Part One: Interviews
Part Two: Memoir
Introduction
Ancestors
On Being Jewish
Growing Up in Postwar Socialist Hungary
Margit
Tapespondence
Birth and Demise of a (Counter)revolution: A Boy's-Eye View
Broadcasting 1
Broadcasting 2
Editio Musica Budapest
Interviewing: An Obsession
Ich war ein Berliner
Moving to Vienna
Universal Edition
Back Catalogue
The Psychology of Promotion
Farewell and After
Notes in Retrospect
Index
There are wonderful gems between the covers. Serious musicians --
professionals and otherwise -- are apt to find Varga's
conversational approach refreshing. Equally welcome are the many
informative footntotes. The memoir, covering both personal and
professional aspects of Varga's life, is as touching as it is
informative.
*INTERSECTIONS: CANADIAN JOURNAL OF MUSIC*
Keeping us in touch with now-deceased public figures [Strauss,
Elgar] and their memories is a significant part of this book. . .
The dialogues cover a nice mix, ranging from internationally
renowned musicians who have been kindly treated by posterity to
those who will be known but whose standing, even when alive, was
somewhat peripheral. To have Alois Haba, Ernest Bour and Hans
Swarowsky in their own words makes this hardback of particular
value. It all helps light up the past. The way Varga sets the scene
for each interview . . . helps the reader 'eavesdrop' on the
conversation. Varga's own reminiscences, occupying some 100 pages,
make for interesting reading.
*BBC MUSIC MAgazine*
This selection of interviews from 1966 to 2008 includes material of
value for piano lovers, such as an account from the violinist Tibor
Varga of Bartók's performances of Bach: Intriguing book.
*INTERNATIONAL PIANO MAGAZINE*
Covering 50 years of great music-making, [. . .] essential reading.
[Five stars: highest rating]
*CLASSICAL MUSIC MAGAZINE*
A living link with the 20th century's leading composers and
musicians.
*BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE*
An important document for new generations of musicians and music
lovers. --Riccardo Chailly, Gewandhauskapellmeister,
Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
*.*
This is a book of voices. We hear great musicians speaking with
fresh immediacy, each of them introduced by a pen-portrait at once
incisive and sympathetic. But we hear also the intimate voice of
the one who observes and listens, the author of this astonishing
book, in a moving memoir of a childhood in communist Budapest and a
working life promoting the music he loves.
*Paul Griffiths, author of The Substance of Things Heard:
Writings about Music (URP 2005)*
Bálint András Varga is one of the great listeners in the recent
history of music. Surging toward sound on every silent page, this
book is a major document both of the century now past and of the
century unfolding. --music critic, The New Yorker
*Alex Ross, music critic, The New Yorker*
Ask a Question About this Product More... |