Jan Swafford is a preeminent composer and music scholar and the author of bestselling The Vintage Guide to Classical Music. A regular contributor to Slate, the Guardian, and the Boston Globe and a former professor of composition at the Boston Conservatory, Swafford lives in Medford, Massachusetts.
"Language of the Spirit includes an array of unpretentious,
charming anecdotes, stories once universally known but (Mr.
Swafford suspects) now need retelling. His book is perfect for
people who are curious about classical music but feel somewhat
intimidated by it."
--Wall Street Journal
"A compact, reader-friendly volume... Swafford is a witty and
impassioned guide to the great composers and the great
masterpieces... Equally important for an introductory audience, he
is intimately familiar with the rich layer of anecdotes that
envelops the lives of the composers and enlivens every effective
music history course... an upbeat, uninhibited romp through the
repertoire."
--Weekly Standard
"A perfect, lean compendium from a scintillating writer who knows
profoundly where music comes from, and the geniuses who've made it
best in the Western tradition. Composer and biographer on the grand
scale, Jan Swafford has given us the last music book we'll ever
need. The rest is listening!"
--Chris Lydon, host of Radio Open Source
"A workable foundation from which readers can more deeply and
broadly explore the music."
--Booklist
"Humbly and with great generosity of spirit, Jan Swafford opens the
door to the world of classical music and encourages us to
experience it through the emotions it evokes. He makes us realize
that we are all equipped to approach this greatest of the arts, and
helpfully gets us started off in the right direction."
--Ted Libbey, author of The NPR Listener's Encyclopedia of
Classical Music
"In Language of the Spirit, Jan Swafford achieves something very
difficult: he captures the spirit of music in words. His series of
short sketches of composers and their works ring true, and, more
importantly, send you running to listen to the music for
yourself."
--Emanuel Ax, Pianist
"In this delightful primer to classical music, composer and music
scholar Swafford (The Vintage Guide to Classical Music) conducts us
breathlessly on a tour of the highlights of the history of
classical music, from the beginnings of music up through the
present....Swafford provides excellent suggestions for listening at
the end of each chapter, and his entertaining and instructive book
encourages us to listen to the breadth and depth of classical music
for delight and pleasure."--Publishers Weekly
"Once again Jan Swafford's engaging enthusiasm for classical music
has produced a book which will enhance his reputation and bring
much enjoyment to all who read it. As an introduction to classical
music this is a book that should be read by all, young and old, who
have a curiosity about classical music but who were never fortunate
enough to meet a mentor such as Professor Swafford. It should be
required reading in all schools!"
--John O'Conor, award-winning pianist and former Director of the
Royal Irish Academy of Music
"Reading Jan's Swafford's Language of the Spirit is like taking a
road trip through the land of classical music with your wickedly
smart but charmingly self-deprecating best friend in charge of the
map, stopping by must-see landmarks and hidden by-ways that are
clearly personal favorites. Music to Swafford is not a dry,
intellectual exercise, but rather an emotional experience touching
on the full range of feeling of which humans are capable. Slip a
copy of Language of the Spirit into your pocket the next time you
attend a symphony performance and consult it before the lights
dim-Swafford will help you hear all the richness and depth of the
music he so loves."
--Elizabeth Lunday, author of Secret Lives of Great Composers
"The genuine love of music is at the core of Jan Swafford's latest
book. Unlike his previous works, which are primarily biographies,
Language of the Spirit is a glimpse into Swafford's life. His is a
journey into what music means on a highly personal level. It
reminds those of us in the profession why we became musicians in
the first place."
--Leonard Slatkin, Conductor and Music Director of the Detroit
Symphony Orchestra
"This book distils [Jan Swafford's] experience of passing on his
knowledge and experience to others, and making it enjoyable for
them.... Between the stories of the composers, Mr. Swafford slips
in many interesting digressions.... Mr. Swafford entertains as he
informs. But in the end, music to him is a thing unto itself, "'a
language of the spirit--its essence can't be captured in
words.'"
--Economist
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