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| The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century | 
 enlarge | List Price: $30.00
Buy New: $19.80
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 57 reviews)
Sales Rank: 62443
Category: Book
Author: Alex Ross
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Studio: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Label: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 640
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.7
ISBN: 0374249393
Dewey Decimal Number: 780.904
EAN: 9780374249397
ASIN: 0374249393
Publication Date: October 16, 2007
Release Date: October 16, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
A Fine Summary November 10, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Writing about music is hard. Over the years, musicians have developed systems of notation for music and yet many musicians have a hard time looking at a sheet of notes and hearing the music. Written words are even more difficult to transform into sound, let alone understanding. We may know what an escape tone is, but we can't always recognize it in listening. All this is by way of saying that even though "The Rest is Noise" is an excellent history of music of the twentieth century, it is no substitute for listening.
The book is primarily about classical music written in the twentieth century. It is organized temporally and then geographically, but the author necessarily jumps around a bit to develop his themes. One of the main themes seems to be the development of atonal music and then the evolution of that music into more current styles. The author will often try to describe a piece talking about its tonality and modulation. Even those trained in music theory may find it difficult to transform the words into an understanding of the nature of the music itself. This is not to suggest that the author is not an interesting writer. His style is sprightly, and surprisingly, for some of the technical discussions, quite interesting. It's no wonder he won a MacArthur award.
The history consists of detailed discussions of the lives of some of the century's great classical composers linked together by stories about lesser composers and general movements, reflecting his original articles on the composers, which appeared in the New Yorker magazine. Although one might quibble that some important figures haven't gotten enough page space, Ross's emphasis seems to be about right, with a few exceptions. One area the author scants is American neo-romantic composers. At the same time the author does not focus on orchestras or audiences, with the result that one would never know from the book that many twentieth century listeners seemed to prefer to listen to more tonal music then that on which the author focuses. Similarly, while the author does occasionally explore what happened in non-classical music before the end of World War II, like the influence of the gamelan or jazz, little of the century's popular music before 1945 is explored.
Ross recognizes that words alone cannot tell the story of twentieth century music and includes a list of thirty recommended recordings. No one should believe that hearing just these recordings will give the listener a full understanding of what happened in classical music in the last century. Instead, I can see that a person wishing to understand the direction of twentieth century music can keep this book at hand, and devote a lifetime to listening to the music that it discusses.
Some critics have complained that the content is too trivial or too difficult. On the other hand, a professor of early music I know, who has little experience with twentieth century music, said this was a fine introduction. I think that's a good summary.
 A Poetic History of the 20th Century as Only an Art Critic Can Give... October 13, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Other than the weather and traffic, and an occasional political talk show, audio CD's are the way to go while driving now, and this set was a unique and fascinating history of the 20th century from the vantage point of the classical musical world.
The author takes the reader through the landscape with the exquisite communication skills of a seasoned, in-depth critic, his analysis filled with beautiful, deep, and frightening metaphorical analysis of the classical creations and personas of the twentieth century, never straying from the vantage point of the classical music world.
I overlooked his occasional, obviously academically-indoctrinated, naively left-leaning personal interjections; and for a person involved so deeply with an art world that hates Bush so catatonically, they were admirably few and far between.
 Knows nothing about music September 27, 2008
13 out of 54 found this review helpful
I am astounded at the glowing reviews for this intellectual lightweight of a book about music in 20th century. Author Alex Ross does a frantic tap dance of maintaining a narrative with critical insights, but ultimately, he has created a vapid work of no real insight into 20th century music, except those created by popular tastes. In fact, no one I know in serious musical discussions considers his commentary worthwhile. I do not believe he understands anything about music in form, in taste, and in historical context. Really disappointing.
jack's pick September 4, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a great read. There are very few books on this subject.
This book has taken some of the enigma out of this style of music.
intellectually exciting July 30, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is an exhilirating intellectual tour de force. Ross is the best "describer" of music I've ever read. Music resists being put into words -- they are two very different media. But Ross has the ability to do this -- his descriptions of works I am familiar with is always both precise and exciting. He makes the reader hear or at least want to hear the music.
But his major contribution is to fuse 20th century music with the many political and social forces that shaped it. His description of the sufferings of Prokofiev and Shostakovitch under the malign rule of Stalin is tremendously moving. Ross does not make the mistake of glorifying composers just because they were musical geniuses. Richard Strauss, Shostakovitch, Alban Berg, Copland, Schoenberg, Britten all emerge as flawed individuals who happened to have the ability to create great music, sometimes under intensely difficult conditions. None of them was a saint. One wishes Strauss had taken a more decisive stand against Nazism or that Britten didn't like little boys or that Shostakovitch had exhibited more moral courage against Stalin -- but they didn't. What they did was create wonderful music despite their limitations as humans.
For Ross, the disintegration of western democracy and society under the twin scourges of Nazism and Communism led to the disintegration of traditional classical music. But the worst of the disintegration took place after World War II when composers abandoned "music" and started producing what is best described as unpleasant noise in pursuit of various elitist political and cultural programs.
Ross tries to do justice to these various composers, none of whom ever commanded any attention from the public. It's noteworthy however that few of them are represented in the list of 30 recommended recordings he usefully appends to the book. Instead, we find symphonies by Sibelius and Mahler, Strauss's glorious "Four Last Songs" and concertos by Prokofiev and Ravel.
I conclude from this that the past 50 years has mostly been a lost era for classical music with a couple of notable exceptions. Hopefully, the next 50 will see a recovery.
Anyone interested in music should read this book but its appeal should be wider than that. This is really a history of the 20th century as reflected through music and as such a magnificent achievement.
For more about me and my book, The Nazi Hunter: A Novel, in which music plays a major part, go to www.alanelsner.com.
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