In this compulsively readable, fascinating, and provocative
guide to classical music, Norman Lebrecht, one of the world's most
widely read cultural commentators tells the story of the rise of
the classical recording industry from Caruso's first notes to the
heyday of Bernstein, Glenn Gould, Callas, and von Karajan. Lebrecht
compellingly demonstrates that classical recording has reached its
end point-but this is not simply an expos? of decline and fall. It
is, for the first time, the full story of a minor art form,
analyzing the cultural revolution wrought by Schnabel, Toscanini,
Callas, Rattle, the Three Tenors, and Charlotte Church. It is the
story of how stars were made and broken by the record business; how
a war criminal conspired with a concentration-camp victim to create
a record empire; and how advancing technology, boardroom wars,
public credulity and unscrupulous exploitation shaped the musical
backdrop to our modern lives. The book ends with a suitable shrine
to classical recording: the author's critical selection of the 100
most important recordings-and the 20 most appalling. Filled with
memorable incidents and unforgettable personalities-from Goddard
Lieberson, legendary head of CBS Masterworks who signed his letters
as God; to Georg Solti, who turned the Chicago Symphony into " the
loudest symphony on earth"-this is at once the captivating story of
the life and death of classical recording and an opinioned,
insider's guide to appreciating the genre, now and for years to
come.
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