French composer Francis Poulenc was one of the famed vanguard composers of Les Six and a bon vivant who enjoyed celebrity but privately suffered bouts of depression and self-doubt, all of which inf
The Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy wrote famously in the first sentence of Anna Karenina: “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
Near the end of his intimate biography of Ravi Shankar, the author, Oliver Craske, describes his first meeting with the famed sitar player, global ambassador for Indian music and culture and for mo
“‘I’d allowed myself to get to the stage where I shaved and wiped my arse and paid other people to do everything else for me. I had no idea how to work a washing machine.’”
"‘Although his days on earth were limited to the summer season of his life, the music he left behind, endowed with his extraordinary inventiveness and intellectual curiosity has yet to ceas
“plunge into Kushins’ uncommonly empathetic biography of the man who wrote ‘Send Lawyers, Guns and Money,’ and much more, and who contributed to the great body of American folklore and lege
“in part a work of advocacy for classical music, in part philosophy for a society in transition, and in part wisdom from a sensitive, caring, and intelligent artist, Classical Music: Ex
“For the music lover who wants to explore the textures and unconventional harmonies which set Debussy apart as the greatest French composer of his time.”
“Connelly is too slow for his own good. The idea that he waited 38 years since Lennon’s murder to write this bio is astonishing. Talk about sitting on a story!”
“Robin Wallace’s book not only humanizes one of the most famous composers in the history of Western music, it serves as a beautifully written love letter to his late wife, Barbara.”
