[.ca] The Essential Canon of Classical Music (ISBN 0865476640)

Excellent review of classical music history!:
I've been looking for a book like this for a long time. David Dubal writes a very readable and very interesting picture of a wide range of composers who those interested in classical music should know. The book includes a biographical sketch of the composer and a list of important works that define the composer's place in history. This book works equally well as classical music textbook and biography, and fills an important niche in the marketplace. If there is a down side to the book, it is in its desire to do too much. Dubal includes a few select CDs he recommends. As I've learned in my travels, a lot of classical labels make you pay through the nose and that can be discouraging to someone on a budget. The truth is, there are some really good budget lines (like Naxos) out there that can put classical music into the hands of almost anybody who wants a good CD, without sacrificing quality one iota. Don't be bound by his selections--explore! But do read the book. It'll be worth your time.

Excellent resource:
Dubal is first and foremost a good writer. His biographical sketches of the major composers are short - about 3-5 pages each - but are compelling, elegantly written and packed with really useful information. He details composers' personal lives, historical contexts, relationships between composers and critical views (and popular views) of their works over time. After each biographical sketch he lists composer's major works, with a short discussion of the importance & influence of each piece as well as his critical opinion. Reading Dubal's book has enriched my appreciation of some really great music. It's also prompted me to try composers I'd barely heard of before. After reading Dubal's chapter on Paganini I immediately got into my car, headed for the music store & picked up a copy of his '24 Caprices for Violin'. And I'm so glad I did. I now have a huge "must-buy" list thanks to this book. I read this book along with Phil Goulding's "The 50 Greatest Composers and their 1000 Greatest Works". Both are worthwhile. Goulding's book is entertaining, but his ranking system & his concept of a "Starter Kit" for each composer are rather silly. Goulding's book is fun, especially for the absolute beginner. But for me, Dubal wins because of the quality of his writing and because he lists more major works to listen to and goes into detail describing each work. This is a book I'll come back to again and again. Criticisms: His section on the Baroque is smaller than I would like. I also wish he'd added a discussion of musical forms & went into a bit more technical detail about each musical work. But I suppose that's for another book. Dubal has included a lot of substantial and enjoyable detail into this book , and I'm satisfied with it enough to think it merits five stars.

An excellent guide:
This book is a sort of chronologically arranged encyclopedia of entries for what is colloquially termed 'classical' music. In the strict sense, not all of the music represented here is classical, but in the more common use of the term, these are the kinds of music that one finds on the 'classical' radio station. Author David Dubal arranges things into five primary time periods. The first is Medieval/Renaissance/Elizabethan. This includes some of the earliest known named composers (often music was anonymously composed prior to this period). It is a lesser known period, and much of the composition of the time focused upon church and sacred composition. Most of the composers listed in this period (Tallis, Palestrina, Lassus, etc.) are notable church composers, but there are secular and folk-variations that also appear among their body of work. The second time period is the Baroque, a time of increasing secular composition, although once again much of the music of the time was intended for church performance. The giants of the period include Handel and Bach, both noted for religious composition. Handel's 'Messiah' continues to be a crowd-pleaser, even though as an oratorio it wasn't original performed in churches. J.S. Bach's body of composition is so vast (and even what we have is incomplete) that rare is the Christian church in the world that does not have some of his work in their hymnals or service music. The third time period is the most appropriately called Classical music. This includes the giants of Beethoven, Hadyn and Mozart. Dubal also includes Gluck in this major listing. Here composition includes pieces for the church, but the bulk of the material that is well known is not sacred; Beethoven's concertos and symphonies are most likely his best known (and possibly best) works, and Mozart's operas continue to captivate. In the second and third sections, Dubal breaks his discussion neatly into larger essays about the major figures, and smaller biographical entries of the minor (or perhaps the term 'less major' is more appropriate, since 'minor' doesn't always apply) composers of the period. In the first section, there is no division between major and minor. In the fourth and fifth section, Romantic and Modern respectively, again the division line is more blurry. One can dispute the division lines, too - Vivaldi might be more aptly included among the 'majors' in the Baroque listings, whereas Gluck might not be one of the 'majors' in Classicism. With Romantic and Modern composers, the sheer numbers make divisions difficult to come by, and give such a wide range even within the periods. Romantics include Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Paganini, Brahms, Elgar, Puccini, Mahler, Debussy - and this isn't even half the 'majors' listed. Moderns include Britten, Berg, Gershwin, R.V. Williams, Ravel, Stravinsky, and many, many more. This book includes biographical details, composition details, and suggestions for particular recordings (which includes performers, recording labels and production numbers for ease of location). There is a name index at the end for those searching in non-chronological fashion. This is a guide written with the non-specialist in mind, so there is not a lot of technhical information included, but it does also serve as a good catalog for those who have had musical training (not everyone needs the 20-volume set of Groves).