British composer, Benjamin Britten, so aptly described music, when he stated: "It is cruel, you know, that music should be so beautiful. It has beauty of loneliness & of pain: of strength & freedom. The beauty of disappointment & never satisfied love.
The cruel beauty of nature, & everlasting beauty of monotony."
Apparently, according to the Columbia World of Quotations, Britten wrote this while listening to the "Abschied" Mithe finale of Mahler's song cycle, Das Lied von der Erde.

Unfortunately, due to little or no knowledge, many of us are unable to appreciate all of the above elements that are vital ingredients of classical music.

Fret no longer. At last we have a book entitled The Classical Music Experience accompanied by two CDs that will uncover for us the unbelievable creativity of forty- two renowned composers.
According to the author, Julius H. Jacobson II, M.D, (who, incidentally, is an internationally known vascular surgeon) "this book is the first of its kind-largely a discussion of a beginning basic repertoire (those compositions most often heard at orchestral or chamber music concerts) with excerpts of each on the accompanying compact discs."

One of the author's inspirations to write this book originated from his patient, the eminent musicologist, Arthur Cohn, who believed that a book on classical music written by a non-musicologist might serve an unmet purpose for the neophyte listener.
What is also noteworthy is that actor Kevin Kline is the narrator on the CDs. I guarantee you- his melodious voice will not put you to sleep, as is the case very often when listening to some audio books.

A valuable feature is that you can open any page, and you will be fascinated by the abundance of interesting tidbits pertaining to the composers. It should be noted that each chapter is only a few pages long, and is accompanied by black and white photos of the composers as well as highlighted sidebars containing definitions, dates, and other data.

Did you know that Mozart's father was not very happy with his son's refusal to conform to social conventions?
However, he was delighted when he heard Joseph Hayden state these now famous words: "Before God, and as a honest man, I tell you your son is the greatest composer known to me."
The author mentions that the document containing this quote fetched 138,000 English Pounds ($210,000US) at a Sotheby's auction in May 1993.

Conveniently divided into 42 sections, the book dates each of the composers, and indicates the compositions you can listen to on the accompanying CDs.

The book concludes with an Afterword presenting a general perspective.
There is also an appendix of a list of works most frequently repeated in the author's collection, and also suggestions as to how to catalogue the recordings.

For the novice, and even the more experienced, The Classical Music Experience, will prove to be an invaluable enrichment of your appreciation of the wonderful world of classical music.

Julius H. Jacobson II, MD (as the front cover has it) is not a musician, he's a prominent vascular surgeon. And that may be this book's primary attraction. He writes as a fervent music-lover with no training in musicology and thus writes from the point of view of a lay person. Since his intended readers are those people who are completely uninitiated into the mysteries of classical music, but who want to learn more, this approach works well. In addition, and quite cleverly, his chatty, even gossipy, essays about 42 composers and their most popular works are accompanied by two CDs with illustrations of their music. These musical selections are drawn from the vast resources of the Naxos record label and each is introduced, gracefully and articulately, by actor Kevin Kline who, incidentally, is a graduate of Juilliard and a pretty good pianist (although he doesn't play here). There are also tips on what other similar pieces readers might want to track down on their own.

I think the main selling point of this book is the down-to-earth style of its author. He is often discursive, relating fascinating medical, romantic or gossipy facts, say, in the composer's lives. It's a little bit like having a favorite uncle who loves to teach and who knows how to keep one's interest.

I would heartily recommend this to anyone wanting to start learning about classical music.

Scott Morrison

Dr. Jacobson wrote this book with the premise that music is not his area of expertise; so perhaps readers can identify more with his feelings about the music. In this respect, I think he succeeded well. He presents the composers in the order of the era each composer lived in and then allows the reader to listen to selections from each composer (selections are from NAXOS' catalog, a budget classical CD publisher). This is a much better way to discuss music rather than write vague comments about how the music makes him feel.

The writer included lots of trivia tidbits when describing the composers' lives and their work.The presentation is polished as well, with pictures of each composer and a nice page layout. This combination makes the book such an interesting read that I can honestly say that this is one of the better readings I had in the past year. The writer does not fall into the trap of writing too much technical details (a common failing of other introductory books) about the music, which makes reading a smoother ride.

Note though that the writer does NOT give specific CD recommendations, only specific works. Nor does he mention any specific performers. This may necessitate obtaining CD recommendations from another source (such as the Penguin Guide) to make sure that the reader does not go out and buy a dud recording when there is a better interpretation available.

Overall, I think this is a great book to gently guide a classical neophyte into the world of classical music! This (and Michael Walsh' "Who's Afraid of Classical Music") is the most pleasant (and unboring) read for an intro to classical music.