Author:Robert Gutman
Mozart: A Cultural Biography is a fresh interpretation of a musical genius, meticulously researched and gracefully written. It places Mozart's life and music in the context of the intellectual, political, and artistic currents of eighteenth-century Europe. Even as he delves into philosophic and aesthetic questions, Robert Gutman keeps in sight, clearly and firmly, the composer and his works. He discusses the major genres in which Mozart worked - chamber music; liturgical, theatre, and keyboard compositions; concerto; symphony; opera; and oratorio. All of these riches unfold within the framework of the composer's brief but remarkable life.With Gutman's informed and sensitive handling, Mozart emerges in a light more luminous than in previous renderings. The composer was an affectionate and generous man to family and friends, self-deprecating, witty, winsome, but also an austere moralist, incisive and purposeful.Mozart is both an extraordinary portrait of a man in his time and a brilliant distillation of musical thought.
[M]eticulously researched and gracefully written.
—— Trevor Rees-Jones , Sunday TelegraphManford paints a warm picture of a chaotic poor-but-happy childhood filled with earthy characters, from an eccentric uncle to a big-hearted tart he met on his paper round
—— Evening StandardOne of the most consistently funny and effortlessly charming new comics around
—— Jonathan RossSeveral instances are much less commonplace, no matter how matter-of-factly Manford relates them - such as the heroin addict uncle who used to crash on the family sofa. And there surely can't be many people who have a story about liberating a cooker from a murder victim's house ... The adventure is like a modern-day Laurel and Hardy sketch, though told with a mordant humour
—— ChortleWho wouldn't feel a rush of delight to see the stand-up and perennial panel show host Jason Manford peeking out of their Christmas stocking?
—— Independent on SundayCallow's precise prose and sober judgement make this second volume of biography one to be cherished and leaves one eagerly anticipating volume three
—— Michael Arditti , Daily MailCallow's riveting and superlative biography satisfies at every level, and I for one cannot wait for the next volume
—— Frank McLynn , Literary ReviewA vivid, sympathetic account... provides a definitive explanation of Welles's ultimate, lingering downfall
—— Financial TimesI am already looking forward to [the third volume] such is Callow's sympathetic absorption in the mass of material, which he handles with a light and ironic touch, that I found myself utterly hooked... As an actor himself Callow writes illuminatingly about Welles's performances
—— Mail on SundayCallow's enterprise is one of the rarest in publishing. It leaves the reader dry-mouthed with anticipation for his final, third volume
—— Alan Warner , GuardianThe only biog really worth it's salt this year...reliably entertaining, wise and sane
—— Catherine Shoard , Evening StandardWelles’s packed schedule is rifled through with chatty elegance
—— Catherine Shoard , Sunday Telegraph
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