Before commencing with this review, I feel a disclaimer is in order. My knowledge of classical music is limited to the pops-plus-some, and my understanding of music theory as it relates to classical music is less sophisticated compared to that. For those of you that have a truer appreciation for these forms, please excuse any forthcoming momentary lapses into ignorance.

The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century by Alex Ross (not the comic artist) is among the heavier books I have read. Sure, there is certain gravity in the subject of the text; classical music carries an academic heft that I’m not accustomed to encountering when reading about music – too much time spent in front of the internets, perhaps. But I’m presently referring to the physical weight of the book – 2 pounds – holding it in your hand, the stress on your fingers, the pressure is not unlike that of a brick. As if a 600-plus pages of in-depth analysis of classical music history and theory wasn’t daunting enough, the mass of the book is enough to likely scare off many potential readers.

Fortunately, Ross is a phenomenally gifted writer, particularly when volleying from historical account to technical description and back again. Referring to my earlier point regarding my ignorance about classical music structures and so forth, Ross’s writing is clear and direct enough so that I at no point felt out of the loop, patronized or spoken down to. Intermixed with the history and analyses, Ross flowers his writing with anecdotes and episodes of the people and places that are his subjects.

One episode that I found particularly worthwhile involves Charlie Parker recognizing Igor Stravinsky in the audience of a Paris gig in 1949. Apparently, Parker then worked a motif from Stravinsky’s Firebird into his song “Koko”, which caused the Russian composer to “spill his scotch in ecstasy” (99). In addition to being awesomely funny, it demonstrates a mutual admiration between two otherwise-unassociated musicians – or, at least, an association that I heretofore had not made.

Some of Ross’s stories address issues that have run across the confines of genre and right into the Merry Swankster message boards. Possibly concerning the arguments about what cultures and races can/cannot make what types of music, Ross writes, “…the music of [Jerome] Kern and [George] Gershwin was American precisely because it mixed cultures – and genres – in a creatively indiscriminate way” (153). (Within its proper context, Ross is discussing the allegations that certain composers where more/less authentic than others, a conflict that the two aforementioned composers where overtly cognizant of.)

The entire book is not so seamless and enjoyable, but not for the fault of the author. Elongated sections detailing Hitler’s favorites, the handcuffs of Stalinist Russia and, for certain, the curtain of fear imposed by McCarthyism in the United States couldn’t be over soon enough. Not that these parts were unrelated to the rest of the text, but giving so much ink and space to such regrettable historical moments strikes me as an unavoidable burden that lays a stink over the otherwise pleasant text. (Imagine twenty years from now, sitting down with a book about today’s music and having to read a chapter on Dick Chaney’s taste.)

In addition to the physical book The Rest is Noise, Alex Ross maintains a similarly-named website that houses his personal/professional blog as well as an ample “Audio Guide” that partners photographs, playbills, notations, audio samples and various supplemental links with each section of the book. The resulting whole is a hypertext that is exemplary in its efficiency and effectiveness. I would predict that if print text is to survive, or at least stave off extinction, in these Kindle + x days, then this book/website companionship is a viable route to take.

Even though Ross’s focus is clearly on classical music, he does not completely dismiss rock and roll. The Beatles are by the far the most discussed act, and there are shout-outs to the Velvet Underground, Frank Zappa and Queen. As for modern day names, Ross does a great service towards validating acts such as Radiohead, Björk, Sufjan Stevens, Sonic Youth, Public Enemy and Joanna Newsom, using the standards of classical music as a rubric. By and large, the author seems approving of the current trend of laptop composing. Furthermore, Ross asserts that, “At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the impulse to pit classical music against pop culture no longer makes intellectual or emotional sense,” all but laying to rest the classical vs. popular music argument (589). Still, and I know that this ventures astray from his stated intentions, I would be interested to read Ross’s perspective on how major acts from the later decades compare with the composers he focuses on. I would think acts such as Kraftwerk, Air, Daft Punk, the Dust Brothers and even some of the instrumental aspects of RZA’s work might stand-up on a compositional level. But then again perhaps Ross is already addressing these artists when he says, “the rest”.

Ross, Alex. The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century. New York, NY: Picador. 2007.

Buy the book:
Online: Amazon, Abe Books
Austin: Book People
Bay Area: Book Passage
Boston area: Trident Books, Harvard Bookstore, New England Mobile Book Fair
DC: Kramers
Denver: Tattered Cover
NYC: Strand
Philly: Brickbat
RGV: Barnes and Noble
Syracuse: Books End

If you know of a bookstore worthy of support, please leave recommendations in the comments section, particularly if you are from a location not on our list. Suggestions from vendors and customers alike are welcome.