Classical Music ultimate reference guide

Do you know someone who loves NPR? Or who cannot live without listening to orchestral maneuvers of a wonderful symphony? The NPR Listener's Encyclopedia of Classical Music is a complete education in classical music, written with great verve and cunning wit. As "authority" as one might think one is, all music lovers can pick up this one-volume compendium and become a more knowledgeable, discerning listener.

Take, for example: 

• The sonata form revealed, and why it's been deeply satisfying for three centuries.
• What to listen for in Brahms, a self-described Classicist who was one of music's great innovators.
• Pizzicato, fioritura, parlando, glissando.
• The transformative power of Toscanini–who earned more conducting the New York Philharmonic than his contemporary Babe Ruth made with the Yankees.
• And throughout, more than 2,000 recommended recordings.

The NPR Listener's Encyclopedia of Classical Music makes a terrific gift, too! Buy one for yourself and one for someone you know will appreciate!

The NPR Listener's Encyclopedia of Classical Music

Workman Publishing
Hardback, 928 pages

Ted Libbey is one of America's most highly regarded music critics. A former music critic for The New York Times, he is known to millions of NPR listeners as curator of the Basic Radio Library on "Performance Today." Mr. Libbey is now Director of Media Arts of the National Endowment for the Arts. He lives in Rockville, Maryland.