Inside Early Music

Reviews / Votes

"Excellent . . . . The teeming practical detail of this book is a great achievement in itself, but equally significant is its documentation of the major conceptual issues behind the historical-performance movement" --Anthony Pryer, The Times Literary Supplement, Jan. 16, 1998 "Inside Early Music is an outstanding achievement. Bernard Sherman has managed to give a broad overview of current trends in historical performance while at the same time focusing on enough of the interesting details and current hot topics to give the book an unexpected depth. He achieves this through his thoughtful selection of interviewees, each discussing his or her own area of specialization, and also through his probing questions."--Continuo "...a book of unparalleled interest. It bristles with sharply defined positions and passionate arguments, all of them expressed with clarity and augmented by the author's insightful and well-informed reflections." --Timothy J. McGee, Library Journal, May 1997 "I can't imagine a better book of its kind."--Richard Taruskin, author of Text and Act and Stravinsky and the Russian Traditions "Inside Early Music is a fascinating book, and not just for readers with an interest in early music. Sherman's pointed interviews with opinionated people, and his lucid introduction and postscripts, offer considerable insight into questions about the nature of art, the nature of human nature, and some of the great intellectual controversies of our time."--Steven Pinker, author The Language Instinct and How the Mind Works "Bernard Sherman is one of the shrewdest, best informed, and most sensible commentators on the 'early music' scene. This book should be required reading for anyone concerned with issues of so called authentic performance."- Walter Frisch, Columbia University, author ofBrahms and the Principle of Developing Variation and Brahms: The Four Symphonies "An important contribution to our understanding of the early music phenomenon. On topics ranging from Hildegard to Brahms, Sherman knows whom to ask and what to ask them."- Stewart Carter, Wake Forest University, editor ofA Performer's Guide to Seventeenth Century Music and the Historic Brass Society Journal, former editor of Historical Performance "Sherman is no 'invisible' interviewer -he's actively concerned with the historical record, with traditions, and with distinguishing between matters of personal taste and objective judgment. He invites these artists to speak of their deepest musical convictions even as he challenges them with competing points of view (and not only those they are accustomed to hearing). As a result, many arguments that seemed merely polemical in the popular press are shown to be subtle, urgent and deep. The associated discographies highlight some of the most exciting and moving performances now available, and there's a storehouse of wisdom in Sherman's discussions of 'further reading.' This is a superb achievement--years in the making--and brilliantly done."--George Barth, Stanford University, author of The Pianist as Orator "These are eloquent artists with a lot to say about converting dusty manuscripts to living music, and Sherman guides the conversations with a sure hand... Inside Early Music provides that which is all too rare: serious entertainment."--Billboard "Thought-provoking and immensely stimulating, this collection of twenty interviews with some of the leading practicioners of the early-music world appears at a timely moment."--Brian Robbins, Fanfare