Praise for Richard Taruskin’s The Oxford History of Western Music“There is not a page without insight, and not a chapter that does not fundamentally change the reader’s
perspective on its subject matter.... It is a visionary addition to our understanding of our culture.”–Roger
Scruton, Times Literary Supplement
“Readable, provocative, endlessly challenging and informative, his narrative account of more than a
millennium’s worth of musical activity represents a virtuoso display of the historian’s craft.”—Joshua
Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle
“The most important publishing event in classical music since The New Grove Dictionary of Music
and Musicians.”—The New York Times
“Expresses the magnificence and melancholy of its age.... Singular in every possible way.”—Paul
Griffiths, The Nation
“If you want to know how brilliant Richard Taruskin’s Oxford History of Western Music is, just open
the first of its five long volumes and start reading right from page one. I found myself on the edge of my
seat, as Mr. Taruskin begins his journey of a thousand years.”—Greg Sandow, The Wall Street Journal
“Erudite, engaging, and suffused throughout with a mixture of brilliance and delirium...a highly
personal (and often delightfully prickly) take on musical history from an original and eccentric mind—a
mind to which anybody interested in the art of music should be exposed.”—Tim Page, The Washington
Post
“[Taruskin’s] analyses are generally both cogent and entertaining, written in a rambunctious style that
conveys technical information with great lucidity.”—Charles Rosen, The New York Review of Books
“Taruskin has created a corpus of scholarship of breathtaking scope and crushing weight.”–Lingua
Franca
“[Taruskin is]...one of the most fluent writers on music in modern scholarship.”–The Musical Times“Entertaining. Provocative.”–The New York Times Book Review“Taruskin’s magnum opus is a must-read, and in its way, a real page-turner of detective non-fiction.
It’s a cinch to become the most discussed music title of the year, if not of the decade.”—Robert Everett-
Green, The Globe & Mail
“It’s a must-read for people who love or are curious about what we call western classical music....
Suddenly there is a coherent, irresistible narrative, full of delightful, sometimes disturbing surprises that
leave you thinking for days. Suddenly, music history lives and breathes.”—Tamara Bernstein, CBC
Online