The Rest Is Noise
by Alex Ross · first published 2007
80% recommend20% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Accessible, wide-ranging history of 20th-century classical composition that gives a whirlwind overview of trends and makes a good starting point for listening; suits newcomers and curious general readers.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Winner of the 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism A New York Times Book Review Top Ten Book of the Year Time magazine Top Ten Nonfiction Book of 2007 Newsweek Favorite Books of 2007 A Washington Post Book WorldBest Book of 2007 In this sweeping and dramatic narrative, Alex Ross, music critic for The New Yorker, weaves together the histories of the twentieth century and its music, from Vienna before the First World War to Paris in the twenties; from Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia to downtown New York in the sixties and seventies up to the present. Taking readers
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If you are interested in classical music - here's a couple of good books on the 20th century. "The Rest Is Noise" by Alex Ross "Modern Times, Modern Places" by Peter Conrad The first is just music, the second one covers art and culture in general but has a lot about music. "America's Musical Life: A History"…
on “Ask HN: How to Become a Music Buff?” ↗…whirlwind overview of a lot of historical trends in this space, so if you're unfamiliar, but still sufficiently interested, you might use it as a quick reference for areas to listen to. Alex Ross' book "The Rest is Noise" is a good resource for a deeper look at the area.
on “The Music of the Future” ↗All great books. I'd throw in "The Singer of Tales" by Albert Lord, which can really shift your thinking about how oral traditions work. For pure music, I'd highly recommend "The Rest is Noise", by Alex Ross.
on “Books That Changed How I Hear Music” ↗"There is plenty of good music left to be written in C major." - Schoenberg I got that from Alex Ross's The Rest is Noise, an accessible history of 20th century composition. I went in ready to dislike Schoenberg but I walked away pretty charmed with him. I don't enjoy listening to any of his serial pieces, but I loved the…
on “The Case for Challenging Music” ↗…fact, Domingo IS a "better" singer and does sing to your heart and not just your head, but Pavarotti is the one who communicates with ordinary people. There is nothing wrong with that. Alex Ross (The Rest is Noise) is a champion of modern, dissonant-sounding music, and he knows his music theory backwards and forwards. So he's someone people would expect to despise the Rach-man. Knowing that, I don't see this article…
on “How radical was Rachmaninoff?” ↗