内容简介
In this compulsively readable, fascinating, and provocativeguide to classical music, Norman Lebrecht, one of the world's mostwidely read cultural commentators tells the story of the rise ofthe classical recording industry from Caruso's first notes to theheyday of Bernstein, Glenn Gould, Callas, and von Karajan. Lebrechtcompellingly demonstrates that classical recording has reached itsend point-but this is not simply an expos? of decline and fall. Itis, for the first time, the full story of a minor art form,analyzing the cultural revolution wrought by Schnabel, Toscanini,Callas, Rattle, the Three Tenors, and Charlotte Church. It is thestory of how stars were made and broken by the record business; howa war criminal conspired with a concentration-camp victim to createa record empire; and how advancing technology, boardroom wars,public credulity and unscrupulous exploitation shaped the musicalbackdrop to our modern lives. The book ends with a suitable shrineto classical recording: the author's critical selection of the 100most important recordings-and the 20 most appalling. Filled withmemorable incidents and unforgettable personalities-from GoddardLieberson, legendary head of CBS Masterworks who signed his lettersas God; to Georg Solti, who turned the Chicago Symphony into " theloudest symphony on earth"-this is at once the captivating story ofthe life and death of classical recording and an opinioned,insider's guide to appreciating the genre, now and for years tocome.