Rating: 
Summary: Perception is reality
Review: An entertaining book, but one that really demonstrates that music is for the most part a totally subjective experience. As for his recommendations, I suppose it's better to go by them than to blindly purchase performances by a few big names. My biggest complaint is the devotion to modern classical music (post-1900, imo). Personally, I find most of this music wretched in comparison with music found from renaissance (1400) to late romantic music (approx 1900). You could have removed just about all the 20th century "composers" and filled the extra space up with far more worthy pieces by Mozart, Schubert, Handel, and Bach. And of course, some of his choices for the essential pieces are downright blasphemous. Duke Ellington's "it don't mean a thing if it aint got that swing"?? hahaha. i almost laughed out of my chair. Even with these faults, however, I find this guide invaluable in exploring new composers with whom I am utterly unfamiliar. Keeps this outrageously expensive hobby somewhat less risky. :) Certainly worth the money.
Rating: 
Summary: Nicely Done!! Makes beautiful music come to life!
Review: Are you an enthusiastic novice to classical music? Frustrated by how much there is to know and how little time you have to learn it? Like Beethoven and don't know who to listen to next? Jan Swafford's got your back!! This book is excellent. What makes this book stand out is it's attention to the characters behind the music. To paraphrase Swafford's introduction, how can one learn about the string quartet without learning about the person of F.J. Hayden; the romantic symphony absent Beethoven's idiosyncracies? And what characters they are! Swafford dispells much of the 'tragic genius' myth of Mozart, shows us an overly sensitive (especially in love) Hector Berlioz, not to mention the silently tortured soul of Tchaikovsky. Trust me, this is going to be GOOD!!
The book is divided into chronological order of periods. The author starts off each section/period with a brief overview of it's historical context and brief biographies of some of its minor composers. Then, he goes on to the biographies, looking in detail at the lives and works of each. Swafford definitely has biases but makes them obvious as seperate from facts. He also uses quite a bit of humor e.g., "The life of ...Franz Liszt could be seen as an..illustration of the maxim, 'The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.' Expecpt that Liszt never really left the road and never quite made it to the palace." Cheesy? Perhaps! But it makes it so gosh durn fun. The only complaint that I have is the sardonic treatment of some composers. I was especially annoyed with Swafford's repitition of how unoriginal Mozart was. In truth, Swafford is right. Mozart, though prolific, was conventional to an extreme. But Swafford reminds us over and over again; as if he enjoys tearing an icon from the pedestal. Also, though he tries to remain impartial on the experimental music of the twentieth century, his bitterness show through; especially with minimalism, wherin "ideas, which are not interesting to begin with, do not become any more interesting." Thanks to Swafford though, classical music whic IS very interesting, becomes infinitely more interesting!
Rating: 
Summary: Good. Well written--but...
Review: Duke Ellington, classical composer?! He need not become one regardless of Jan Swafford's attempt. I throughly enjoyed the book as to its biographies, its musical analysis. My only problem is not being an Anglo-American who has to wave a cultural flag and insist that classical music composers in the US and England have to compete with say, composers in France or Italy (like sports, I guess). I was suprised not to find Granados, Albéniz nor Falla mentioned at all. Then again Swafford goes through the Renaissance without any Italian composers.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent source
Review: I found this work both fascinating and informative. Swafford writes in an easy manner; this doesn't feel like a textbook written by some moldy professor. There are many sidebar discussions into major classical ideas (polyphony, atonality, et. al.) that prove quite enlightening. The details into the personal lives of the composers are fascinating, yet not overwhelming. This book can offer you the taste that could propel you into learning more about a composer that strikes your fancy. As a reference tool, I have found it somewhat indispensable. I have referred to it many times either as to clear up a discussion point or as a way of deciding on what musical piece I should try to buy next. Does this include everyone? No. But it shouldn't; no one could agree on the "correct" number of composers to write about. So, while you might miss a talent here or there, you by far get more out of it than not. Though an expert might not find it so valuable, I think this is a fine book for both the classical novice and intermediate fan.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent source
Review: I found this work both fascinating and informative. Swafford writes in an easy manner; this doesn't feel like a textbook written by some moldy professor. There are many sidebar discussions into major classical ideas (polyphony, atonality, et. al.) that prove quite enlightening. The details into the personal lives of the composers are fascinating, yet not overwhelming. This book can offer you the taste that could propel you into learning more about a composer that strikes your fancy. As a reference tool, I have found it somewhat indispensable. I have referred to it many times either as to clear up a discussion point or as a way of deciding on what musical piece I should try to buy next. Does this include everyone? No. But it shouldn't; no one could agree on the "correct" number of composers to write about. So, while you might miss a talent here or there, you by far get more out of it than not. Though an expert might not find it so valuable, I think this is a fine book for both the classical novice and intermediate fan.
Rating:
Summary: A no-brainer recommendation for classical music newbies.
Review: I spend a fair bit of time (well, perhaps *too* much time) participating in classical music discussion boards on the internet. A frequent question that arises from people new to classical music is that of a good reference book to acquaint them with the field. Generally, what these newbies ask for is, in my experience, too much to expect from a single book: typically, they are looking for both composer information (and how a particular composer fits into the canon of classical music) and recommendations for specific recordings of works of classical composers. While I have a few such books in my own library, these tend to date themselves quickly on the recommended-recordings side while remaining serviceable on the composer-description side. I have a better recommendation for those interested, which I provide in my concluding remarks. For now, I'll limit my comments to the composer-description (or, better, composer-contribution) side of the matter, and the strengths of Swafford's book.
My experience with such books goes back to Aaron Copland's 1957 "What to Listen for in Music." This classic played a large role in getting me on my own journey in classical music, but it is now quite out of date; it doesn't even touch on the most recent half-century. (William Schuman updated this book, but even that fell well short of the mark for those interested in contemporary music.)
This Swafford book is, I believe, the best of its kind for the purpose of setting out the "essential canon of classical music" and the composers (and their key works) who comprise it. To better understand why I think Swafford's book is best, perhaps I should begin with the fact that I have a few views, somewhat strongly held, regarding what such a book should contain if it is to encourage the classical music newcomer.
The first of these is that it should cover, in helpful detail, the entire tradition of western classical music from the Middle Ages to (more or less) the present day. To do less, by including less, is to downplay the role of historical development: an isolated composer, or period in music, lacks context to understand his, or its, place in the canon.
The second is that, like it or not, all composers are not equally "canonical" in the sense of being of equal importance from an historical perspective. If the writer is *too* inclusive by including a large number of composers of lesser stature, this will only serve to dilute the importance of the true "canonical" composers unless the effort is of encyclopaedic length.
The third is that temporal context, i.e., the societal and cultural milieu in which a composer has worked, is a key component to understanding what, how and why the composer has written what he (or she) has. A part of that understanding is how the composer acted within that milieu and reacted, or worked, according to the tradition and the materials available.
The fourth - and perhaps most important - is that the author's preferences and prejudices should not affect objectivity: there must be a sense of even-handedness indicating that, whether or not the author *likes* a specific composer, the composer is properly included on the merits.
With these views as a given, Swafford's book is easily the best of its kind. Swafford grasps the long arc of classical music beginning in the Middle Ages with chant (both monophony and polyphony, with worthwhile comments on Pérotin and then Machaut, the first clearly acknowledged contributors). The Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Twentieth-Century modernist periods then unfold logically as each successive period builds on its predecessor(s).
Each important composer is given approximately 8 to 12 pages for a satisfactorily detailed description of his importance and contributions, his relationship to his milieu and how he built on the tradition in place before him, and sufficient biographical information for us to see the human side of him. This is then followed by 2 or more pages that describe what his most important works were: what they are like, and why they are important. More than a few of these composer sections are inspired in their writing, with the ones on Beethoven, Berlioz, Debussy, Ives, Bartók and Stravinsky being particularly fine examples of Swafford's craft. And, while the emphasis is on instrumental and orchestral, rather than operatic, music, three primarily operatic composers (Monteverdi, Wagner and Verdi) share equal billing because the "long arc" would be incomplete without them.
Swafford's detailing of important composers ends in the 20th century with Shostakovich and Britten. But he includes briefer descriptions of many other 20th century composers (and their key works) at the end of this chapter. (He does likewise for the preceding music periods as well; no one of true historical importance is overlooked.)
The book is interspersed throughout with extended "sidebars" that discuss various classical music concepts (e.g., melody; consonance and dissonance; monophony, polyphony and homophony; sonata form; tonality and atonality) in simple terms. An afterword, "Music: An Approach to Defining the Indefinable," comes as close to an all-inclusive description of what music is, and its "ineffability," as any I've ever read. The book concludes with a summary of recommended works for building a classical library (actually, a compilation of the recommendations that Swafford had earlier made in the body of the text) and a glossary of technical terms in easily-understandable language.
Swafford's writing throughout is masterful, and he always seems to find the words that clarify, rather than obfuscate, without being didactic. This should come as no surprise to anyone who has read his superb biographies of Charles Ives and Johannes Brahms.
Since Swafford's recommendations for building a classical library don't include specific recordings (except in very rare instances for early music), I recommend that a classical music newcomer also acquire something like "The Penguin Guide to (Classical) Compact Discs." These two books, used together, should get you well on your way.
Highly recommended!
Bob Zeidler
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Intro Guide
Review: I'm having a lot of fun using this book as I am learning about classical music. The book gives summaries of the musical eras in addition to information about the individual artists, what drove them, and the basic ideas behind their works. It's filled with lots of human interest and is enjoyable to read.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent for what it is, but not for the unstudious
Review: Imagine if you had a brilliant friend who knew everything about classical music, but he or she did all the talking, and you couldn't get a word in edgewise. That's how "The Vintage Guide to Classical Music" pans out for me.
I think I've read eight or ten introductions to classical music in the last year, and Swafford is by far the author who really "delivers the goods." But this is a thick, heavy, brainy read. It's the kind of text that, if you memorized it, you could fool people into thinking you were an Harvard-trained musicologist (which I think Swafford is).
At any rate, this is a very solid, very well-done, jam-packed-with-fascinating-little-details study with a real graduate-school feel. I recommend you begin with either of two more accessible books, either Phil Golding's "Classical Music" or else David Pogue's and Scott Speck's "Classical Music for Dummies," and then move on to this one. All three are excellent, but Swafford's is by far the most advanced of the three.
Rating:
Summary: Good. Well written--but...
Review: Jan Swafford's "Vintage Guide to Classical Music" packs a lot of useful information into a relatively small space. The book provides a short course in music appreciation, but doesn't dictate what one should like or listen to. Granted, the book includes recommended works for each composer discussed, but avoids a didactic tone. The text traces the history of Western music from its beginnings to the mid-20th century. Swafford is a composer, and spends a substantial porftion of the book on 20th century composers. His thesis, however, is that so much has happened since 1900, that amount of space is required to adequately discuss developments during that time. It may come to a surprise to many that one of his "composers to watch" for the 20th century is Duke Ellington, whom Swafford believes wrote music that will endure. For a book that tackles a serious subject and provides a lot of information, the writing - and thus the reading - is smooth. Composers are discussed chronologically, which aids our understanding of how music developed and how composers learned (stole!) from each other, building on the innovations of others. I found the discussion of themes, for example tonality and atonality, very informative, although the parrallel organization of these "sidebar" sections took some orientation. Although Swafford ignored one of my favorite pieces (Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D), I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn a bit about the history of music, why we like what we like, and why (and how) music moves us.
Rating:
Summary: Listening to music and loving it!
Review: Jan Swafford's "Vintage Guide to Classical Music" packs a lot of useful information into a relatively small space. The book provides a short course in music appreciation, but doesn't dictate what one should like or listen to. Granted, the book includes recommended works for each composer discussed, but avoids a didactic tone. The text traces the history of Western music from its beginnings to the mid-20th century. Swafford is a composer, and spends a substantial porftion of the book on 20th century composers. His thesis, however, is that so much has happened since 1900, that amount of space is required to adequately discuss developments during that time. It may come to a surprise to many that one of his "composers to watch" for the 20th century is Duke Ellington, whom Swafford believes wrote music that will endure. For a book that tackles a serious subject and provides a lot of information, the writing - and thus the reading - is smooth. Composers are discussed chronologically, which aids our understanding of how music developed and how composers learned (stole!) from each other, building on the innovations of others. I found the discussion of themes, for example tonality and atonality, very informative, although the parrallel organization of these "sidebar" sections took some orientation. Although Swafford ignored one of my favorite pieces (Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D), I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn a bit about the history of music, why we like what we like, and why (and how) music moves us.
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