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Pittsburgh Symphony Book Club
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Join us for this partnership of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, WQED-FM, and Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. |
The book selections will reflect music the symphony will be performing in the weeks following the book group meeting. Come and share in this discussion of music books, fact and fiction. Like last year, Jim Cunningham from WQED-FM and a musician from the Orchestra will lead the discussions, so mark your calendar and plan to come. This season there is a rumor that one or more of the authors may join us!
Registration is required; call 412.622.3105 to register for these free book club sessions.All meetings will take place:
Tuesdays from 6:00-7:15 pm
Music Department, Second Floor, Main Library
Upcoming Discussions:
September 28, 2010
Jasper Rees'
A Devil to Play
The second annual PSO Book Club kicks off with a discussion of A Devil to Play: One Man’s Year-Long Quest to Master the Orchestra’s Most Difficult Instrument. (The “most difficult instrument?” — the French Horn!)
Jim Cunningham, WQED-FM, will lead the discussion.
Jasper Rees'
A Devil to Play
The second annual PSO Book Club kicks off with a discussion of A Devil to Play: One Man’s Year-Long Quest to Master the Orchestra’s Most Difficult Instrument. (The “most difficult instrument?” — the French Horn!)
Jim Cunningham, WQED-FM, will lead the discussion.
October 26, 2010
Arnold Steinhardt's
Violin Dreams
The first violinist of the Guarneri Quartet writes of his relationship with the violin. His good friend, Alan Alda, wonders, “How can . . . Steinhardt play the violin like an angel and at the same time be such a hell of a good writer?”
Arnold Steinhardt's
Violin Dreams
The first violinist of the Guarneri Quartet writes of his relationship with the violin. His good friend, Alan Alda, wonders, “How can . . . Steinhardt play the violin like an angel and at the same time be such a hell of a good writer?”
November 30, 2010
Daniel J. Levitin's
This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession
No doubt the discussion will take off from where the Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks discussion left off last spring: how the brain deals with music. It’s fascinating!
Daniel J. Levitin's
This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession
No doubt the discussion will take off from where the Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks discussion left off last spring: how the brain deals with music. It’s fascinating!
January 18, 2011
William R. Trotter's
Winter Fire
The composer Sibelius in a novel of intrigue set in Finland during World War II? He plays a prominent part. Check it out!
William R. Trotter's
Winter Fire
The composer Sibelius in a novel of intrigue set in Finland during World War II? He plays a prominent part. Check it out!
February 1, 2011
Joseph Horowitz's
Artists in Exile: How Refugees from 20th Century War and Revolution Transformed the American Performing Arts
One reviewer noted that ”Horowitz's sophisticated case studies explore a tension in the art of 20th-century performers who emigrated from Europe or Russia: they both stayed foreign and became American.”
Joseph Horowitz's
Artists in Exile: How Refugees from 20th Century War and Revolution Transformed the American Performing Arts
One reviewer noted that ”Horowitz's sophisticated case studies explore a tension in the art of 20th-century performers who emigrated from Europe or Russia: they both stayed foreign and became American.”
March 1, 2011
Alex Ross'
The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century
Imagine a book on 20th century classical music being one of the Top Ten Books of 2007 (New York Times) and a Pulitzer Prize finalist! Certainly worth talking about.
Alex Ross'
The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century
Imagine a book on 20th century classical music being one of the Top Ten Books of 2007 (New York Times) and a Pulitzer Prize finalist! Certainly worth talking about.
April 5, 2011
Michael Kennedy's
Mahler (The Master Musician Series)
The life and music of Gustav Mahler.
Michael Kennedy's
Mahler (The Master Musician Series)
The life and music of Gustav Mahler.
May 10, 2011
Helene Grimaud's
Wild Harmonies: A Life of Music and Wolves
This week’s piano soloist with the PSO, Helene Grimaud, is also the co-founder of the Wolf Conservation Center in upstate New York!
Helene Grimaud's
Wild Harmonies: A Life of Music and Wolves
This week’s piano soloist with the PSO, Helene Grimaud, is also the co-founder of the Wolf Conservation Center in upstate New York!
Previous Discussions:
September 29, 2009
Barbara Quick's
Vivaldi's Virgins
The coming of age story of a young orphan who was a pupil of Vivaldi at the Ospedale della Pieta is interwoven with bright and lively depictions of life in eighteenth century Venice. While Vivaldi is not the full focus of the novel, you are left with an enhanced sense of the time and the place which should make the Pittsburgh Symphony's performance of the composer's Four Seasons (October 1-4, 2009) all the more enjoyable.
Jim Cunningham, WQED-FM, and James Rogers, PSO contrabassoonist, led the discussion.
Barbara Quick's
Vivaldi's Virgins
The coming of age story of a young orphan who was a pupil of Vivaldi at the Ospedale della Pieta is interwoven with bright and lively depictions of life in eighteenth century Venice. While Vivaldi is not the full focus of the novel, you are left with an enhanced sense of the time and the place which should make the Pittsburgh Symphony's performance of the composer's Four Seasons (October 1-4, 2009) all the more enjoyable.
Jim Cunningham, WQED-FM, and James Rogers, PSO contrabassoonist, led the discussion.
November 9, 2009
1791: Mozart's Last Year
by H.C. Robbins Landon
ML 410 .M9 L236 1988
The choral masterpieces of 35-year-old Mozart's final days bear witness to the character and genius of this master. Robbins Landon's study is both a cultural history of music in 1791, a detective story, and an authoritative evaluation of the music and the intrigue surrounding Mozart's death. Your hearing of the Requiem in D minor will be enhanced from reading this scholarly and fascinating biography.
Joining Jim Cunningham (WQED-FM) was Charlotta Klein Ross, PSO cellist.
1791: Mozart's Last Year
by H.C. Robbins Landon
ML 410 .M9 L236 1988
The choral masterpieces of 35-year-old Mozart's final days bear witness to the character and genius of this master. Robbins Landon's study is both a cultural history of music in 1791, a detective story, and an authoritative evaluation of the music and the intrigue surrounding Mozart's death. Your hearing of the Requiem in D minor will be enhanced from reading this scholarly and fascinating biography.
Joining Jim Cunningham (WQED-FM) was Charlotta Klein Ross, PSO cellist.
January 19, 2010
Beethoven's Hair
by Russell Martin
ML 410 .B4 M28 2000
A compelling account of the "rediscovery" and subsequent forensic authentication of a lock of hair, cut as a keepsake from the body of Ludwig van Beethoven following his death in 1827. Martin's tale of false leads, amazing breakthroughs, and incredible scientific revelations is a testament to the lure of relics, the heroism of the Nazi resistance movement and, ultimately, the power of music upon historians, musicologists and scientists alike.
Joining Jim Cunningham (WQED-FM) was David Sogg, PSO bassoonist.
Beethoven's Hair
by Russell Martin
ML 410 .B4 M28 2000
A compelling account of the "rediscovery" and subsequent forensic authentication of a lock of hair, cut as a keepsake from the body of Ludwig van Beethoven following his death in 1827. Martin's tale of false leads, amazing breakthroughs, and incredible scientific revelations is a testament to the lure of relics, the heroism of the Nazi resistance movement and, ultimately, the power of music upon historians, musicologists and scientists alike.
Joining Jim Cunningham (WQED-FM) was David Sogg, PSO bassoonist.
March 16, 2010
Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain
by Oliver Sacks
ML 3830 .S13 2007
Dr. Oliver Sacks, best known for his books Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, explores the human mind and music in this engaging, accessible book. Hear such intriguing true stories as a lightning strike triggering musical ability, aphasiacs regaining their speech by learning to sing their words, or an amnesiac unable to recognize his own wife who can still remember how to perform complex music.
Joining Jim Cunningham (WQED-FM) was Jeffrey Turner, PSO bassist.
Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain
by Oliver Sacks
ML 3830 .S13 2007
Dr. Oliver Sacks, best known for his books Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, explores the human mind and music in this engaging, accessible book. Hear such intriguing true stories as a lightning strike triggering musical ability, aphasiacs regaining their speech by learning to sing their words, or an amnesiac unable to recognize his own wife who can still remember how to perform complex music.
Joining Jim Cunningham (WQED-FM) was Jeffrey Turner, PSO bassist.
April 27, 2010
First Nights: Five Musical Premieres
by Thomas F. Kelly
ML 63 .K44 2000
Four of the five "first" performances compellingly described in this book are of works that the Orchestra is performing in the 2009-2010 season: Handel's Messiah, the Ninth Symphony of Beethoven, Symphony Fantastique by Berlioz, and Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. The book discussion will be held prior to the Stravinsky performance on April 29-30 and May 1, 2010, and will likely focus on the infamous public response to its first performance in Paris in 1913.
Joining Jim Cunningham (WQED-FM) was Jennifer Ross, PSO violinist.
First Nights: Five Musical Premieres
by Thomas F. Kelly
ML 63 .K44 2000
Four of the five "first" performances compellingly described in this book are of works that the Orchestra is performing in the 2009-2010 season: Handel's Messiah, the Ninth Symphony of Beethoven, Symphony Fantastique by Berlioz, and Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. The book discussion will be held prior to the Stravinsky performance on April 29-30 and May 1, 2010, and will likely focus on the infamous public response to its first performance in Paris in 1913.
Joining Jim Cunningham (WQED-FM) was Jennifer Ross, PSO violinist.
Updated: 8/10/2010
