Ed Vulliamy
Grace Notes
Rough Ideas: Reflections on Music and More
By Stephen Hough
Faber & Faber 443pp £18.99 order from our bookshop
The front cover of this book could hardly be more off-putting: an Orangeman, apparently, in bowler hat and orange shirt, staring into an orange horizon with the title (in orange) written across his back. Yet the promise of what lies within couldn’t be more inviting: the pensées of one of the finest musicians – and, it turns out, musical thinkers – of his generation, jotted down while travelling round the world to perform. Luckily, by the time one reaches the back cover, the words between have won the day. This is a marvellous book.
It comprises morsels, and Stephen Hough may be criticised for having written a scrapbook rather than a book. I published a book of my own last year on music, war and peace, and I am still not quite sure what it is about, apart from, well, music, written by a war reporter. When people ask what exactly Hough’s book is about, one must be able to say, ‘I really don’t know. It’s about music, by a musician.’
Rough Ideas comes at an important time for classical music. In some quarters, the barricades that separate it from society at large are coming down – a result of the London Symphony Orchestra’s outreach programmes, of a mini revolution in Los Angeles led by the conductor Gustavo Dudamel,
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Delighted to make my debut in @Lit_Review with a review of Philip Short's heavyweight new bio, Putin: His Life and Times
(Yes, it's behind a paywall, but newspapers and magazines need to earn money too...)
https://literaryreview.co.uk/vlad-the-invader
'As we examined more and more data from the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters ... we were amazed to find that there is almost never a case for permanently moving people out of the contaminated area after a big nuclear accident.'
https://literaryreview.co.uk/how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying
'This problem has dogged Labour’s efforts to become the "natural party of government", a sobriquet which the Conservatives have acquired over decades, despite their far less compelling record of achievement.'
Charles Clarke on Labour's civil wars.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/comrade-versus-comrade