FOR THE LOVE OF MUSIC

Sub-titled 'A Conductor's Guide to the Art of Listening'. Why do so many people listen to classical music, and how can we get the most from the listening experience? The author is an internationally celebrated conductor and teacher, and he brings to bear his lifetime of experience, profound knowledge and exuberant appreciation in his book. A protege of Leonard Bernstein, his colleague of 18 years, and an artist who has performed and recorded all over the world, Mauceri is the guide par excellence to the joys of classical music. Briefly we learn the way a musical tradition, born in ancient Greece, welcomed by the Romans and subsequently nurtured by influences from across the globe, gave shape to the classical repertory that has embraced a worldwide community and draws from both local and ancient culture. Mauceri examines the music itself, helping us to understand what it is, and what we hear when we listen, how by a kind of sonic metaphor music expresses the deepest recesses of human feeling and emotion, and how each piece bears the traces of its history. Unpretentious, graceful and instructive, this is a book for the novice or the aficionado, everyone looking to have the love of music fired within them. Aaron Copeland said "the sound element of music is a powerful and mysterious agent which it would be foolish to deride or belittle." 211 rough-cut pages, one illustration of Carnegie Hall.