Who Killed Classical Music?: Maestros, Managers, and Corporate Politics

by Norman Lebrecht

Offers a start-to-finish history of classical music, explaining how the twentieth century has reached a radical tranformation period in which orchestras have become out of reach to most people, left only to the elite who can afford their exorbitant ticket prices.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

455 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1997

About the author

Norman Lebrecht (born 11 July 1948 in London) is a British commentator on music and cultural affairs and a novelist. He was a columnist for The Daily Telegraph from 1994 until 2002 and assistant editor of the Evening Standard from 2002 until 2009. On BBC Radio 3, he has presented lebrecht.live from 2000 and The Lebrecht Interview from 2006.

He has written twelve books about music, which have been translated into 17 languages. Coming up in 2010 is Why Mahler?, a new interpretation of the most influential composer of modern times. See Books for more details. Also coming back in print is Mahler Remembered (Faber, 1987).

Norman Lebrecht's first novel The Song of Names won a Whitbread Award in 2003. His second, The Game of Opposites, was published in the US by Pantheon Books. A third is in preparation.

A collection of Lebrecht columns will be published this year in China, the first such anthology by any western cultural writer. A Lebrecht conversation appears monthly in The Strad, magazine of the strings professions.

The Lebrecht Interview will return in July 2010 on BBC Radio 3 and there will be further editions of The Record Doctor in New York on WNYC.

A year-long series of events, titled Why Mahler?, will open on London's South Bank in September 2010, curated by Norman Lebrecht.

Other works in progress include a stage play and various radio and television documentaries.

Reviews

[Matthew Hickey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a sobering, sobering read for anybody labouring under idealistic notions of what life is like within the classical music business. It's hard to say you enjoyed something which so skillfully sums up everything that's bad with something you've held dear for so long, but to the extent that is possible, I can say that this was enjoyable.

This book should be compulsory reading for any student contemplating tertiary studies in classical music or any well-meaning parent, relative or friend who is encouraging a young person near to them to pursue their 'dream' career.

Lebrecht has written a suite of these kinds of books and I've read a few of them. I find them a bit like a car crash... you don't want to look, but you simply can't look away, there's something oddly compelling about the horror.

If you're already a jaded cynic, read it and feel heartened by the fact that you're not the only one, but if you're naive and would prefer to stay that way, don't say you haven't been warned.

[Gary Lang · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're considering encouraging your children to pursue a life in classical music, read two books:

1) Mozart in the Jungle by Blair Tindall - it's not the show at all. It's the genuine dish that you'll get a lot out of

2) This book

[Lindsey Vereen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about the decline of classical music in the 20th Century, thanks largely to skyrocketing costs. It says so much about the rather ugly business of music. It focuses on the the personalities of record producers, agents, and maestros who influenced the business. You'll learn about the record and CD business (but not so much about streaming music, since the book was published in the '90s). You'll learn why there were both 33-1/3 and 45 RPM formats. Surprisingly, you'll also learn a bit about professional tennis and other sports that have been turned into billion dollar businesses. All in all, it's depressing but exceedingly readable book.

[Grettle]

Learning that life is the same everywhere, even in the noble arts. Money, politics, influence, sex. Interesting. Appears very well researched.

[Garrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very angry book written by a very bitter man.