A Sound Mind

September 7, 2020
British rock critic and journalist Morley (Words and Music) embraces contemporary classical music at its most outré in this labyrinthine meditation. Morley locates the soul of classical music in a passion for innovation that eclipses now-formulaic pop styles. While he salutes old masters including Mozart as still-relevant revolutionaries, he focuses more on modern compositions that are an arduously acquired tastes, including Luciano Berio’s Sequenza V, written in 1966, an atonal trombone solo performed in a clown getup. The book is a grab-bag, jumbling together playlists, loose-limbed thematic essays, reminiscences of studying composition and writing a string quartet at London’s Royal Academy of Music, and rambling interviews with such composers as John Adams and Sir Harrison Birtwistle. Morley delivers many perceptive, tunefully written passages, but many more that display the music-criticism sins of overintellectualizing, obscure erudition, and restless hungering for an unheralded avant-garde to champion (Harrison Birtwistle, for instance, “imagined an entirely different history of the string quartet” and “his entire music orbits classical history, but never lands”). Cognoscenti may relish Morley’s appreciation of painfully highbrow music, but ordinary classical-music lovers will find most of it a baffling slog.

September 15, 2020
A rock critic grows fond of classical music. English music critic Morley, acclaimed in the 1970s and early '80s for his writings about rock, sees the current landscape of criticism vastly changed by the internet and streaming services, with little room for his talents. "The covering of music is all for the consumer now," he writes, rather than about "the nature and momentum, the wonderful warp and weave, of the culture." In a digressive memoir characterized by rhapsodic effusions of prose, the author recounts his ambitious search "to find out what might be the final piece of music I would ever listen to" as well as "to analyse the effects of streaming on the form and content of music" and to question "what it is, and how, to write about music, what the motivation is, and what the satisfactions are." With no training in music theory or composition, hoping to restyle himself as a classical critic, Morley took the opportunity to spend a year at the Royal Academy of Music, an experience documented for a BBC show. He wanted, he writes, "to find ways to demystify a vast, complex world" of music that to him had a "stuffy public image, as if it is a music that belongs only to a conscribed elite...fixed inside an ideologically suspect status quo, lacking the exhilarating suggestion of new beginnings, a pulsating sense of an exciting, mind-expanding tomorrow." After immersing himself in that vast world, however, he decided that classical music "is not all big, mighty orchestras and epic, overpowering, bloody-minded symphonies, or tarted-up operatic fussiness." It is "also filled with ravishing and sometimes deliciously haywire intimacy, the small, constantly varied combinations of instruments." Classical composers, he concludes, were as rebellious and innovative as the musicians he long celebrated. Though Morley's enthusiasm is convincing, the narrative could benefit from significant trimming. A rambling memoir enlivened by spirited responses to classical works.

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September 1, 2020

After some four decades writing about pop and rock, Morley (Ask: The Chatter of Pop) dives into the world of classical music, which once again has allowed him to feel the joy of discovery. Here he recounts his experience learning about music history, as well as writing about, listening to, and making music. Morley discusses his favorite pieces and musicians, expounds on how to assemble playlists (he also provides a number of them), and converses with contemporary composers including Harrison Birtwistle, Oliver Knussen, and John Adams. This is a thoughtful work full of fresh observations and strong opinions. Two of its 10 chapters ("The String Quartets--in Four Parts" and "The Piano--Light and Dark") are particularly illuminating and offer unique approaches. His writing strikes just the right note: erudite but edgy, entertaining but enlightening. VERDICT An excellent guide for anyone interested in expanding their musical horizons.--Carolyn M. Mulac, Chicago

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2020
When turbulence jolts the plane, his unsettled mind poses a grim question. What song, piece, or symphony will usher him into the unknown of death? This propels British music critic Morley's latest book that takes readers on an intoxicating journey into classical music, which he describes as being made up by active, agitated minds dealing with extraordinary changes in human behavior, perception and circumstances. Morley views his subject through the lens of his decades-long accomplishments as a music journalist as he expertly probes classical composers' agitated minds and collective oeuvres. Adeptly framing observations of pop, rock, and classical music within the context of the industry, Morley also underscores extraordinary changes in our time, highlighting the rapid growth of technology and its impact on music. Streaming sites, he notes, remake listeners into playlist curators, music critics, and active participants in the artistic process. Playlists aside, classical music, he observes, recreates that feeling of wanting to know new things, find new music, and discover unknown places. A Sound Mind includes copious recommendations and is a rich resource for music lovers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)