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EINSTEIN’S VIOLIN

Name: EINSTEIN’S VIOLIN
Author: Joseph Eger
ISBN: 1-58542-388-2

A CONDUCTOR’S NOTES ON MUSIC, PHYSICS, AND SOCIAL CHANGE

by Joseph Eger ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 17, 2005

Earnest ideas that lack the literary music to make them memorable.

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A celebrated conductor argues that music is the essence of life and foundation of the universe, the close kin (if not the twin) of science, and a metaphor for the human community.

If his book were a musical score, Eger would probably splinter his baton in frustration: so much is going on simultaneously that cacophony and chaos threaten to overwhelm the themes. In a text that reads much like a series of ad hoc rants, paeans, broadsides, explications, and excoriations (not to mention a bit of self-promotion), the author shares his passion for music, his love of the “new” physics (how can a musician resist the symbolism of string theory?), and his deep worry about the disharmony and danger in today’s world. Unsurprisingly, Eger’s writing on music is the volume’s most revealing and most engaging. His admiration of Beethoven is patent, and his discussions (particularly of the Ninth Symphony) are illuminating, as are his comments about “perfect pitch.” Another hero is Einstein (who carried his violin everywhere), and Eger does a creditable job of explaining the general and special theories of relativity. He is greatly excited by quantum mechanics, wormholes, etc., and declares that he reads widely in the works of physicists, like George Smoot and Brian Greene, who write for popular audiences. (Eger is so animated, in fact, that he employs the exclamation point with a frequency unseen this side of middle-school essay contests!) He expends many pages summarizing what such scientists have said—and castigating both philistines who disdain the arts and religious fundamentalists who ignore or distort the discoveries of science. Eger sees both music and science as moving in directions that suggest, to him, an upheaval in world economic, political, and social conditions. Nation-states are obsolete, capitalism is destructive, waging war to establish peace is absurd. Can’t we all just get along?

Earnest ideas that lack the literary music to make them memorable.

Pub Date: March 17, 2005

ISBN: 1-58542-388-2

Page Count: 432

Publisher: TarcherPerigee

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2005

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.