| |
|
|
Praise for Bruno Walter: A World Elsewhere
WINNER OF THE 2002 ASCAP-DEEMS TAYLOR AWARD
FINALIST FOR THE 2002 ASSOCIATION FOR RECORDED SOUND COLLECTIONS AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN HISTORICAL RECORDED SOUND RESEARCH
"In their comprehensive and highly readable biography, . . . Ryding and Pechefsky have a wonderfully firm grasp on the conductor's extremely busy career and its minute particulars. . . . One sees them bearing down hard to prise out exactly what it was that audiences in Berlin, Vienna, Prague, Riga, New York, and Boston were hearing from a Bruno Walter that the recordings, from so much later, can only hint about. . . . In short, it's all here. As must be clear, this book rates not only as a labor of love but as an authority."
Richard Buell, The Boston Globe
"[A]s biographies of conductors go, it can take its place beside Harvey Sachs's Toscanini and Peter Heyworth's Otto Klemperer as a major contribution to the literature. For anyone interested in Walter or in the musical life of the world his career touched, this is essential reading."
Mortimer Frank, Fanfare
"This is a loving and meticulous biography of one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century. It is sceptical of much received opinion, generally avoids one-sided judgments and carefully builds up, from many thousands of documents, a detailed account of Bruno Walter's career, moving from imperial Prussia and Vienna to the US of Nixon and juvenile delinquency. . . . [I]t will be the authoritative reference book for all Walter enthusiasts."
Vincent Deane, The Irish Times (Dublin)
"[T]imely and welcome . . . a steady, evenhanded chronicle of Walter's career. . . ."
Allan Keiler, The New York Review of Books
|
|
|
|
"Erik Ryding and Rebecca Pechefsky, the authors of this major new biography, have trawled through the archives, and have packed a huge amount of valuable information into the 500-odd pages of this book. . . . The treatment . . . is detailed, scrupulous and fair."
Noel Malcolm, Sunday Telegraph (London)
"[D]estined to become an indispensable vade mecum for Walter fans worldwide."
Andrew Green, Classical Music
"The authors make good use of Walter's papers in the New York Public Library and of hundreds of other sources. . . . One can now follow this extraordinary career as it unfolded, month by month, over nearly 70 years."
Harvey Sachs, The Wall Street Journal
"[A] highly readable narrative that is accessible to a broad audience . . . a fine account of Walter's life. . . ."
Scott Warfield, Notes
|
|
|
|
"Finally we have a Bruno Walter biography in English to supplement the man's own writings, some of them autobiographical. I spent quite a few evenings with this, and I found it absorbing. . . . The story of his life and convictions is fascinating and moving. He was a rich human being who cultivated every important aspect of human character, including the spiritual. Few today have anything like his depth or grace or charm."
Donald Vroon, American Record Guide
"Here is the moving story of a principled man and musician who was forced to flee Hitler's Europe at the height of his career and begin anew in the United States."
Tim Page, Washington Post
"This first full-length biography of Walter in English effectively utilizes many firsthand sources. . . . [I]t should enhance his stature in memory and perhaps send some back to his recordings. Focused more on his professional than personal life, the authors nonetheless treat his marriage, romantic affairs and family with judicious balance."
William W. Starr, The State (Columbia, SC)
|
|
|
