Surprised by Beauty: A Listener's Guide to the Recovery of Modern Music

by Robert R. Reilly

This book looks at the best composers and recordings of the last 100 years and seek to extract the spiritual dimensions of the works.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2002

About the author

Robert R. Reilly is a writer and senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council (since 2008). He has published on topics of US foreign policy and "war of ideas".

During 1968 to 1970, he served as tank platoon leader (1st Lieutenant) in the 1/18th Armored Cavalry at Fort Lewis, Washington. He worked in the private sector 1977 to 1981, and for The Heritage Foundation (1981, 1989) the U.S. Information Agency (1981–1983) and as Special Assistant to Ronald Reagan during the latter's first term (1983–1985). He was Senior Advisor for Public Diplomacy at the US Embassy in Berne, Switzerland (1985–1988). He produced and hosted a weekly talk-show on foreign policy, On the Line, for Voice of America & Worldnet TV (1990–2001) and was director of Voice of America (2001–2002).

He acted as Senior Advisor for Information Strategy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense during 2002 to 2006 and as Senior Advisor to the Iraqi Information Ministry during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. In 2007 he was Assistant Professor of Strategic Communications, School for National Security Executive Education, National Defense University.

Reilly in 2010 published The Closing of the Muslim Mind, published by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. In the book, he draws a connection between the decline of the "rational" theological school of Mu'tazila in favour of the rise of Ash'arism, which would become the mainstream Sunni theology, in the 10th century. In this the author sees an act of "intellectual suicide", the nucleus of the end of the Islamic Golden Age and the decline of Islamic civilization into a "dysfunctional culture based on a deformed theology" locked in determinism, occasionalism and ultimately fatalism.

In his review of the book, Frank Griffith describes it as "war literature", and "a Catholic refutation of Ash'arite Muslim theology", complaining that Reilly constructs an undue equation between Ash'arism and contemporary Jihadism, while most Jihadists in fact follow Salafism and are hostile towards Ash'arism.

Reviews

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had such fun with this, discovering many late 19th and 20th century composers who had not rejected melody and western harmony for serialism and atonalism. Read the chapter, then go and listen on line.

[Stephen Trygar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprised by Beauty is a truly remarkable book. What makes it all the more incredible is the potential it has to become much more than it already is. It reacquaints you with some of the best 20th-Century and modern composers while introducing you to more that have been lost in the shuffle. Although it can occasionally be patronizing, the language and style of the book is accessible and easy to comprehend. I truly admire both Robert R. Reilly and Jens F. Laurson for their contributions to this book. It has helped me to expand my musical tastes and planted the seed of wanting to explore more composers in this field.

[Dylan · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is so much here, it is truly a critical book for all music lovers. It pairs well if you have read Ross's The Rest is Noise, as it shows the other side of the 20th Century musical coin. The essays are well written and the reccomendations are all worth looking into (you may find yourself taking a long time to get through the book as you stop to listen and build a Playlist, my Amazon Playlist stands at 173 hours and will be growing). I learned a lot and will be grateful for the new discoveries and having my biases enforced (I also happen to think Sibelius's 5th is the best, but that is hardly controversial or edgy). My one quibble, is all the essays are in alphabetical order based on the subject's last name. Given the interplay, relationships, time frames, and locations of these composers I think an ambitious editor could layer the essays in a more organic way. Still, this is required reading for any lover of classical music.

[Davis Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredibly unique, delightful treasure trove. Even those who are more than obsessed with classical music (such as yours truly) will likely never have heard of a great deal of composers in here, and Reilly's write-ups are consistently great. If you're feeling starved for something new to listen to, this will keep you occupied for months, and potentially years.