Good book, shame about the lack of music.

What did you like about this audiobook?

Howard Goodall's take on the history of music is fascinating and his descriptions of historical music engaging.

How has the book increased your interest in the subject matter?

The book helped me consolidate my interest piqued by Howard Goodall's TV series of the same name.

What did you find wrong about the narrator's performance?

The narration was fine, but I was disappointed to have no music within the audiobook. Having seen the TV series by the same name, I thought there would be music. Remembering or imagining music while reading this audiobook wasn't useful for me.

Do you have any additional comments?

I would have paid more for an audiobook with all the music tracks included. I appreciate that the licencing costs for the music might be considered prohibitive, but I would have liked to have had the choice.

12 people found this helpful

Exactly the book I wanted to hear

I'm musical challenged in so many ways having just start to learn my first musical instrument in my 45th year. I decided I would like to catch up on why music is so embedded in our lives and I searched for 'the history of music' and got 'the story of music'. I found the book interesting from start to finish and I've made multiple notes of other books and biographies I will follow it up with. I listened to it with spotify open and as I needed to reference a piece of music I just added it to a playlist. Well written and at a decent pace throughout.

6 people found this helpful

Needed Music!

I loved the BBC series, so was excited to find it on Audiobook. I was desperately disappointed to find that there was no music excerpts to illustrate the excellent narrative. I know you would not find this with the written book, but here it just feels wrong. It almost makes it unlistenable, as you hear a point made about a particular piece or moment in musical development, and are waiting for the music to illustrate it, as happens in the TV series. Such a shame, as this is the perfect media to do this.

14 people found this helpful

it would be perfect if only it had links to music

Would you listen to The Story of Music again? Why?

I did try but it would be so much better if there was actual music to accompany the book and the listening

What did you like best about this story?

The detail and pure extent and knowledge of the subject matter

Any additional comments?

A pleasant voice to listen to; and end excellent knowledge of the material.

3 people found this helpful

A spectacularly missed opportunity

Overlong, oddly passionless, selective and opinionated, this was hard work to consume. Some of the actual content is fascinating but it's poorly presented and the fact that an audiobook about music contains no clips of the music about is such a missed opportunity. Disappointing.

2 people found this helpful

Brilliant, thoroughly researched & well-presented!

This is a truly outstanding audiobook eloquently read by the author himself. Mr. Goodall's passion and expertise in the subject matter shines through.
It is packed full of fascinating anecdotes, gem facts and details that reveal themselves on each listen. The content is diverse, broad in scope and many controversial subjects (such as sinister and political backstories) are boldly tackled head-on.
Check out Spotify for helpful playlists [filed as HGSOM] of key music and songs mentioned in the text. If you are like me, you'll probably want to research topics covered in more detail; in which case I highly recommend purchasing the superbly written book of the same title, which contains key illustrations, available also digitally for Kindle.
I would wholeheartedly recommended this audiobook for anyone with a keen interest in music history and development and consider this a 'must read' for composers, musicians and anyone who appreciates music, irrespective of knowledge and experience.

2 people found this helpful

Very interesting but needs music examples

What did you like best about The Story of Music? What did you like least?

Very well written and read, full of lots of fascinating information. The big drawback is that it's a book about music and how it works but does not include any actual musical examples so you have to try to imagine the notes and sounds the author is describing or worse - youtube them. Would have been infinitely more useful if he could have played examples of the sounds he was talking about.

Who was your favorite character and why?

n/a

Did Howard Goodall do a good job differentiating each of the characters? How?

n/a

Could you see The Story of Music being made into a movie or a TV series? Who would the stars be?

n/a

Any additional comments?

Please include sounds next time.

1 person found this helpful

A captivating, fascinating listen

The task of telling the full “story of music” is an unenviable one - such is its length, complexity and depth that it could easily fill several volumes the size of this one. But Howard Goodall embraces the challenge with poise and capability, convincingly guiding the listener through the maze of composers, genres and musical cultures which have gone into creating the vast and layered tapestry that makes up music today.

The result is as interesting as it is informative, and as well as providing a comprehensive timeline of the development of western music (and the ways in which it has evolved both separately and alongside ‘world’ music) it also touches on music’s symbiotic relationships with religion, race, morality, nationalism, technology and much else besides.

As well as all of this, it’s hard to imagine a better narrator - Goodall’s knowledge and enthusiasm for the subject matter is obvious, and only adds to the overall enjoyment of what was already a wonderful text.

I have seen at least one other review mention that musical examples would have enriched the experience, and while this is true it is a fault more of the medium than of the author or publisher - I can’t imagine the copyright headaches which would ensue trying to incorporate such a feature into an audiobook. With that said, the same technology which allows us to listen to this audiobook also provides the potential to listen to almost any piece of recorded music ever released - I found that taking regular intervals to pause and visit Spotify to look up the specific pieces and composers mentioned enhanced my understanding for the subject matter immeasurably, and I’d recommend the same to any listener. Obviously not always practical (if you listen whilst driving, for example), but definitely a worthwhile effort to get as much as possible out of the book.

Very good

Narrator voice could of been slightly more interesting, but, as an academic study its interesting.

Excellent

A very interesting and surprisingly witty and entertaining audio book, easily as good as the television version.