The Rest is Noise
September 6, 2008
The problem with reading The Rest Is Noise by New Yorker music critic Alex Ross is the constant trips to the piano to try out such things as his description of Strauss's five-note, crazy "Salome chord." But where else are you going to find such a goldmine of knowledge and lore about 20th-century music? It's like taking a course from the hippest prof on campus.