ABC Books, September 2005
In his book In Defence of Classical Music, Andrew Ford asks how the symphonies of Beethoven and string quartets of Brahms can possibly be relevant post 9/11. He argues that it is precisely because we live in discordant times that classical music is more valuable than ever.
‘Classical music is not escapism,’ Ford maintains, ‘it is a form of consolation. A retreat, certainly, but a retreat into reality rather than away from it.’
Following the essay which gives the book its title, there are ten shorter essays on individual composers: Dowland, Haydn, Beethoven, Berlioz, Brahms, Sibelius, Ravel, John Adams, Kaija Saariaho and Ross Bolleter. Finally, in an attempt to take the reader into the mind of a composer, Ford turns to his own music, with discussions of The Waltz Book, Learning to Howl, and Manhattan Epiphanies.
Following the essay which gives the book its title, there are ten shorter essays on individual composers: Dowland, Haydn, Beethoven, Berlioz, Brahms, Sibelius, Ravel, John Adams, Kaija Saariaho and Ross Bolleter. Finally, in an attempt to take the reader into the mind of a composer, Ford turns to his own music, with discussions of The Waltz Book, Learning to Howl, and Manhattan Epiphanies.
This book is out of print but some copies still available in the AMC Shop.
Reviews
The book is brilliant – especially Part I, which is a necessary prelude to everything I have ever written about music, though neither I nor anyone else has ever done it!
Wilfrid Mellers
Emeritus Professor of Music, University of York
Andrew Ford relishes the debate, arguing that the classical music audience must bring ‘its ears, its concentration, its imagination and its memory’ to the experience. No, classical music will not make you a better human being (‘a particularly insidious myth’), yet why, Ford wonders, did he have a bigger appetite for the classics immediately after September 11, 2001, ‘in particular the string quartets of Brahms’? Wonderful mysteries.
Tony Maniaty, The Australian
He summarises his argument by bravely pointing out that ‘classical music is a source not only of consolation but of certainty . . . it reaffirms creativity because it has survived’. Here is a cause that is elegantly, perhaps classically, argued.
Martin Stevenson, The Examiner, Launceston
A great read!
Kate de Goldi, “Good Morning”, TVNZ