The Rest Is Noise The Rest Is Noise

The Rest Is Noise

Listening to the Twentieth Century

    • 4.6 • 33 Ratings
    • $13.99

Publisher Description

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 World
Best 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 into the labyrinth of modern style, Ross draws revelatory connections between the century's most influential composers and the wider culture. The Rest Is Noise is an astonishing history of the twentieth century as told through its music.

GENRE
Arts & Entertainment
RELEASED
2007
October 16
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
640
Pages
PUBLISHER
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
SELLER
Macmillan
SIZE
2.3
MB

Customer Reviews

Eclecticperson34 ,

Wonderful book

I learned much of what I know about 20th century music from this spectacular book. This book gives every composer (and reader) a fair chance. You need no background in music to appreciate this masterfully woven tapestry of giants and geniuses. Even if you think you know a lot, this book will be a true delight! I cannot recommend this book highly enough!

Miles T. Swineval ,

Excellent but frustrating

This is a terrific book, but it is very frustrating that several accents, such as the C in Janacek's name, create a paragraph return. Similar problems happen with composers such as Dvorak and Martinu, making the book very clumsy to navigate.

Mahler Lover ,

The Rest is Noise

This is the best book on 20th century music yet written. It is entertaining, comprehensive, and enlightening. A truly outstanding read.

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