Arnold Schoenberg's Journey

I devoured this book. Simply could not put it down. It is so lovely to read the author’s infectious love of Schoenberg’s music. I will give this book to my friend who is terrified of his music and tell her to read it and listen to the music.

Excellent!

Good biography.

Allen Shawn has an honest love for Schoenberg's music not least because of its challenging nature. As a composer himself, he is able to write convincingly about the creative process. He sets out to free Schoenberg from his followers and others who've written about him in the past and in doing so creates space to hear the music afresh. He makes a strong case for more of the composer's output than did Charles Rosen, so for me this book has the edge over the Rosen monograph, although it doesn't replace it.