it tells, of German-American tensions during the First World War, is compelling. Karl Muck was an acclaimed German conductor who became the Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Even though his musical ability was never in question, Muck soon discovered that the land of the Statue of Liberty was also a place where racial, sexual and political prejudice were rife, and where a concerted campaign was unleashed to bring him down.
Martin Buzacott presents Mornings on ABC Classic (Monday to Friday, 10am–1pm.)