What are you reading?

February 2, 2026, 2:56 AM · Thank you for the recommendations!

February 2, 2026, 12:54 PM · "The Great Haydn Quartets" by Hans Keller. Short analyses of the forty-odd quartets that Keller declared to be masterpieces. Opinionated, eccentric, arbitrary, and illuminating.

That Copland book is pretty good.

February 2, 2026, 1:50 PM · Not reading any books on music, but Flesch on fingering, hardback, is in the post. The Toby Faber book is fab.

Edited: February 2, 2026, 2:06 PM · Edith Wharton's House of Mirth. Ok, not about music, but the movie version does open with Bach's version of Marcello Concerto in D minor for Oboe, which is a great piece for violin too...as well as some "delicious" Mozart sprinkled throughtout...speaking of Mr. M....he just had his birthday pass...

Edited: February 2, 2026, 2:20 PM · I have a borrowed copy of "Antonio Stradivari The Cremona Exhibit of 1987" by Charles Beare. Beautiful book, with lots of pictures and text.

I'd heard that Stradivari's early instruments often had less-high-end wood, so to speak. The picture of the (early) 1670 Tallaye Strad, with prominent knots of wood on the upper and lower back, and less flame, really shows this point well.

Picture here, courtesy of Tarisio:

https://tarisio.com/cozio-archive/cozio-carteggio/young-stradivari-part-2/

February 4, 2026, 9:19 PM · I think I read the Stradivarius one many years ago. I don't recall the name of the book but it sounds like the one I read. It traced the history of several instruments. I recall the book being a great read.

February 6, 2026, 11:36 PM · Hans Keller's book on the Haydn quartets is interesting but also bizarre. First of all the language. Keller was a German refugee from Nazi Germany who established himself in England. His book's language sounds like the convoluted language of a German bureaucrat using English words. And there is a vibe of "I am right about everything Haydn and everybody else is wrong" all over the book. For example his designation of pieces as "masterpieces" vs. "not masterpieces" is asserted and never explained or argued (personally I think the distinction makes little sense).
However, in spite of this there is good insight to be had. He was obviously passionate about the subject and--especially if you share his enthusiasm--one finds him persuasive on that ground, not to mention he rally knew the scores of all of them.

February 8, 2026, 7:10 AM · Just this morning I picked up a copy of Michael Spitzer's The Musical Human, published in 2021. His thesis is that music played a fundamental role in human evolution.

February 10, 2026, 3:35 PM · Bachs Musical Universe, by Christopher Wolff. I bit over my head, even listening to Bach while reading it. It doesn’t explain what BMV means, and this seems pretty primary to understanding Bach. I’m slogging onward, however.

February 10, 2026, 5:30 PM · Do you mean BWV? Bach Werke Verzeichnis
(catalogue of Bach's works)

Edited: February 10, 2026, 5:56 PM · The BWV catalogue is not particularly helpful or informative, since it groups works by genre rather than chronologically, the way opus numbers do.

I don't know the Christopher Wolff book, Nickie, but I'm sure there's plenty of value in it, so persist, and do report what comes of it. I'll mention here 'Evening in the Palace of Reason' by James Gaines, which tells the story of how Bach came to meet Frederick the Great of Prussia, and the consequences of that encounter.

Edited: February 11, 2026, 12:03 AM · Thanks, Andrew, Richard. So far what I’ve gleaned is that the Circle of Fifths was developed around 1710.
I also found out that Bach spent 26 days in jail, where he wrote 24 pieces of music.

February 12, 2026, 10:44 AM · Composers, their lives and works, by numerous contributors. Mostly, a “coffee table” book. Some drawings, and major facts about early composers, from before 1600, all the way into the 20th and early 21st centuries. The print in most of it is too small to read, but it’s a fun book. I recommend it with a cup of tea or coffee, for a leisurely break.

February 14, 2026, 3:00 AM · Tortelier, "How I Play, How I Teach" and Flesch, "The Art of Violin Playing", book 1. I'm trying to get my mind to accept cello hand positions for the cello while retaining the violin hand positions for the violin/fiddle. And making the separation clear in my mind seems to be the only way to make the difference work for both instruments.

February 14, 2026, 8:23 AM · Wesley,
That’s commendable. I don’t cite any of them here, but YouTube has several videos on the topic.
And I think I’ll check out those two books.