Reading
2005 Reading
Sometime around 2000 I stopped reading books except for technical books such
as mathematics texts. It didn't seem very interesting to keep track of
which of those I was reading. However around the end of 2004 I got very
interested in music again and started reading many books related to that.
The UCLA music library was especially helpful. Here's a list of what I can
recall reading in 2005, in order by author. Some books I may have read in
late 2004. [List in progress; still incomplete.]
- Samuel Adler: The Study of Orchestration
- [comment to be written]
- Kevin Bazzana: Wondrous Strange: The Life and Art of Glenn Gould
- [comment to be written]
- Hector Berlioz: Memoirs
- One of the best (and funniest) books I've ever read. Some parts
are a little dull, but most of the book is fascinating and hilarious.
Berlioz is a superb writer, and happened to live during a particularly
interesting time. If not in the original French, be sure to read the
Cairns translation.
- Hector Berlioz: Evenings with the Orchestra
- Not up to Memoirs, but still a great book. In both his works it's
interesting to see how things have changed and even moreso how much is still
the same.
- Leonard Bernstein: The Joy of Music
- Leonard Bernstein: Young People's Concerts
- [comment to be written]
- Leonard Bernstein: The Unanswered Question
- [comment to be written]
- Volkmar Braunbehrens:
Mozart in Vienna 1781-1791
- [comment to be written]
- Humphrey Burton: Leonard Bernstein
- [comment to be written]
- Jonathan Carr: Mahler: A Biography
- [comment to be written]
- John Clough and Joyce Conley: Scales, Intervals, Keys, Triads, Rhythm,
and Meter: A Self-Instruction Program
- [comment to be written]
- Joseph Horowitz: Classical Music in America: A History of Its Rise and
Fall
- A decent sketch of the history of classical music in the US, but despite
its size the book tries to cover so much that it provides very superficial
information on each topic. For things I already knew about the little
in the information in the book seemed almost misleading and worthless.
Still this is a good way to get an overview and you can delve into areas
that seem interesting on your own. Horowitz provides a critique of the
current state of classical music which is echoed by Tindall in her book, but
Tindall makes the same points much more concisely and elegantly.
- Joseph Kerman: Listen: Second Brief Edition
- [comment to be written]
- Steven Laitz: The Complete Musician: An Integrated Approach to
Tonal Theory, Analysis, and Listening
- [comment to be written]
- David Levy: Beethoven: The Ninth Symphony
- [comment to be written]
- Rosario Mazzeo: The Clarinet: Excellence and Artistry
- [comment to be written]
- David Pino: The Clarinet and Clarinet Playing
- [comment to be written]
- Thomas Ridenour: The Educator's Guide to the Clarinet
- [comment to be written]
- J.K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- Sadly this was about the only fiction work I read in 2005. My wife
is a fan of the series and so buys the books, and so I read them too.
They're not particularly well-written, but are about school in a way, which
I like. I'd thought the series had gone way downhill after the third
book and so was reluctant to read this one, but one day I was in the mood
and was surprised to find this volume to be quite good, my favorite of the
series so far. I finished in one day; despite the apparent thickness
the book is very fast and easy to read.
- Maynard Solomon: Beethoven
- [comment to be written]
- Blaire Tindall: Mozart in the Jungle
- A beautifully written memoir of Tindall's life as a freelance musician
in New York. I sent her a fan email message right after finishing the
book the first time (I read it in a day, unable to stop), the first time
I've ever done that, and read it two more times later in the year. I'm
sure I'll read it again.
- James Zychowicz: Mahler's Fourth Symphony
- [comment to be written]
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