From Publishers Weekly
This is the valedictory work of British music professor Brown, a reduction to manageable length of his own massive and magisterial four-volume study of the composer and his work—superbly crafted for a general reader. Brown's style is easy and confiding, managing to be knowledgeable and illuminating about the music without burying it in technical jargon, and he has devised an excellent scoring system to guide his readers through the key works and explain why he has chosen these above all others. (His personal favorites, incidentally, are, rather surprisingly,
Eugen Onegin,
The Sleeping Beauty and the
Sixth Symphony.) It is hard to imagine the works, especially the lesser-known ones, better described and evoked than here; Brown would be wonderful at concert notes or CD booklets. About the life he has little that is new to add, but offers some remarkable insights from Tchaikovsky himself on his working methods and the nature of his inspiration. The story of his ghastly marriage and his bizarre relationship with Nadezhda von Meck is given in great and sympathetic detail. On the vexed question of the composer's mysterious death—did he deliberately drink unboiled water and poison himself so as not to bring dishonor on his old school because of a homosexual liaison?—Brown is noncommittal but, as usual, thorough in setting forth what is known and what only surmised. The book is a triumph of biographical and musical scholarship.
(Apr.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Remembered for
The Nutcracker,
Swan Lake,
Eugene Onegin, the
Pathetique Symphony, his first piano concerto, and the
1812 Overture, Tchaikovsky (1840-93) enjoyed solitude, family, and professional colleagues. He taught at the Russian Musical Society in Moscow, conducted his music at home and abroad, and composed quickly; after Nadezhda von Meck became his patron, he dedicated himself to composition. His homosexuality in an era that punished homosexuals was a constant burden, yet, fond of children, especially his nieces and nephews, he remained close to his family. Already the author of a four-volume biography of the great Russian, Brown here approaches Tchaikovsky's life through his music, interspersing strict biography with critical reviews of significant compositions and guidance to the content of the music, and quoting from Tchaikovsky's extensive correspondence to shed light on his personality. Especially written for music lovers who wish to gain much more insight into Tchaikovsky's music, this concise yet thorough volume will give great pleasure to serious classical music listeners.
Alan HirschCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
