Our critics cast their eyes over this month’s selection of books on classical music
Allegri’s Miserere in the Sistine Chapel
Graham O’reilly
Boydell Press 392pp (hb) £45 Sometimes quite famous works have a dubious status. ‘Albinoni’s’ Adagio for example was fabricated from fragments by Remo Giazotti c1900, ‘Bach’s’ Toccata and Fugue in D minor (BWV 585) is probably by somebody else and this fascinating and impressive book demonstrates that our familiar modern versions of Allegri’s Miserere (with their high Cs) ‘have been modified out of all recognition’ from the version written down in the 1630s. Indeed when the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I requested a copy he couldn’t believe the ‘wretched appearance’ of the apparently simple music.
O’reilly employs two types of evidence to establish the performance traditions of the work: he transcribes some earlier manuscript sources, including the crucial 1892 version by the Vatican choirmaster Domenico Mustafà; and he ingeniously gathers what can be gleaned from historical accounts by Blainville, Burney, Mozart and others who heard it in Rome. The icing on the cake would have been some comparative assessment of modern recordings which attempt some historical reconstructions. Anthony Pryer ★★★★
Keith Jarrett – A Biography Wolfgang Sandner;
Trans. Chris Jarrett
Equinox 230pp (hb) £25
This is an updated translation of the original 2015 German edition and is very welcome on this and several other counts. Jarrett’s declining health has forced him to retire from public performance, so this detailed discussion of the pianist’s recorded legacy, and the appended discography, are particularly welcome; though both are poignant reminders that this will now be the only way to hear his music.
That said, this is by no means just a book for record collectors. The author presents an informative and detailed account of Jarrett’s early life, then goes on to integrate all the varied aspects of his career into a coherent whole: his development as an artist, the choices he made and the choices that were forced upon him by circumstance, his interaction with other musicians and the roles they played in the pianist’s music. The writing clunks occasionally, such as when the pianist is described as having ‘drunk from the mysterious goblet of the druid Thelonious [Monk],’ but Sandner’s critical rigour more than makes up for that.
Roger Thomas ★★★★
The Lives of Isaac Stern David Schoenbaum
WW Norton 256pp (hb) £22 Anyone familiar with Isaac Stern’s concerto recordings from the late 1950s and ’60s with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy and New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein will know that he was a true force of nature – a born communicator, whose scorching musical intensity was seemingly a hotline to a work’s emotional core.
In the first biography to have been written with full access to Stern’s 140 boxes of personal materials bequeathed to the Library of Congress following his death in 2001, David Schoenberg takes us behind the scenes of a 60-year career that began in the era of 78s and ended when DVD was all the rage. Along the way, Stern became something of a national icon, not only as a renowned soloist and chamber musician, but as the saviour of Carnegie Hall, a generous nurturer of promising talent and cultural ambassador.
It is a colourful story, deftly told by amateur violinist Schoenbaum, who captures nicely the spirit of the era and doesn’t shy away from pointing up the less-than-friendly accord that existed between Stern and the other members of his celebrated piano trio – pianist Eugene Istomin and cellist Leonard Rose. A little more detail on Stern’s special proclivities as a violinist would not have gone amiss, but for the general reader this comes warmly recommended. Julian Haylock ★★★★
This Musical Life – Hedwig Stein, Emigrée Pianist
Helen Marquard
Troubador 328pp (pb) £12.99
Scientist Helen Marquard, seeking a piano teacher in Manchester, chanced upon the larger-than-life figure of Hedwig Stein, who had left Nazi Germany for the safer environment of Britain after Hitler came to power. With her Russian pianist husband, Iso Elinson, Stein had moved in the musical circles of pre-war London, a sphere that would have seemed natural after her home life in Germany, where her father was friends with Max Reger and did much to support him.
In a very personal account, Marquard traces her own exploration of Hedwig’s turbulent past, and evokes the way that world events play out through the daily lives of their unwitting protagonists. Hedwig and Iso’s personalities and their relationship are strongly depicted, though figures as colourful as Henry Wood, Jelly d’arányi and Clifford Curzon remain passing names. Some vivid wartime images stand out, too, such as Iso stopping to help firefighters after a recital.
This is an affectionate tribute to a figure who could have gone unremarked by history, yet touched many lives. Jessica Duchen ★★★ Note: Last month's review of Carmen Abroad listed Richard Langham
Smith as author. It was in fact edited by Richard with Clair Rowden.