I finished Alex Ross' "The Rest is Noise" -- quickly -- last week and while it's a decent introduction to the subject and an often fascinating collection of anecdotes, I'm not convinced Ross has a compelling viewpoint on the music of the past century; knows how to fit contemporary music into historical context -- his opinions and personal insights tend to drain away in the second half of the book; or has a truly independent viewpoint on the contemporary scene, considering how many of the composers and musicians he writes about were involved in vetting the copy and providing blurbs in advance of publication. The latter is an insidious practice that affects more than a few new books and authors, but for me, it compromises what Ross has to say in the late chapters.
To be fair, I should re-read the book to double-check this impression, but it's what I'm left with: I don't have a strong feeling for what Ross thinks about much of the pivotal music of the period -- even in the fairly cryptic musical analyses that he offers from time to time, it's not entirely clear why he's bothering. It's as if he hedges his critical opinion because he's just not sure...or he's not sure what type of book he's writing.
"The Rest is Noise" is worth reading since there's so little to choose from, written for general readers, on the subject. I was left wanting more, and of course wanting to hear more of the music.
Ross will be in St. Paul talking about the book and 20th century music, courtesy of Minnesota Public Radio, at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. For info, go here.
1 comment:
Well said.
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