Bibliography of Recommended Reading
INote: The the articles in the two top sections will appear later in 2023
S Y S T E M D E S I G N
- Audio & Video System Design
- Audio System Matching
M U S I C S E R V E R S
- UPDATED 11-2016: Ripping & Transferring Music from your CD/DVD/Bluray/SACD library to a Music Server
- Music & Media File Acquisition, Storage & Backup - Alternative system designs
- Compressed vs. Uncompressed music files
- How to organize your digital music on the file system the MusiCHI way
- Berkeley Alpha USB (audiophile grade USB to AES-EBU or SP-DIF converter/reclocker)
- Computer Power Supply Efficiency Ratings
- Using the Apple iPad & iPod Touch as a Music Server remote control
H I G H E N D A U D I O
Stereophile - Audiophile-oriented magazine The Absolute Sound- Audiophile-oriented magazine
The Complete Guide to High-End Audio; Fifth Editionby Robert Harley
A C O U S T I C S
The Master Handbook of Acoustics 3rd Editionby F. Alton Everest Concert and Opera Halls: How They Soundby Leo Beranek Acousticsby Leo Beranek Sound System Engineeringby Don Davis & Carolyn Davis
R E C O R D I N G
A Century of Recorded Music: Listening to Musical History (Note: the focus is on classical music)by Timothy Day
Temples of Sound: Inside the Great Recording Studiosby William Clark & Jim Cogan - (Forward by Quincy Jones)
Inside the Hits: The Seduction of a Rock and Roll Generationby Wayne Wadhams
Sound Advice: The Musicians Guide to the Recording Studioby Wayne Wadhams
Temples of Sound: Inside the Great Recording Studiosby William Clark & Jim Cogan - (Forward by Quincy Jones)
Inside the Hits: The Seduction of a Rock and Roll Generationby Wayne Wadhams
Sound Advice: The Musicians Guide to the Recording Studioby Wayne Wadhams
C l a s s i c a l M u s i c - Producers & Recording Engineers
Putting the Record Straight: The Autobiography of John Culshawby John Culshaw - (Producer 1946-1967, Decca Records) Ring Resounding: The stirring account of how Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen was recorded for the first timeby John Culshaw
The Other Side of the Recordby Charles O'Connell - (Musical Director RCA Victor; Producer 1930-1944 RCA Victor Red Seal Records)
On and Off the Record : A Memoir of Walter Legge, the Most Influential Man in Twentieth Century Classical Musicby Elisabeth Schwarzkopf - (soprano & Walter Legge's wife) - (Walter Legge, Producer 1927-1964, HMV / EMI & founder of the Philharmonia Orchestra)
Walter Legge: Words and Musicby Alan Sanders
The Music Goes Roundby Fred Gaisberg - (Producer 1898-1939, HMV / EMI)
The Other Side of the Recordby Charles O'Connell - (Musical Director RCA Victor; Producer 1930-1944 RCA Victor Red Seal Records)
On and Off the Record : A Memoir of Walter Legge, the Most Influential Man in Twentieth Century Classical Musicby Elisabeth Schwarzkopf - (soprano & Walter Legge's wife) - (Walter Legge, Producer 1927-1964, HMV / EMI & founder of the Philharmonia Orchestra)
Walter Legge: Words and Musicby Alan Sanders
The Music Goes Roundby Fred Gaisberg - (Producer 1898-1939, HMV / EMI)
C l a s s i c a l M u s i c
What to Listen For in Music by Aaron Copland
The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven by Charles Rosen
First and Last Love: An Autobiography of His Life in Music by Vincent Sheehan
The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven by Charles Rosen
First and Last Love: An Autobiography of His Life in Music by Vincent Sheehan
C L A S S I C A L M U S I C - R e p e r t o i r e & R e c o r d i n g G u i d e s
The Indispensable Composers: A Personal Guide by Anthony Tommasini
The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music 2010 by Ivan March, Edward Greenfield, Robert Layton; Paul Czajkowski (Editor)
Classical Music: Third Ear: The Essential Listening Companion by Alexander Morin
The Billboard Encyclopedia of Classical Music by Stanley Sadie The Essential Canon of Classical Music by David Dubal Gramophone Classical Music Guide 2012 by James Jolly The Insider's Guide to Classical Recordings, From the Host of The Record Shelf, a Highly Opinionated, Irreverent, and Selective Guide to What's Good and What's Not by Jim Svejda
The Rough Guide to Classical Music by Joe Staines
Classical Music: The 50 Greatest Composers and Their 1000 Greatest Works by Phil G. Goulding Ten Masterpieces of Music by Harvey Sachs
The Life and Death of Classical Music: Featuring the 100 Best and 20 Worst Recordings Ever Made by Norman Lebrecht
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians: 29 volumes with index by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell
The Norton/Grove Concise Encyclopedia of Music by Stanley Sadie; Alison Latham (Editor)
The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music 2010 by Ivan March, Edward Greenfield, Robert Layton; Paul Czajkowski (Editor)
Classical Music: Third Ear: The Essential Listening Companion by Alexander Morin
The Billboard Encyclopedia of Classical Music by Stanley Sadie The Essential Canon of Classical Music by David Dubal Gramophone Classical Music Guide 2012 by James Jolly The Insider's Guide to Classical Recordings, From the Host of The Record Shelf, a Highly Opinionated, Irreverent, and Selective Guide to What's Good and What's Not by Jim Svejda
The Rough Guide to Classical Music by Joe Staines
Classical Music: The 50 Greatest Composers and Their 1000 Greatest Works by Phil G. Goulding Ten Masterpieces of Music by Harvey Sachs
The Life and Death of Classical Music: Featuring the 100 Best and 20 Worst Recordings Ever Made by Norman Lebrecht
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians: 29 volumes with index by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell
The Norton/Grove Concise Encyclopedia of Music by Stanley Sadie; Alison Latham (Editor)
C l a s s i c a l M u s i c - C o n d u c t o R
A Mingled Chime: An Autobiography by Sir Thomas Beecham
Memoirs by George Solti
Two Worlds of Music - (British Title: The Baton and the Jackboot) (autobiography) by Berta Geissmar (secretary - first to Furtwangler, then to Beecham)
Theme And Variations - An Autobiography by Bruno Walter
Of Music and Music-Making (a continuation of his autobiography) by Bruno Walter
Bruno Walter: A World Elsewhere (biography) by Erik Ryding The Leonard Bernstein Letters by Nigel Simeone (Editor) Arturo Toscanini: Contemporary Recollections of the Maestro [contains Conversations with Toscanini (1959) and Toscanini Musicians Knew (1967)] by B. H. Haggin
No Minor Chords: My Days in Hollywood (autobiography) by Andre Previn
Memoirs by George Solti
Two Worlds of Music - (British Title: The Baton and the Jackboot) (autobiography) by Berta Geissmar (secretary - first to Furtwangler, then to Beecham)
Theme And Variations - An Autobiography by Bruno Walter
Of Music and Music-Making (a continuation of his autobiography) by Bruno Walter
Bruno Walter: A World Elsewhere (biography) by Erik Ryding The Leonard Bernstein Letters by Nigel Simeone (Editor) Arturo Toscanini: Contemporary Recollections of the Maestro [contains Conversations with Toscanini (1959) and Toscanini Musicians Knew (1967)] by B. H. Haggin
No Minor Chords: My Days in Hollywood (autobiography) by Andre Previn
C l a s s i c a l M u s i c - P i a n o
- Great Contemporary Pianists Speak for Themselves
- by Elyse Mach
- Piano Notes: The World of the Pianist
- by Charles Rosen
- Arthur Rubinstein: My Young Years (autobiography)
- by Arthur Rubinstein
- Arthur Rubinstein: My Many Years (autobiography)
- by Arthur Rubinstein
- Rubinstein: A Life in Music (biography)
- by Harvey Sachs
- Horowitz: A Biography of Vladimir Horowitz
- by Glenn Plaskin
- Chopin and Beyond: My Extraordinary Life in Music and the Paranormal (autobiography)
- by Byron Janis
- I Really Should Be Practicing. Reflections on the Pleasures and Perils of Playing Piano in Public. (autobiography)
- by Gary Graffman
- My Husband: Gabrilowitsch (biography)
- by Clara Clemens (Mark Twain's daughter)
- Daniel Barenboim: A Life in Music (autobiography)
- by Daniel Barenboim
- The Great Pianists: From Mozart to the Present
- by Harold C. Schonberg
- A Walk on the Wild Side: A Memoir by Virtuoso Pianist Earl Wild (autobiography)
- by Earl Wild
- Earl Wild's favorites of the then current generation of "mature" pianists were: Nelson Freire, Garrick Ohlsson.
- Younger pianists who in his view showed promise: Evgeny Kissin, Stephen Hough, Marc-Andre Hamelin, Arcadi Volodos.
C l a s s i c a l M u s i c - V i o l i n
Unfinished Journey: Twenty Years Later (autobiography) by Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin: A Life (biography) by Humphrey Burton Fiddlers Moll: Life With Yehudi (biography) by Diana Menuhin
Heifetz As I Knew Him (biography) by Ayke Agus
Jascha Heifetz Through My Eyes (biography) by Sherry Kloss From Russia to the West: The Musical Memoirs and Reminiscences of Nathan Milstein (autobiography) by Nathan Milstein My First 79 Years: Isaac Stern (autobiography) by Isaac Stern
Violin Dreams (autobiography) by Arnold Steinhardt
Efrem Zimbalist: A Life (biography) by Roy Malan With Strings Attached - Reminiscences and Reflections (autobiography) by Joseph Szigeti
Yehudi Menuhin: A Life (biography) by Humphrey Burton Fiddlers Moll: Life With Yehudi (biography) by Diana Menuhin
Heifetz As I Knew Him (biography) by Ayke Agus
Jascha Heifetz Through My Eyes (biography) by Sherry Kloss From Russia to the West: The Musical Memoirs and Reminiscences of Nathan Milstein (autobiography) by Nathan Milstein My First 79 Years: Isaac Stern (autobiography) by Isaac Stern
Violin Dreams (autobiography) by Arnold Steinhardt
Efrem Zimbalist: A Life (biography) by Roy Malan With Strings Attached - Reminiscences and Reflections (autobiography) by Joseph Szigeti
C l a s s i c a l M u s i c - C e l l o
Cellist (autobiography) by Gregor Piatigorsky Joys and Sorrows: Reflections by Pablo Casals by Albert Kahn
C l a s s i c a l M u s i c - S t r i n g Q u a r t e t
Indivisible by Four: A String Quartet in Pursuit of Harmony by Arnold Steinhardt
C l a s s i c a l M u s i c - S i n g e r
My Life (autobiography) by Emma Calvé
Such Sweet Compulsion: The Autobiography of Geraldine Farrar (autobiography) by Geraldine Farrar The Inner Voice: The Making of a Singer (autobiography) by Renee Fleming
The Sibyl Sanderson Story: Requiem for a Diva (biography) by Jack Winsor Hansen
Such Sweet Compulsion: The Autobiography of Geraldine Farrar (autobiography) by Geraldine Farrar The Inner Voice: The Making of a Singer (autobiography) by Renee Fleming
The Sibyl Sanderson Story: Requiem for a Diva (biography) by Jack Winsor Hansen
C l a s s i c a l M u s i c - P i a n o A c c o m p a n i s t
Am I Too Loud? A Musical Autobiography by Gerald Moore
Farewell Recital: Further Memoirs by Gerald Moore
Farewell Recital: Further Memoirs by Gerald Moore
C l a s s i c a l M u s i c - O b o e
Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music (memoir) by Blair Tindall
C l a s s i c a l M u s i c - C O M P O S E R S
Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven by John Eliot Gardiner
The Cantatas of J. S. Bach with Their Librettos in German-English Parallel Text by Alfred Dürr Memoirs of Hector Berlioz, member of the French Institute, including his travels in Italy, Germany, Russia, and England, 1803-1865 Translated and edited by David Cairns
The Cantatas of J. S. Bach with Their Librettos in German-English Parallel Text by Alfred Dürr Memoirs of Hector Berlioz, member of the French Institute, including his travels in Italy, Germany, Russia, and England, 1803-1865 Translated and edited by David Cairns
C l a s s i c a l M u s i c - O p e r a
A Passion for Opera: Learning to Love It: The Greatest Masters, Their Greatest Music by Peter Fox Smith
Opera 101: A Complete Guide to Learning and Loving Opera by Fred Plotkin 5000 Nights at the Opera: The Memoirs of Sir Rudolf Bing by Sir Rudolf Bing
The Toughest Show on Earth: My Rise and Reign at the Metropolitan Opera by Joseph Volpe
Opera 101: A Complete Guide to Learning and Loving Opera by Fred Plotkin 5000 Nights at the Opera: The Memoirs of Sir Rudolf Bing by Sir Rudolf Bing
The Toughest Show on Earth: My Rise and Reign at the Metropolitan Opera by Joseph Volpe
C l a s s i c a l M u s i c W e b s i t e s
AllMusic.com - Classical (Note: click the 'works' tab on a composer's page for 'highlights' of their oeuvre)
MusicWeb International UK - reviews of classical CDs
Classical.net - another good source for basic repertoire
Gramophone UK - reviews of classical CDs
MusicWeb International UK - reviews of classical CDs
Classical.net - another good source for basic repertoire
Gramophone UK - reviews of classical CDs
I n d i a n C l a s s i c a l M u s i c
Raga Mala: The Autobiography of Ravi Shankar by Ravi Shankar
My Music, My Life by Ravi Shankar
Classical Music of North India: the First Years of Study: The Music of the Baba Allauddin Gharana As Taught by Ali Akbar Khan at the Ali Akbar College of Music by Ali Akbar Khan and George Ruckert Ali Akbar College of Music
Ali Akbar Khan Library
Indian Classical CD's @ Amazon
Indian Classical CD's @ Amazon