The History of Classical Music

By: Richard Fawkes

Narrated by: Robert Powell

From Gregorian Chant to Henryk Gorecki, the first living classical composer to get into the pop album charts, here is the fascinating story of over a thousand years of Western classical music and the composers who have sought to express in music the deepest of human feelings and emotions. Polyphony, sonata form, serial music - many musical expressions are also explained - with the text illustrated by performances from some of the most highly praised recordings of recent years.

Download the accompanying reference guide.©1997 NAXOS AudioBooks Ltd. (P)1997 NAXOS AudioBooks Ltd.

Great Introduction with well-placed sample clips

Would you consider the audio edition of The History of Classical Music to be better than the print version?

Yes, because the audio edition has the distinct advantage of inline samples from important pieces being discussed, which makes it interactive in a way that a print version (even one that includes a CD with samples) cannot be.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Since this was a historical survey, it's hard to choose a favorite character! But I did enjoy learning about the Red Priest, Giuseppe Verdi.

What does Robert Powell bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Experience pronouncing the sometimes difficult foreign words.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, I enjoyed the episodic nature, though I found some of the chapters to be rather long (upwards of an hour), which made it difficult to put down when I needed to do something else!

Any additional comments?

I'd make sure to download this in High Quality, since it includes orchestral samples that would be less satisfying in a more muffled/lower-quality setting.

Refrescante revisión sobre la evolución musical

Aparte de su claridad en la locución es de destacar lo adecuado de sus ilustraciones musicales.

Love & Appreciate the music samples

It made a great difference to be able to hear the piece being discussed. Thank you

pretty good

a decent overview of classical music history. The accompanying music interweaved helps the listener understand the concepts without having to go and find the same musical pieces on their own. I found that the amount of information conveyed was pretty minimal for each composer and so I didn't get as good a picture about them as I would have liked.

A good introduction

I listen to it for the fun, and ended with a greater desire to deepen my knowledge about the genius of classical music. The book is a good introduction, and traces a timeline in history with a brief sample of music when he talks about each musician.