vivacissimx's review
4.0
Two parallel threads run through this book, the "Bach" and the "Mother" respectively. As someone who knows almost nothing about the science of music there were parts of this that were hard to read, but as someone who was invested in completing this book, I nonetheless found the extended metaphors appropriate/understandable for the music philistine audience.
The author is my favorite art critic at WaPo, the newspaper I've read since childhood, so I was eager to read this. Having a more intimate view, sans art criticism, was exactly what I signed up for. And he delivered.
The author is my favorite art critic at WaPo, the newspaper I've read since childhood, so I was eager to read this. Having a more intimate view, sans art criticism, was exactly what I signed up for. And he delivered.
nastoulis's review
5.0
Beautifully written, informative, honest and very very moving. Absolutely loved it
cayley_graph's review
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
I learned a lot about Bach and also why some classical music recordings sound so dead — as if every note has been drilled beyond meaning — and amateur recitals sound so lively (the excitement of wrong notes and spontaneous expression).
Though the author concludes that Bach did not channel his grief better than angry birds, I would say that it gave him a lens through will to see his grief, as if it were the grief of someone else.
Though the author concludes that Bach did not channel his grief better than angry birds, I would say that it gave him a lens through will to see his grief, as if it were the grief of someone else.
orphius's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
The author's ability to describe music's workings even if you are not a musician is very good. They are very crisp descriptions.
Overall, the author contemplates not only how his music and his piano playing are intertwined with his mother and his complicated feelings around her death, but also takes a hard look at why he stopped pursuing music.
Most of this is done well and very thoughtful. I do think that towards the end the author repeats himself and his themes a bit. I think he could have trimmed parts near the end, though the actual ending is quite good.
Overall, the author contemplates not only how his music and his piano playing are intertwined with his mother and his complicated feelings around her death, but also takes a hard look at why he stopped pursuing music.
Most of this is done well and very thoughtful. I do think that towards the end the author repeats himself and his themes a bit. I think he could have trimmed parts near the end, though the actual ending is quite good.
cameroncl's review against another edition
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0
An interesting, and at times profoundly sad, memoir of Kennicott's experience learning music, his complicated relationship with a deeply flawed parent, Bach's Goldberg Variations, and the intertwining of all three. Generally very, very good, although the last two chapters were a bit too abrupt relative to the rest of the book.
esuchyta's review against another edition
I found this memoir sometimes insightful and other times scattered. It jumps between the author's life, Bach's life, and musical analysis, the last of which can be difficult to follow for someone who isn't classically trained. It's not that it isn't interesting, but I'm not sure how much I'll be able to take out of it. The Bach anecdotes were amusing, but I think maybe a bit digressional at times. More generally, the flow sometimes seemed to get distracted from the main quandry of what it means to know a piece of music.
The author is a vocabulary virtuoso, a maestro of highbrow sounding language. I mostly enjoyed that but some might find it exhausting. I wasn't a huge fan of the audiobook narrator. He wasn't hard to understand, but the cadence was sometimes stunted.
Overall, this book was OK, but I wouldn't put near the top of my recent reading.
The author is a vocabulary virtuoso, a maestro of highbrow sounding language. I mostly enjoyed that but some might find it exhausting. I wasn't a huge fan of the audiobook narrator. He wasn't hard to understand, but the cadence was sometimes stunted.
Overall, this book was OK, but I wouldn't put near the top of my recent reading.
zgriptsuroica's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
I came into this wanting more Bach and less memoir, and might have enjoyed it more if I'd gone into it with more accurate expectations of what it would be.