Author:John Culshaw
Nothing in the history of recording approaches Decca’s mammoth venture in producing Wagner’s Ring complete for the first time. It was eight years in the making and this book tells the story of how it was made and the people who made it, written by the man who – as the recording producer – was in charge of the whole project.
Conducted by the great Georg Solti, Decca’s recording has been voted the best recording ever made. All the celebrated Wagner singers of their age take their places in the story, including Birgit Nilsson, Kirsten Flagstad, Hans Hotter, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gottlob Frick and Wolfgang Windgassen. The recording was made in Vienna with the Viennese Philharmonic Orchestra, and Culshaw displayed extraordinary dedication to Wagner’s musical requirements and to putting into practice his own belief that a stereo recording could create a ‘theatre of the mind’.
This is the story of how the recording evolved, and how it frequently almost came to grief. More than that, it is the story of how a new medium – recorded opera in stereo – reached fulfilment, and how this ground-breaking recording became seen as the highly influential gold standard for the future.
A compulsively readable, entertaining narrative
—— Financial TimesIt's a dramatic story of crisis, chaos and triumph, and Mr Culshaw...tells it superbly
—— ObserverWe now have a permanent - and worthy - account of a monumental artistic achievement
—— Daily MailMr Culshaw's book makes stirring reading, and sets the seal on the real artistic achievement
—— VogueIn listening to the Decca Ring one immediately senses it to be one of the greatest achievements ever made by a record company; in reading Mr Culshaw's book, one knows WHY it is
—— ScotsmanMr Culshaw who was (together with Solti) the leading spirit in the enterprise from first to last, has made the very most of his narrative opportunities
—— Sunday TimesAn accessible guide to roughly 42,000 years of music in just over 300 pages that manages neither to sacfrifice precise detail nor pugnacious opinion ... Goodall is unfailingly acute ... a clever, engaging read
—— Stuart Kelly , Scotland on SundayThere is a Jumpin’ Jack Flash liveliness in Goodall’s approach
—— Iain Finlayson , The TimesWho better to demystify the origins of music and trace the evolution of this most universal of artistic disciplines?
—— Neil Norman , ExpressThe Story of Music is a lively zip through some 45 millennia … jumping back and forth between classical, folk and pop
—— Christopher Hart , Sunday TimesHe starts right at the beginning, with 25,000-year-old bone flutes ... It's a huge brief, made huger by Goodall's alertness to new thinking in scholarly circles, and his fondness for interesting asides ... a racily written, learned and often shrewdly insightful book
—— Ivan Hewett , Daily Telegraph (Review)A roller-coaster ride, which Goodall tells with verve... a racily written, learned and often shrewdly insightful book
—— Ivan Hewett , Daily TelegraphAn accessible guide to roughly 42,000 years of music in just over 300 pages … The Story of Music is a clever, engaging read
—— Stuart Kelly , Scotland on SundayHoward Goodall’s beautifully clear and compelling account is both a hymn to human endeavour and a groundbreaking map of man’s musical journey
—— Wiltshire NewsGoodall's distinguisihing gift is his ability to explain the mechanics of music instead of gliding hastily over them. He is fearless in unknotting those medieval mysteries of oranum and isorhythms, as well as chords, triads, fugues, keys, equal temperament, atonality, dodecaphony and blues
—— Fiona Maddocks , SpectatorA clear and compelling account which is a hymn to human endeavor and a groundbreaking musical journey
—— Kirkham & FyldeFascinating – as well as illuminating on how music works
—— The LadyAt his best, Goodall has a facility for lively shorthand…
—— Adam Mars-Jones , GuardianThis ambitious and all embracing history of 40, 000 years of music will have you dancing in the aisles
—— Sally Morris , Daily Mail[Rod] has warm good humour and a nice line in self-deprecation...He wears it well—and tells it even better.
—— Daily MailBy some distance the most entertaining of last year’s...rock star memoirs.
—— Uncut OnlineThis book takes readers on an adventure, that is at times deeply moving, through the life of one of the UK's greatest singers.
—— Hello! onlineRuthlessly entertaining
—— telegraph.co.uk
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