The Infinite Variety of Music (Amadeus)

I had the pleasure to meet Leonard Bernstein in 1964. Leonard Bernstein was a brilliant scholar, musician, pianist, conductor, composer and humanitarian. Leonard Bernstein was indeed and continues to be such an inspiration to many. His Charles Elliott Norton lectures at Harvard are truly brilliant, lightening and encompassing literature, history, philosophy and of course music!

Mr Bernstein is such an inspiration for a music student like myself , and is very knowledgeable in the subject. God rest his soul

Bernstein knew his music and his enthusiasm for its variety and richness is infectious. Everyone who has used iTunes or other online music downloads sites knows that we as humans have insatiable appetites for endless variety. This book channels that nature and passion in an uplifting manner to harness it towards refining one's appetites for more of the classical and folk styles of music and the many variety's of rich music in such genres. Bernstein opens with a dialogue about what it means to truly listen to rather than simply hear music and progresses onto an analysis of what makes music rich, concluded with in depth analysis of several music masterpieces. This book is for both the layman and connoisseur of music. For me it provided numerous references to music both familiar and new that I am excited to download in the future and add to my iTunes playlists! You can preview most of this book on google books, but it's definitely worth it to buy a hardcopy of this work for home reference.

Every word from this man is instructive. A must-read!

Highly informative, but a little too technical for non professional musicians, which is my case.

Inspite of having been written so many years ago, these talks are still valid and outstanding.- I am a commentator on Music on Television, and Leonard Bernstein has been, and continues to be, my model and idol in this respect.- Very recommended indeed.-

This book is everything you would want in a detailed discussion of music and then some.