Customer Reviews
Excellent writer makes sense of chaotic field 
2006-02-05
Behind the media hype surrounding this or that performance or artist lie byzantine machinations. Kingmakers jockeying for position. Sexual politics. Mean actions taken by smallminded people temporarily in power. Some of mediocre talent are practically beatified while others with extraordinary gifts seem to wither away almost unnoticed. Sometimes it's a question of whose side the critics are on at any given moment or who has gotten more press--or even who requires fewer retakes in the recording studio, since that means the production will cost less. Lebrecht tells you all about the backroom ugliness that helps to create the uneven playing field that serious musicians find such an impediment to their survival. Although it requires some background from the reader, this book is a must-read for everyone interested in classical music!
Difficult to Follow Presentation 
2004-02-09
Trying to indoctrinate oneself to the classical music world is difficult and trying. First there is the language and jargon associated with any field. Second there is the task of attempting to construct a workable historical chronology that will aid in understanding the gamut of the field. Third combining all of this with the modern classical state.
Thinking this book might aid has been a disappointment. It is overly wordy and doesn't flow and transition well. Detail after detail likely weave a fascinating story to insiders but as a true outsider trying to peer in, this book fogs rather than clears the air.
While he suggests managers, maestros and corporate involvement among other factors, it isn't tied together with any clarity or convincing hypothesis testing that I could follow. Again, in fairness maybe it is just a matter of not relating to the writer's style and the foreigness of the vocab, but if classical music is going to interest more outsiders like me, shouldn't this be a goal? This aloofness and cavalier attitude is definitely a barrier to many.
Frustrated, but still pursuing obtaining some insights into this struggling arts area which should survive and thrive.
Read the Answers 2003-08-21
Here is the one book that needs to be read by anyone genuinely
curious about what has caused the decline in interest in classical music worldwide.
The situation is probably worse in the US than other places, but
there are world-wide trends at work, and this author explores
all the causes. Not only does he explore those causes in our
own time, he has reseached the history of the recording industry
to such an extent, you feel at times like you are reading a
scholarly publication. Then at other times, where the author
actually names some of the names who have caused the decline
of classical music and who cause this type music to be held in
contempt by many, and abandoned by most others, you have the feel of reading a supermarket tabloid.
The writer has researched all the pioneers in recording and radio, and he has seemingly interviewed all survivors of that
era, as well as most participants in the current music scene,
and there doesn't appear to be a stone unturned in his work.
Many of the names will be unfamiliar to most readers, but the
writer documents their contribution to both the rise and decline
of classical music.
And, as said, he actually names the names of some of the individual "stars" who have so abused the system, and the public
trust, we have to wonder who in the world continues supporting
such grasping, selfish, egomanical performers and agents, as
well as some of the corporate owners and sponsors. He even at
one point names the world-famous conductor who apparently abuses
children in his travels, and it's a wonder such a man can even
cross international borders. Such is the power of stardom, even
in the world of classical music.
As you can see, there are a multitude of causes for the decline
of classical music, and this writer names them all.
There is very little hope for the continuation of the presentaton of live concerts of any kind, outside the very largest cities, which are put on for the rich and elite, so the
result is rather a somber review, but the author only presents
the facts.
However, there is slight hope, and he names the handful of
alternatives that seem to be surviving, and sometimes expanding,
the availability of good classical music.
This has to be a "must" for anyone interested in either the history of classical music, and its ties with radio and the
recording industry, or in its future.
There is almost too much detail for some readers, but it needs
to be there for a full understanding; in spite of the depth of
the writer's research, he presents it in an interesting fashion,
and there are many parts of the book which are very difficult to
put down.
If interested in this subject, rush out and get a copy now.
A story of big business perverting classical music.... 2001-02-10
Isn't it amazing what money continues to do to some people and more so, to business? This excellent historical and recent account of how classical music has wound up monetarily suffocating itself is the best read that I've encountered. I could never figure out, until I read this book, why some popular artists' CDs would still be $16 EIGHT YEARS after their release. That's because the CD label still hasn't recovered from paying that artist's ridiculous fee and consequently, redirects the recording industry's funds away from our country's orchestras and lesser known talent. One can see today what turmoil this has caused classical music and its starving artists. Read this book, for if you love classical music, it can be a guide to help people better manage classical music towards a more fiscally sound future and most important of all, stop the greed.
THE BEST BOOK TO DATE ON THE BUSINESS OF CLASSICAL MUSIC 2000-01-11
If you've watched the two-decade evolution in pop music industry exposé books-going from general veiled accusations and using pseudonyms, to the hard- hitting journalistic romps that are being written today, naming names, dates, companies, and places-then you'll appreciate the HIT MEN of the classical world, Norman Lebrecht's WHO KILLED CLASSICAL MUSIC, which, while it may not name vulnerable artist names in all the damning anecdotal situations in which Lebrecht places them, does explore the life and business of classical music in an alert, candid, and yet affectionate way, naming companies, managers, artists, salaries, and even top-echelon concert fees. Readers who may follow classical record-business entrepreneurship will be glad to find that the great independent- label success stories of our era, such as Naxos and Hyperion, are very much a part of Lebrecht's consciousness and research. There are no clear-cut classes of heroes and villains here, just a general sense of regret and fatigue about the current state of business in the classical world. Ron Simpson, School of Music, Brigham Young University. Author of MASTERING THE MUSIC BUSINESS
This is a wonderful analysis of classical music today. 1999-06-01
Offers a start-to-finish history of classical music, explaining how the twentieth century has reached a radical tranformation period in which orchestras have become out of reach to most people, left only to the elite who can afford their exorbitant ticket prices."
The truth, finally the truth! 1998-04-15
Norman Lebrecht has set the record straight. For anyone who has tried to make a career in music honestly, this book explains why the struggle is so arduous. A must for anyone who cares about classical music.
Get an inside view of classical music and commerce. 1998-01-27
Somehow, I naively thought that classical music was above money. (I knew that sport had become crass and materialistic, but music?) Well, the book burst my bubble. Its must reading for anyone who has an interest in how classical music got where it is today, and where it might be going in the future. Wayne Dunlap (Wdunlap@aol.com)
A history of promotion in the classical music business. 
1998-01-07
This somewhat mistitled book does not name *all* the culprits who killed classical music, but it is one of the few efforts to trace the history of the byzantine world of concert promotion and artist management in the classical music business. The book is thorough enough to satisify the historian in you, and salacious enough to satisfy the gossip in you. Heroes are hard to find in this saga, and many surprisingly famous and beloved classical musicians take their oft-deserved lumps.
