A Sound Mind: How I Fell in Love with Classical Music (and Decided to Rewrite its Entire History)

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Paul Morley

A Sound Mind

How I Fell in Love with Classical Music (and Decided to Rewrite its Entire History)

Paul Morley

$49.99

Hardback

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English

Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
28 April 2020

Music; Music reviews & criticism; Classical music (c 1750 to c 1830)

'An alternately funny and moving book about the most important art form on Planet Earth. Destined to become a classic (pun intended)' Jarvis Cocker

Music critic and writer Paul Morley weaves together memoir and history in a spiralling tale that establishes classical music as the most rebellious genre of all.

Paul Morley had stopped being surprised by modern pop music and found himself retreating into the sounds of artists he loved when, as an emerging music journalist in the 70s, he wrote for NME. But not wishing to give in to dreary nostalgia, endlessly circling back to the bands he wrote about in the past, he went searching for something new, rare and wondrous - and found it in classical music.

A soaring polemic, a grumpy reflection on modern rock, and a fan's love note, A Sound Mind rejects the idea that classical music is establishment; old; a drag. Instead, the book reveals this genre to be the most exciting and varied in music. A Sound Mind is a multi-layered memoir of Morley's shifting musical tastes, but it is also a compelling history of classical music that reveals the genre's rich and often deviant past - and, hopefully, future.

Like a conductor, Morley weaves together timelines and timeframes in an orchestral narrative that declares the transformative and resilient power of classical music from Bach to Shostakovich, Brahms to Birtwistle, Mozart to Cage, travelling from eighteenth century salons to the modern age of Spotify.

By: Paul Morley
Imprint: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 153mm,
Weight: 1.066kg
ISBN: 9781408868751
ISBN 10: 140886875X
Pages: 624
Publication Date: 28 April 2020
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Writer, critic and broadcaster Paul Morley grew up in Stockport. He was a founding member of the electronic ensemble Art of Noise, collaborated with Grace Jones on her best-selling memoirs and was an artistic advisor for the David Bowie Is exhibition at the V & A. He is the author of a number of books on music as well as two acclaimed memoirs, Nothing and The North.

Reviews for A Sound Mind: How I Fell in Love with Classical Music (and Decided to Rewrite its Entire History)

A breathtaking tour de force ... A major achievement ... As bold, broad and sweeping as the north itself, and just as quirky and contradictory -- Praise for 'The North' * Mail on Sunday * A passionate, irresistible encouragement to listen more, and to listen better -- Praise for 'The North' * Sunday Times * My favourite book this year ... History told backwards, a memoir, a love letter to Liverpool, several to Manchester ... It filled my head -- Praise for 'The North' * Guardian *