(Original posted on April 9, 2002)
This is a refreshing book that offers bold explanations in a simple narrative style. It would be perfect for those who have started listening to classical music but are feeling dizzy from the endless flood of sound. In particular, those who know the name “sonata form” but can’t quite grasp what it feels like will find this book brings them much closer to understanding it.
For composers, I believe it can lead to new awareness and discoveries about understanding and manipulating musical structure. Especially for intermediate composers who have some experience, there’s a potential for a breakthrough in their perspective on shaping music.
This book sets itself apart from mere introductory guides to classical music and is filled with a scathing critical spirit toward the existing classical music world. Contrary to its subtitle, “An Easygoing and Blissful Introductory Book,” it delves deep into the essence of classical music, questioning what kind of music is worthy of being called “true classical” by the author’s standards.
Presented in Chapter 1 is the surprisingly unexpected proposal: “If you want to get familiar with classical music, read a mystery novel and make a salad yourself.” The author points out that the taste of a salad, where ingredients with different characteristics blend together in harmony, is similar to harmony in classical music.
This proposal could also be said to suggest the importance of approaching classical music not as a passive object of appreciation, but with an attitude of actively analyzing and “cooking” it with one’s own hands.
The following sections present a mindset for listening to classical music and perspectives for discerning its essence. It introduces two types of beauty, “abstract beauty” and “empathetic beauty,” and points out that a major characteristic of classical music is “to express ‘something more than human’ by pursuing abstract beauty.”
After presenting the fundamentals of classical music in this way, the book proceeds to discuss and explain specific works from the next chapter onward.
“The idea that art and beauty enrich human life is an idea of a dreadfully optimistic and insensitive person.” — This is a quote from another of Mr. Kyo’s works, “Classic CD Masterpiece Battle,” and it encapsulates his underlying philosophy. I believe his stance of presenting classical music as an art form that is not merely for comfort or healing, but one that sometimes pushes people away and is even accompanied by pain, gives this book a rigor and depth not found in similar works.
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Originally, I was far from a classical music listener, and until I read this book and listened to “Romeo and Juliet,” I had never properly listened to Tchaikovsky. It wasn’t that I thought of him as just a “composer of sweet melodies,” as the author puts it, but I had only heard famous ballet pieces fragmentarily.
However, as I listened to “Romeo and Juliet” for the first time and engaged with the content of this book, including the detailed explanation starting on page 64, I came to realize that Tchaikovsky was indeed a composer who had not only a great melodic sense but also a solid ear for musical structure.
After that, I belatedly listened to major works like his symphonies and also found it interesting to get a glimpse of the struggle between “structure” and “the emotional.” And it makes me wonder if Tchaikovsky himself struggled with how to reconcile structure and emotion.
Now, as you can see from this book, the author is quite sharp-tongued. It makes me a little curious about what his university lectures are like.
Table of Contents for “Listen to Classical Music!”
- In Lieu of a Preface
- Chapter 1: Ultra-Basics 1 to 6 – Before You Start Listening
- Classical Ultra-Basics 1 & 2 / The Secret of Mystery Novels and Salads
- Ultra-Basic 3 / The Immensely Important Performer
- Ultra-Basic 4 / Anything But Live is Fake
- Ultra-Basic 5 / There Are Two Kinds of Beauty
- Ultra-Basic 6 / These Are the Types of Classical Pieces
- Chapter 2: Practical Part 1 – The Three Basic Pieces; Listen to These and You’ll Completely Understand Classical Music
- The Hidden Secrets in Music Themed on a Great Romantic Tragedy / Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet”
- The Mystery of Sonata Form; Understand This and You’ll Understand 90% of Classical Music / Mozart’s “Piano Sonata No. 15”
- The Pattern of Classical Music Was Perfected Here / Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 9”
- Chapter 3: Practical Part 2 – Deeper and More Dangerous
- The Great Genius Schubert, Who Respected Beethoven but Surpassed Him / Schubert’s “Symphony No. 8, Unfinished”
- The Descendants of Beethoven and Schubert
- Anton Bruckner’s “Symphony No. 8” / And, the Conclusion of This Book, What Came After Classical Music
- Chapter 4: The Ultimate! Practical Information
- These Are the Amazing Composers!
- A Thorough Analysis of Classical Concert Halls
- Are Classical Concert Tickets Expensive?
- This Is a Concert from Beginning to End
- Which Performers Are Worth Listening To? / The Living Edition
- Which Performers Are Worth Listening To? / The Dead Edition
- Which of the World’s Orchestras Should You Listen To?
- Is Audio Equipment Important?
- Who Should You Trust? / Slamming the Critics
- What Is Early Music?
- Afterword
About the Author
許光俊 (Kyo Mitsutoshi)
Born in Tokyo in 1965. Majored in Aesthetics at Keio University and German Literature at Tokyo Metropolitan University Graduate School. Currently a lecturer in the Multimedia and Culture program at Yokohama National University. (Quoted from this book)
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