Customer Reviews
GETTING THE MOST OUT OF MOZART: INSTRUMENTAL WORKS, UNLOCKING THE MASTERS SERIES, NO. 3 by DAVID HURWITZ - RATED 5 STARS & HIGHL 
2008-08-05
GETTING THE MOST OUT OF MOZART:
INSTRUMENTAL WORKS, UNLOCKING THE MASTERS SERIES, NO. 3
by DAVID HURWITZ - PAPERBACK - AMADEUS PRESS, 2005 - 187 PAGES.
RATED 5 STARS & HIGHLY RECOMMENDED by MOZART ENTHUSIASTS
for NOVICE MOZART CLASSICAL MUSIC LOVERS!
Over the last 20-years as a MOZART AFFICIANDO, I have read at least 50 MOZART BOOKS and would rate this book - A++ and 5 STARS!!!
Founder and editor of an online daily classical music magazine, author DAVID HURWITZ discusses features of Wolfgang Mozart's classical music in general and specific instrumental works to help listeners better understand and appreciate Mozart's special genius. This book is a guided tour of Mozart most popular musical works historical information on each work's composition, and an analysis about what makes each piece truly "noteworthy." This book also explains and examines MOZART'S CHAMBER MUSIC, ORCHESTRAL MUSIC (SERENADES AND SYMPHONIES), and CONCERTOS (PIANO and WIND). The book contains a free MOZART CD with sample BMG Classics recordings of some of Mozart's most famous musical works.
Brilliant and deceptively simple - hold that - elegant 2006-03-08
David Hurwitz is fantatically insightful. Himself a composer, he gets to the heart of Mozart. His discussion is the sort that enlightens newbies, and stimulates the professional by going back to basics.
I enjoyed every page of both the Mozart books, and the musical cds were full of well chosen examples.
Roberta Prada, contralto, author of "The Ear and the Voice" in English, with Francis Keeping andPierre Sollier, and translator of J Faure: "The Voice and Singing" with Francis Keeping. Principal of Vocalimages.com, and voxmentor.com
Insight from a Pro 2005-08-17
This is the second volume of a two volume series explaining the genius in Motzart's work. This folume concentrates on the Instrumental Works. To listen to great music and to enjoy it is one thing. Yet the professional student of classical music sees/hears/understands so much more than the rest of us.
In this book David Hurwitz, the founder and executive editor of daily classical music magazine, takes readers through Mozart's seven major operas, one part at a time explaining what he sees in each area. This provides an insite that most of us, particularily those of us living in remote areas, can never see.
I never imagines that you could see so much in this music.
The book comes with a full length CD that includes eleven of Mozarts pieces.
Great for classical fans and a great intro for others. 2005-03-17
As another reviewer has already pointed it, this collection would make an EXCELLENT intro to the wonders of classical music, as well as a must-have for Mozart fans. Even if you already have these pieces, having it on one collection makes the drive to work a pleasure rather than a chore. Highly recommend.
A really excellent guide to Mozart 2005-02-24
Unlocking the vast rewards of classical music takes more than just casual listening - it requires learning some of the basic aspects of music (rhythm, structure, harmony, etc) and a little of the historical context of the composers and his/her predecessors. Mozart is an excellent place to start into classical music for many reasons - one being his highly-melodic music is considered easily "accessible" to the average listener who can appreciate and enjoy it without any musical know-how.
In this fresh and much-needed new series, vetern music-writer David Hurwitz gives us an enticing roadmap to understanding the music of Mozart in a way that most anyone can deepen their music appreciation and enhance their listening experience. The text is friendly, well writen, without complex jargon and analyzes Mozart's music in simple but enough detail to reveal just exactly "what makes Mozart's music sound like Mozart."
Mr. Hurwitz takes the classical enthusiast through the some fifty major works of Mozart's instrumental music, focusing each chapter on one category (chamber music, symphony, concerto, church music). The vocal works (opera, concert arias, masses) are in a separate volume with the green cover. Within each major work, Hurwitz describes the most common musical "structures" Mozart used - such as the all-important sonata form, theme-and-variations, rondos, and the minuet. His "analysis" of Mozart's well-loved piano concertos is quite interesting and helpful, breaking them down into 10 'groups' to help get your hands around the differences in composition and effect of each. The accompanying CD of several movements helps bring to life Hurwitz's commentary of several featured works that are discussed in more depth.
I also appreciated his defense of "delightful music" such as Mozart's from the critical voices that sometimes devalues such music as merely "cute" - while giving elevated status to the later, more troubling-sounding music of the Romantic or Modern eras ... or as he jokingly terms it: "the suffering, Romantic, artist-hero expressing personal misery in their creations." Great music is not only about dramatic tension, disturbing dissonances and individual emotional expression but also about pleasant, happy tones that anyone can enjoy.
Hurwitz' book is one of the "fun to read" intros to Mozart and classical music appreciation and is highly recommended. It should appeal to both the newcomer as well as those with more experience in classical music as it also has great depth and detail. If your interest is to follow in more detail the actual musical scores for several popular works, a similar but slightly more musically-involved book is by Robert Harris' ("What To Listen For In Mozart"). Harris' books are also easy and interesting to read for the non-music major types.
