coronaurora's review
3.0
Some fantastic deconstruction of an archetypal classical symphonic piece, and a genuine attempt to introduce varied themes and musical manipulations taken by a few Greats with nine samples of music on a companion CD.
While conceptualised with noble intentions as part of the Get Started series, it's pitched higher than it thinks it is, and Mr Collins is seen digressing and launching into advanced commentaries often that are not particularly instructive to beginners.
I wished that his expository texts on the companion pieces had clear time pointers to help the uninitiated soul pause and reflect at the precise moment of transition that the author is instructing or waxing eloquent about. Instead of this, I saw a few attempts to help one tap the bars, but this was not repeated with any consistency. The result: I found myself playing and replaying pieces finding the exact moment when the overture blended into a minuet or when the expository part of a sonata flowed into the anarchic fantasia of development.
I also found the second half of the book, taking one down the eras of classical music, terribly dry. For the next edition, I would advise publishers to either pack in era-specific playlists in text or clipped versions on the underused companion CD. For now, I would redirect willing readers to any of the tomes dished out by Mr Henley for Classic FM (especially Everything You wanted to know about Classical Music) for this mterial.
On the plus side, the opaque parent commentaries notwithstanding, the small dictionary of typical terms heard in reference to classical music had clear, concise definitions; the boxes on different instruments in a typical orchestra are quite good and having invested a few hours into it, you do come off having had some upgrade of listening skills and musical vocabulary. For that I am grateful
While conceptualised with noble intentions as part of the Get Started series, it's pitched higher than it thinks it is, and Mr Collins is seen digressing and launching into advanced commentaries often that are not particularly instructive to beginners.
I wished that his expository texts on the companion pieces had clear time pointers to help the uninitiated soul pause and reflect at the precise moment of transition that the author is instructing or waxing eloquent about. Instead of this, I saw a few attempts to help one tap the bars, but this was not repeated with any consistency. The result: I found myself playing and replaying pieces finding the exact moment when the overture blended into a minuet or when the expository part of a sonata flowed into the anarchic fantasia of development.
I also found the second half of the book, taking one down the eras of classical music, terribly dry. For the next edition, I would advise publishers to either pack in era-specific playlists in text or clipped versions on the underused companion CD. For now, I would redirect willing readers to any of the tomes dished out by Mr Henley for Classic FM (especially Everything You wanted to know about Classical Music) for this mterial.
On the plus side, the opaque parent commentaries notwithstanding, the small dictionary of typical terms heard in reference to classical music had clear, concise definitions; the boxes on different instruments in a typical orchestra are quite good and having invested a few hours into it, you do come off having had some upgrade of listening skills and musical vocabulary. For that I am grateful
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