Music Talks: Conversations with Musicians

by Helen Epstein

Book Overview

For classical music buffs everywhere, this is an inside look at the contemporary classical music scene--its greatest artists, most prestigious events, and its most elite centers of study.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0070195447
• ISBN13: 9780070195448
• Release Date: January 1987
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
• Length: 241 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A must for any musician or anyone interested in the world of musicians

This book brings the reader into the heart of the world of the many kinds of musicians who work alone, in orchestras, or on chamber music, a profession that requires musicians to give up their freedom to express themselves freely as soloists. Teachers of music will also benefit from the book's many accounts of the art of passing on to students the wisdom and insights that great teachers have accumulated over many years - most notably Dorothy DeLay. Helen Epstein tells it how it is with her keen observational skills, with her asking provocative probing questions, and expressing her observations in a deeply engaging way. Being an amateur musician myself, I often have fantasized about what it might be like to be in the world of the professional musicians. In reading this book, I found myself having an intense vicarious experience, identifying with the intense stresses as well as joys and excitement that musicians endure in simply being driven by the need to share their personal musical experiences with others. My favorite line in the book is expressed by Phillip Naegele who described the difficulty of musicians to find a balanced line "between selflessness and self assertion". All lovers of classical music will find this book a delight. However, I feel that it is musicians who are on the road to establishing themselves as sought-after performers who most need to read this book. It can remind them as to why they went into music in the first place and help them overcome what I feel is the dominating focus over technique to the detriment of making deep soulful music. Whether you agree or disagree with her, she is a superb writer who is a master of writing in an engaging and entertaining style.

Excellent, entertaining, but dated

This is a terrific book, showing so much of the unseen side of the classical music business. Teachers, producers, conductors, and, of course, performers are all interviewed by a talented interviewer who never inserts herself into the articles that come from those talks. We've all heard of the incredible dedication that success in professional music performance--this book only reinforces that idea. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in classical music, whether a beginner or an informed veteran listener. My only qualification is that the book is dated, nearly 20 years so, but that is not a negative so much anymore, as any interested reader can find out more about the people in the book by searching the internet.