Peter F. WilliamsCritiques

I feel a non-fiction phase coming on, perhaps expidited by my need to make up some of the IQ points I lost while reading Fifty Shades of Crap.

Bach: The Goldberg Variations wasn't very interesting for me, but it was educational. My interest would be more strongly held by either a biography on Bach or on a work about his Cello Suites. Or perhaps if I'd ever listened to The Goldberg Variations. I'll never give a non-fiction less than 4 stars (unless I feel it is deliberately misleading or otherwise malicious), so that is what this one gets.

And it did what I hoped it would: It made me feel more smarter. ;)

An overview of organ history from the beginnings of the instrument.

Williams discusses the evidence and possibilities of the organ's role in the musical life of Western Europe from 750-1250.

Part of The New Grove Series, this book provides extensive information on organ construction, including the Classical and Medieval Organ and developments up to 1800.

This biography takes a novel approach. It uses the printed obituary of Bach written by his son C.P.E. Bach, and examines it line by line, expanding it and speculating on the details. This is not a biography for the merely curious, since a knowledge of music theory and history is helpful, even though it includes a glossary. The target audience would be serious amteurs, music students, and professionals.