Customer Reviews
Opinionated but Fascinating 
2008-09-07
I have just finished the book "The Life and Death of Classical Music", by Norman Lebrecht. It is a most fascinating read, my favorite of the year so far. As someone who has collected LP vinyl since the late 1950's, and CDs since they arrived on the market, I found Lebrecht's inside view of the record industry, producers, and moguls most enlightening. There also is much insight into the conductors, artists and performers, their temperaments and foibles, their successes and failures. Besides the wealth of inside information on the operation of the recording industry and its cast of characters, nearly half the book is devoted to an enthralling (if highly opinionated) listing of Lebrecht's picks of the "100 best and 20 worst recordings ever made". One may agree or disagree with any or all on the list, but you will not be indifferent to this enumeration of recordings spanning the years from 1902 (Caruso) to 2004 (Pascal Roge). Enlightenment, entertainment, even a little outrage to go with some hearty agreement--you cannot miss with this little paperback. (Anchor Books, $14.95)
the life and death of classical music 2008-05-24
I love this book and have bought many copies to give to friends. I was not so interested in Mr. Lebrechts opinions (I have my own) about which are the best and worst recordings, even though it is fun to read them, but was fascinated by the behind the scenes stories of how the classical recording world was shaped by a few visionary record executives and the intrigues and battles they fought to attract the greatest musicians and conductors to their labels, not unlike the story of how the great Hollywood studios came into being and identical to how the popular music labels thrived.
The other main subjects that were so interesting to me were how the advent of recording changed performance and perfection in recording techniques changed the way we listen to music.
The sad part of the story is where we are now.
An interesting but sloppy book 
2008-03-16
Unlike a lot of musicians and music lovers, I generally quite like Norman Lebrecht, find him one of the more interesting and provocative writers about the music scene, and have read several of his books. The first part of the book is interesting for his account of the many behind-the-scenes goings-on that have gone into the making of so many recordings, the personalities and egos of the musicians making them and, perhaps more critically, the enormously small stakes involved. Even though I've often been amazed that commercial enterprises would spend so much money producing recordings that at best will appeal to five percent of the record-buying public, it's still astonishing to learn just how few copies some classical recordings, even by major artists, tend to sell.
My major criticism of this book (and indeed most of Lebrecht's books) is that it's sloppy. He could use a good editor and fact-checker to catch such obvious errors as saying that around 1970 the Boston Symphony was still a non-union orchestra that worked "cheap." He also criticizes companies for continuing to issue new performances of the same repertory (fair enough), but then also ridicules them when they make recordings of less familiar repertoire that fail to sell in order to satisfy egomaniac conductors. Also, he often strings together anecdotes with very little thematic context or chronological coherence, often jumping several decades in the space of a sentence or two; if you aren't at least vaguely aware of a lot of these events, you'll be entirely lost (then again, if you're not vaguely aware of them, you probably won't be reading this book).
As for his 100 best/20 worst list, his 100 best has a few whose significance I would question, and excludes some others I would add. I had a few disagreements with the "20 Worst" list, though: I LOVE Simon Rattle's "The Jazz Album" for the amazing clarinetist Michael Collins and the only performance that has ever made me like Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue). He also calls Gidon Kremer's Beethoven Violin Concerto recording (with the Schnittke cadenzas) a failure, not because it's a bad recording or was a bad idea, but because Philips apparently chickened out of promoting the novel cadenzas. I'm more in agreement with him about Bernstein's disastrous Enigma Variations. He probably should have added Bernstein's recording of West Side Story with Kiri Te Kanawa and Jose Carreras.
It's also important to point out, as others have, that the title is misleading: Lebrecht is talking mostly about the life and death of the classical record industry, rather than classical music itself (though he does make the usual points about declining audiences).
Definitely worth reading if you're into this sort of thing.
The crisis of classical music? 
2007-08-17
In the last times several books and articles have cast doubts about the future of classical music. Evidences like the ageing of audiences attending concerts or the lack of renewal of repertoires support that thesis. In this context, the writer and critic Norman Lebrecht has published a new book on the subject. To support his thesis, the first part of the book is devoted to the history of the record industry, its rise and its fall, how were founded the companies that lead the sector for half a century; the impact of new technologies (stereophonic sound, digital recording) and formats (LP, CD) in its evolution; and, finally, the present situation where big companies face a shrinking production and a fierce competition from small independent publishers besides the internet and downloads.
Any selection is obviously subjective and the criteria applied can be questioned. Nevertheless it is worth to know the circumstances and fact that were around the making of these records, some of them unanimously considered as absolute references.
What is left after reading the book is a certain air of pessimism. However its reading is worthwhile as it offers a vivid description of the recording industry, well documented with bibliographic references, and what is more important, with the author's personal experiences.
Always entertaining and informative 2007-07-04
Lebrecht has been placing lilies on the grave of classical music for some time now. A more accurate title would be "The Life and Death of Classical Recording," as classical music itself is alive and well. It is an observable fact that the traditional CD is probably on its way out as a "pop" music vehicle; it would be unrealistic to expect classical recording to be unaffected by the ongoing shift to MP3 and other computer formats. Like the "Death" card of the Tarot deck, signifying not death so much as change, the industry is not dying but evolving in unexpected directions. What must be upsetting for those involved is the unpredictability of change - who, in 1975, would have predicted the prevalence of hip-hop today? The same forces are reflected in classical music, on a smaller scale.
The relative popularity of classical music in the 20th century's midpoint was an anomaly. Through the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic eras, composers were dependent on patronage (Schubert may have been the first serious composer to support himself, primarily through the popularity of his songs for the Biedermeier set, rather than his "serious" music). The typical 19th century European peasant, like his modern American counterpart, may have gone his entire life without hearing a Beethoven piano sonata. The majority, then as now, had their "popular" music.
Lebrecht manages to unearth endless troves of fascinating minutiae. For instance, he relates how Phillips, the inventors of the cassette, partnered with Sony to develop the compact disc. The Dutch wanted the new format to be the same size as the cassette, however, the favorite piece of the Sony chairman's wife was Beethoven's 9th Symphony, too long to fit onto a disk of that size. To accommodate it, the disk's diameter was increased to allow 80 minutes of music, with the center hole corresponding to the size of the smallest Dutch coin.
The lists of the "100 best" and "20 worst" recordings don't exactly complement each other. The "100" are sometimes, but not always, the "best;" Lebrecht chose many recordings primarily for their significance, be it artistic, historical, or political. The "20" were not chosen for their lack of significance; in most cases, they represent bad ideas or poor execution by people who should have known better.
Deserves to be placed aside next to the Penguin Guide.... 2007-06-21
In this compulsively readable, fascinating, and provocative guide to classical music, Norman Lebrecht, one of the world’s most widely read cultural commentators tells the story of the rise of the classical recording industry from Caruso’s first notes to the heyday of Bernstein, Glenn Gould, Callas, and von Karajan.
Lebrecht compellingly demonstrates that classical recording has reached its end point–but this is not simply an expos? of decline and fall. It is, for the first time, the full story of a minor art form, analyzing the cultural revolution wrought by Schnabel, Toscanini, Callas, Rattle, the Three Tenors, and Charlotte Church
. It is the story of how stars were made and broken by the record business; how a war criminal conspired with
a concentration-camp victim to create a record empire; and how advancing technology, boardroom wars, public credulity and unscrupulous exploitation shaped the musical backdrop to our modern lives. The book ends with a suitable shrine to classical recording: the author’s critical selection of the 100 most important recordings–and the 20 most appalling.
Filled with memorable incidents and unforgettable personalities–from Goddard Lieberson, legendary head of CBS Masterworks who signed his letters as God; to Georg Solti, who turned the Chicago Symphony into “ the loudest symphony on earth”–this is at once the captivating story of the life and death of classical recording and an opinioned, insider’s guide to appreciating the genre, now and for years to come.
Glad to finally meet Chopin 2007-06-16
This book is an informative and enjoyable read but I'm most grateful for the Masterpieces List. I bought #15- Chopin Waltzes played by Dinu Lipatti and discovered the Chopin who all the shouting was about. Lipatti's Chopin is sparkling, witty and entirely lacks the dirge-like sound that the other artists in my small collection have. Wow! I can hardly wait to sample others from Lebrecht's list.
A most interesting, if rather depressing, book 2007-06-15
Norman Lebrecht can always be counted on to stir things up, and this book is no exception. The first half is a brief history of the classical recording industry, which Lebrecht believes to be dead. The second half is an annotated list of recordings, 100 of the most significant of the century, and 20 that should never have been made. But to show how subjective this sort of thing is: several years ago Gramophone Magazine published a list of the greatest recordings of the twentieth century; recordings from that list appear on both of Lebrecht's! The tone is breezy, gossipy, and opinionated; the anecdotes are fascinating, and Lebrecht pulls no punches. One wishes he had checked facts a bit closer, however. For example: Gould's "first on a major label" Goldbergs were preceded by Landowska's on RCA; Rautavaara is by no means a minimalist composer; the Beaux Arts Trio recorded Beethoven's Triple Concerto with Haitink and the LPO, not Masur and the Leipzig Gewandhaus. But these are minor quibbles in what is a very recommendable read.
Lebrecht doing what Lebrecht does best ... 2007-05-21
Grab this one! Sort of an amalgam part H.L. Mencken, part P.G. Wodehouse with assorted sprinkles or scoops of requisite iconoclasm kind of thing in terms of delivery but a page turner primarily due to that very fact! It's the Lebrecht style but it neither grates nor becomes a slogging effort and notwithstanding that the findings are clearly labeled by the critics as "opinionated" but then that is hardly unique in a subject that leaves itself wide open for opinions, yes? Add this to the mix too: how often have you heard classical music itself not to mention its artists relegated to "De mortuis nil nisi bonum" [Of the dead speak only good] yet, mercifully, it continues to persevere .. as does its audience and interpreters.
For example, I did a piece on John Cage's 4'33" and did 'not' view it or the so-called "prepared piano" thing [yes, I play, and admit forthwith to being war-horse addicted] as akin to the veritable 'Second Coming' nor the alleged 'voice' [!?] of the Muse where the audience has to literally conjecture the silence [or "ambient sounds of the hall"] as if to suggest that a passing belch [or worse!] of an audience member, to hear some tell it anyway, could "conceivably be the sounds of the "Appassionata" ... " or in the "prepared piano" case, as I view same, simply dissonance albeit for the 'sake' of dissonance. Ditto Norman Lebrecht who calls it like he sees it yet there is never any mandate, stated or implied variety, for reader concurrence nor compliance.
I think Lebrecht knows his stuff and his wares generally include the specifics of any indictments at Bar, if you will, that he so renders. True enough that 'Masterpieces' vs. 'Madness' could be debated all day if not ad infinitum but still the journey of the read is stimulating essentially because the 'why' of it is amply provided. Let's just say that the tome is 'not' a cure for insomnia but rather a neatly packaged tonic for burning the midnight oil .. and enjoying the ride in the process.
Doc Tony
Lebrecht tells it as it is 2007-05-10
Norman Lebrecht belongs to a rare group of people who not only know more about classical music than most music encyclopedias but also are extremely gifted with writing. All his books are fascinating and even if the reader doesn't always want to agree with his often pessimistic views of this art form's future, one cannot brush aside the facts he so powerfully presents.
"Life and Death of Classical Music" is two books in one: exactly a half of it is dedicated to the history of the recording business, the other listing one hundred recordings that were in Mr. Lebrecht's opinion milestones in the recorded history, plus another twenty that should never have been made. The first part tells generally previously unheard behind-the-scenes stories of all the leading recording companies, their bigwigs both in management and their cash cows, the conductors and other artists, since the very beginning of the industry. The author manages to weave all this together in an irresistibly interesting story that reads like the best suspense novel. As the title indicates, the story doesn't end with a 'they lived happily ever after' but paints a rather dark picture of the collapse of the industry, well documented by nose-diving global sales figures, and the reader at this point is not surprised by the reasons. It is hard to put the book down during the first 150 pages as the writing is so captivating.
I read the 'worst' list before starting with the 'best', as I found it more tempting. Many music lovers have traditionally bought recordings, both LPs and CDs, based on the familiarity and reputation of the artists on the cover. The reader is in for a shock as the 'mistakes' chapter has many of the same stars featured, but as every recording, both good and bad, is discussed in a form of a short essay, the reasons for Mr. Lebrecht's choices become evident. The 'masterpiece' list in a chronological order. Some of the early recordings may not be familiar to many of today's listeners, although they ought to be. Editing wasn't possible in the early days, and it is a well documented fact that some of the greatest names might have 20-30 takes of the same 4+ minutes that would fit on a side of a 78 rpm disc, until they were pleased with the results. With magnetic tape splicing gave a never-before-seen opportunity to fix mistakes and with today's technology even individual 16th notes can be corrected and a faulty pitch raised or lowered. This means is that a recording can sound equally good whether it is done by musicians in Moscow, Russia or Moscow, Idaho.
The late Finnish music critic (of the Helsingin Sanomat) and journalist Seppo Heikinheimo called Norman Lebrecht "the world's best expert of conductors" in his posthumously published memoirs and I would like to agree with this. This new book (published under the title "Maestros, Masterpieces, and Madness" in the U.K.) gives readers an amazing amount of insight into the business of conducting, the enormous egos of the maestros and star soloists alike, and details about the crazy financial arrangements which at the end brought the 'house of cards' down. This book is a must-read to anyone involved in classical music, whether a musician or just an ordinary listener and lover of the art form.
