Big Bangs: Five Musical Revolutions
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"Goodall has a prodigious gift for gathering information. People who know nothing about music will learn a lot here."-- "Sunday Tribune"
Product Description
Looking back down the corridor of a thousand years, Howard Goodall guides us through the stories of five seismic developments in the history of Western music. His 'big bangs' may not be the ones we expect - some are surprising and some are so obvious that we overlook them - but all have had an extraordinary impact.Goodall starts with the invention of notation by an 11th-century Italian monk, which removed the creation of music from the hands of the players to the pens of composers; moves on to the first opera; then to the invention of the piano, and ends with the story of the first recording made in history.Howard Goodall has the gift of making these complicated musical advances both clear and utterly fascinating. Racy and vivid in a narrative full of colourful characters and graphic illustrations of technical processes, he also gives a wonderful sense of the culture of trial and error and competition, be it in 11th-century Italy or 19th-century America, in which all progress takes place.Big Bangs opens a window on the crucial moments in our musical culture - discoveries that made possible everything from Bach to The Beatles - and tells us a riveting story of a millennium of endeavour.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
41 of 42 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I originally saw the C4 series of the same title and was impressed enough to buy the book of the series. However the book is much more than a printed representation of the series. There is a lot more detail than could be presented in a one hour slot as well as interesting diversions and personal insights from the author as well. Mr Goodall has an excellent writing style (rather like his delivery on screen) and the whole book is suffused with his wit and humour-you can almost hear him delivering the text! The subject matter could have easily been 'stuffily' presented as often happens when writing about music, but Big Bangs was always refreshing and fun to read.
This is a superb and long overdue book. It's perfectly pitched (ha,ha!)at the lay person with a strong interest in music whether it be classical or popular. I'm now looking out for the hard backed version to keep for posterity and there will be a few copies on my Christmas shopping list.
Buy this and read it over and over again. Well done Howard!
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is both amusing and educational, it outlines the 5 most significant events that had an impact on the world of music, such as the invention of music notation to the invention of the piano. For anyone doing a music course this is excellent revision material outlining the history of music.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As a musician who recently started backtracking the routes of Western music, this was a good place to start. The only minor gripe I had was with Goodall seeming to talk down to those of us who aren't classically trained. Though this was such a brief part of the book, I quickly got over it!
Chapters of particular interest involved the history of notation and the beginnings of the piano. I would have liked more because the book does seem a little rushed to cover such a broad subject but there are other materials out there where you can expand this knowledge. Some of this book also ties in nicely with the BBC series Sacred Music so that's worth having a look at if you enjoyed this book. It will probably expand on some of the areas covered in this book.
Overall I think this is a great little introduction for those of us interested in musical history. It certainly opened up some doors for me in terms of further reading so if you're interested in how music has progressed over the ages, then this is a good investment to get the ball rolling.
Chapters of particular interest involved the history of notation and the beginnings of the piano. I would have liked more because the book does seem a little rushed to cover such a broad subject but there are other materials out there where you can expand this knowledge. Some of this book also ties in nicely with the BBC series Sacred Music so that's worth having a look at if you enjoyed this book. It will probably expand on some of the areas covered in this book.
Overall I think this is a great little introduction for those of us interested in musical history. It certainly opened up some doors for me in terms of further reading so if you're interested in how music has progressed over the ages, then this is a good investment to get the ball rolling.
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