Recommended Summer Reads for Music Lovers
The summer holidays are here and now’s the time to escape: to the beach, to the mountains or to the world of a good book!
As a team of music enthusiasts, we’ve always got a good music book on the go and we wanted to share some of our favourites with you.
So put the kettle on, pull up a chair and tuck into one of our top summer reads…
Mozart: A Life in Letters
Child prodigy, musical genius, tragic Romantic artist and cultural icon; this great composer has been painted in many different lights. This collection of letters offers a fascinating insight into the life and work of the musician and the man.
This is your brain on music, Daniel Levitin
Offering a comprehensive explanation of how humans experience music, Levitin journeys from Bach to The Beatles to reveal the role of music in human evolution and explore why music can provide such an emotional experience.
Sugar Man: The Life, Death and Resurrection of Sixto Rodriguez
Stephen Segerman grew up in South Africa, listening to the folk music of the elusive ‘Rodriguez’, along with the rest of South Africa’s young generation. This remarkable story follows Segerman and Craig Sytrdom as they journey from South Africa to Detroit to uncover the mystery of the musician rumoured to have killed himself on stage. Their discovery leads to an astounding resurrection of the man and his music.
Bel Canto, Ann Patchett
An international gathering is hosted for a visiting Japanese industrial titan and a world-renowned soprano performs at the moment a group of terrorists enter and hold 58 international hostages captive. Joined by no common language except music, the hostages and their captors come to forge unexpected bonds.
The Kreutzer Sonata, Leo Tolstoy
Named after Beethoven’s Violin Sonata, Tolstoy’s 1889 novella explores the role of music in society and communicates the power of music to stir up emotional intensity. A controversial work of its time and censored by the Russian authorities on publication, The Kreutzer Sonata is a tale of love, jealousy and murderous rage which is inextricably linked to an emotional experience of music.
Keep an eye on our blog for more summer recommended reads!