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Reviews (21)
Apr 24, 2018
Do you love clocks?
1 of 1 found this helpful The author clearly does love clocks and after reading for only a few pages you will quickly find out whether you do too. Despite the low price, this is no cheap cash-in, offering just the right level of detail and plenty of colour photographs to communicate the basics of clock knowledge. It's an ideal place for a beginner like me to start and for that reason I cannot praise this book too highly. Once you have read it and perhaps tried out some of the core techniques, you will be well placed to decide whether or not to take things to a deeper and more rewarding level.
Feb 10, 2022
For historians only
Coming from Julie Kavanagh's biography of Frederick Ashton, the rather humourless style of this volume made it very heavy going, despite a few (excellent) chapters written by De Valois herself. There's a wealth of detail here, but I learned more about De Valois from the chapter on British ballet in Jennifer Homan's Apollo's Angels. Scholars will no doubt find this book very useful, but it's not for the general reader.
Richard Strauss (Master Musician), Kennedy, Michael, Used; Good Book
Oct 25, 2018
Thoughtful and sympathetic
If you have ever been moved - even just a little - by Strauss's music, then you will understand why Renee Fleming once called it 'a privilege' to perform his work. Kennedy's book takes the reader closer to Strauss the artist and to the world in which he had to somehow make his way. It is sympathetic and non-judgmental. The first half of the book is biographical, the second half focuses on the music. If you would like insight into the working relationships between a naturally talented composer and his librettists, and into the perilous choices faced by greatly gifted artists in a country run by criminals, then this book is heartily recommended.