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jb16772's review against another edition
4.0
A great book. I finished it slightly before year end, as I could not wait to finish the last few pages and pieces of music.
I'm not giving it 5 stars as a little more guidance on the timelines would have been good. Timelines and links are not easy to follow given the relative random ordering of the pieces of music.
I'm not giving it 5 stars as a little more guidance on the timelines would have been good. Timelines and links are not easy to follow given the relative random ordering of the pieces of music.
balletbookworm's review against another edition
4.0
First book finished for #readathon (I only had about 150p left). This is a really solid one-piece-per-day devotional, if you will, designed to dive deep into the classical music catalogue. A few of my favorites are missing (Rhapsody in Blue, where are you?? Enigma Variations? Any ballet music?) but there were a lot of new-to-me composers to explore (starting right away in January with Hildegard von Bingen). Burton-Hill has also very consciously tried to make an inclusive list to try and get outside the white/male boundaries classical music has tried to keep around itself. What I think this collection is missing are some recommendations for which recording to listen to. Some more recent or less popular will have fewer to choose from but something like “Che gelida manina” from La Bohème will have hundreds available.
Burton-Hill has also curated playlists by month (if you’re not bonkers like me and pulling multiple versions, favorites, and complete works rather than movements and are making your own). Search for Clemency (with the blue tick mark) in Spotify or Year of Wonder at Apple Music.
Burton-Hill has also curated playlists by month (if you’re not bonkers like me and pulling multiple versions, favorites, and complete works rather than movements and are making your own). Search for Clemency (with the blue tick mark) in Spotify or Year of Wonder at Apple Music.
ilex22's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
5.0
Ich habe es nicht ganz durchgehalten, aber die Auswahl idt spannend, abwechslungsreich und inspirierend. Jetzt versuche ich es mit der Printausgabe der Fortsetzung
bickleyhouse's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
5.0
This book is amazing. I was given this for Christmas last year, and thoroughly enjoyed looking at it through the year, and listening to the piece of music that was featured each day. Ms. Burton-Hill did a fantastic job of curating all of these pieces of music! It's like Classical music "devotional, if you will. Each day features a different piece of music, some of them less than two minutes long, and some of them more than ten minutes long. Occasionally, a suite of more than one song is featured.
Each selection is informative, giving biographical information about the composer, as well as influences on them, and other information about them. As much as can be fit into a single page reading, that is. I learned of many, many composers of whom I had never heard before. Of course, there are very familiar composers, and my favorites were all featured, as well.
This book was a joy to read and really enhanced my classical music listening in 2023. So much so that I now have a Spotify playlist that features every single song that is in this book. That's a very long playlist.
Thank you, Clemency Burton-Hill, for writing this book!
Each selection is informative, giving biographical information about the composer, as well as influences on them, and other information about them. As much as can be fit into a single page reading, that is. I learned of many, many composers of whom I had never heard before. Of course, there are very familiar composers, and my favorites were all featured, as well.
This book was a joy to read and really enhanced my classical music listening in 2023. So much so that I now have a Spotify playlist that features every single song that is in this book. That's a very long playlist.
Thank you, Clemency Burton-Hill, for writing this book!
nanceoir's review against another edition
5.0
This was part of my 2023 daily reading challenge. Every day (sometimes at night, but most effective first thing in the morning), I'd read the day's entry in Toksvig's Almanac, then turn my attention to this, where I'd read the entry while listening to the piece.
Did I give proper attention to each piece of music? Can't say I did, no. But it was a lovely way to start the day, and I heard hundreds of pieces I'd never heard before. (I also confirmed that my favorite classical music eras are Baroque and Classical... though there are nice things to be found in all of it.)
Now, to wait for the sequel to be released digitally in the US....
Did I give proper attention to each piece of music? Can't say I did, no. But it was a lovely way to start the day, and I heard hundreds of pieces I'd never heard before. (I also confirmed that my favorite classical music eras are Baroque and Classical... though there are nice things to be found in all of it.)
Now, to wait for the sequel to be released digitally in the US....
debsfielding583's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
5.0
ruthmoog's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
4.75
A very fun concept, full of interesting tidbits, and a variety of music. I found some new favourite pieces, and my Spotify wrapped for the year was heavily classical music influenced 😂
Occasionally there will be longer pieces (20m) - it's a shame the length isn't mentioned so you can prepare to listen as most of the music is under 5m and the text is less than a page. There is quite a lot of worship music too, and opera which wasn't what I expected.
Really cute idea, I'd do it again - but not every year 😄
Occasionally there will be longer pieces (20m) - it's a shame the length isn't mentioned so you can prepare to listen as most of the music is under 5m and the text is less than a page. There is quite a lot of worship music too, and opera which wasn't what I expected.
Really cute idea, I'd do it again - but not every year 😄