The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century

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Take Ross's description of Schoenberg's Second Quartet, "in which he hesitates at a crossroads, contemplating various paths forming in front of him. The first movement, written the previous year, still uses a fairly conventional late-Romantic language. The second movement, by contrast, is a hallucinatory Scherzo, unlike any other music at the time. It contains fragments of the folk song 'Ach, du lieber Augustin'--the same tune that held Freudian significance for Mahler. For Schoenberg, the song seems to represent a bygone world disintegrating; the crucial line is 'Alles ist hin' (all is lost). The movement ends in a fearsome sequence of four-note figures, which are made up of fourths separated by a tritone. In them may be discerned traces of the bifurcated scale that begins Salome. But there is no longer a sense of tonalities colliding. Instead, the very concept of a chord is dissolving into a matrix of intervals."

Armed with such a detailed aural roadmap, even a troglodyte--or a heavy metal fan--can explore these pivotal works anew. But it's not all crashing cymbals, honking tubas, and somber Germans stroking their chins. Ross also presents the human dramas (affairs, wars, etc.) behind these sweeping compositions while managing, against the odds, to discuss C-major triads, pentatonic scales, and B-flat dominant sevenths without making our eyes glaze over. And he draws a direct link between the Beatles and Sibelius. It's no surprise that the New York Times named The Rest Is Noise one of the 10 Best Books of 2007. Music nerds have found their most articulate valedictorian. --Kim Hughes--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Ross, the classical music critic for the New Yorker, leads a whirlwind tour from the Viennese premiere of Richard Strauss's Salome in 1906 to minimalist Steve Reich's downtown Manhattan apartment. The wide-ranging historical material is organized in thematic essays grounded in personalities and places, in a disarmingly comprehensive style reminiscent of historian Otto Friedrich. Thus, composers who led dramatic lives—such as Shostakovich's struggles under the Soviet regime—make for gripping reading, but Ross treats each composer with equal gravitas. The real strength of this study, however, lies in his detailed musical analysis, teasing out—in precise but readily accessible language—the notes that link Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story to Arnold Schoenberg's avant-garde compositions or hint at a connection between Sibelius and John Coltrane. Among the many notable passages, a close reading of Benjamin Britten's opera Peter Grimes stands out for its masterful blend of artistic and biographical insight. Readers new to classical music will quickly seek out the recordings Ross recommends, especially the works by less prominent composers, and even avid fans will find themselves hearing familiar favorites with new ears. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Bookmarks Magazine
The classical music critic for The New Yorker, Alex Ross has a reputation as one of the most perceptive and humorous voices in the industry. Even so, The Rest Is Noiseâ€"a play on Hamlet’s last words, "The rest is silence"â€"is an ambitious undertaking, one that critics unanimously proclaimed a success. Ross’s lively, accessible prose and striking visual images bring the music he describes vividly to life. His anecdotes are amusing, and his revelations are far-reaching and profound. Though he arranges his material in chronological order, his narrative never descends into a clunky, decade-by-decade sequence of events. Instead, Ross gauges the legacy of classical musicâ€"its shaping of jazz, swing, pop, rock, and hip-hopâ€"in this compelling book.

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review
"A brilliant, hugely enjoyable cultural history." -- Susan Miron, Christian Science Monitor

"A work of immense scope and ambition.... a great achievement. Rilke once wrote of how he learned to stand 'more seeingly' in front of certain paintings. Ross enables us to listen more hearingly." -- Geoff Dyer, New York Times Book Review (cover)

"In The Rest Is Noise, Alex Ross shows himself to be a surpassingly eloquent advocate for beauty, by any means necessary." -- Terry Teachout, Commentary

"Insightfully original.... Dramatic, erudite, and culturally expansive." -- Johanna Keller, Chamber Music

"It would be hard to imagine a better guide to the maelstrom of recent music than Mr Ross, who worked on this book for a decade. He has an almost uncanny gift for putting music into words. No other critic writing in English can so effectively explain why you like a piece, or beguile you to reconsider it, or prompt you to hurry online and buy a recording." -- The Economist

"Mr. Ross brings his gift for authoritative enthusiasm to a whole century's worth of music...a massively erudite book that wears its learning lightly." -- Adam Kirsch, New York Sun

"Sweeping yet compulsively readable...Lucid technical descriptions illuminate the densest of pieces without dulling their inherently thorny nature." -- Hank Shteamer, Time Out New York

"The best book on what music is about -- really about -- that you or I will ever own." -- Alan Rich, LA Weekly

"[Alex Ross] writes about music in vivid language humming with intelligence. He tells great stories about musicians' lives and illuminates their work with the light of his own experience...Ross has managed to spring classical music from its encrusted shell and make it feel contemporary. That's a mighty admirable feat and now it reaches something close to magnificence in his first book, THE REST IS NOISE." -- Kevin Berger, Salon.com

"[The Rest Is Noise] tells a compelling, epic, and entirely human story." -- Jan Swafford, The Wilson Quarterly--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

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