Stephen Fry's Incomplete and Utter History of Classical Music

Stephen Fry's Incomplete and Utter History of Classical Music

by Stephen Fry and Tim Lihoreau

Pan Books, $120

It's a sobering thought that when Mozart was my age - 45 - he'd already been dead for a decade. Apologies to Tom Lehrer and thanks to Stephen Fry for reviving that wry observation. Writer, actor and comedian Fry had a radio programme on BBC Classic FM, and it's on those broadcasts that this book is based. He's a busy man, what with novels to write, plays to perform in, audio books to read, the demands of television appearances, dinner parties and just being Stephen Fry. His producer, Tim Lihoreau, followed him around recording this extraordinarily long monologue about the history of classical music. It is, in turns, erudite, silly and cleverly chaotic. Within the contrived lunacy lies a passionate exposition on music and how knowing something about its context changes, say, Mozart's beautiful Clarinet Concerto, 'a delicious slow movement surrounded by two brisk allegros' from a simple and elegant tune into something more plaintive, 'almost a lament' - that, just before he lists the wardrobe of pauper Mozart at his death. From caveman to the ring tones of mobile phones, Fry is a marvellous guide to the magic of listening.