Review by Choice Review
Hoffman (American Chamber Players) bases this book on his weekly "Coming to Terms" talks on National Public Radio's Performance Today program. The easygoing, colloquial commentaries should attract many readers, but the organization of the volume is haphazard. For instance, one wonders why separate "Second Violin" and "Reed Instruments" articles are included, when the terms could have been discussed in the "Orchestra" and "Wind Instruments" articles. Most of the factual information is satisfactory, but carelessness sometimes creeps in: not all rondos are lively or cheerful, and Mozart wrote more than 41 symphonies (the actual number is not established). In the "Sonata Form" article, no mention is made of the presentation of the second theme in the dominant or relative major. In fact, some additional definitions and technical commentary would be worthwhile. Many readers want to learn about the distinction between a band and a wind ensemble, and an explanation of the major and minor keys and their signatures is sorely needed. Hoffman's guide is adequate, but there is still need for an informative and carefully organized dictionary of terms for general readers. D. Ossenkop; SUNY College at Potsdam
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
This is a music dictionary but not another Harvard or New American, much less Grove's. During eight years of defining musical terms in a brief feature accompanying NPR's recital program, "Performance Today," Hoffman has honed the art of affable as well as informative verbal communication admirably. No tome full of terse technical descriptions, his book consists of highly readable entries that are at least a good-size paragraph in length and liable to include, besides technical information, historical and listener's advisory material. Hoffman doesn't define everything in its alphabetical place but for many terms makes references to the larger topics under which they are discussed (e.g., under MEZZO-SOPRANO, "[See VOICE TYPES.]"), and he also see-refs liberally within entries. His intended readers are incompletely musically schooled classical-music lovers, who will be hard pressed to find a better way to mitigate their ignorance than reading this book. --Ray Olson
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
Hoffman, host of National Public Radio's Coming to Terms, attempts to make classical music terminology more accessible to the lay reader. This slim book of roughly 100 definitions speaks to the novice, simplifying to the point of irritation those terms one might find on the average compact disc or concert program. More advanced listeners will continually think "yes, but..." while reading Hoffman. However, all readers will search in vain for substantive definitions. Although inexpensive, this work is available only in paperback and would probably have a short shelf life. Libraries would be better off purchasing the more scholarly general dictionaries, including Michael Kennedy's Oxford Dictionary of Music (Oxford Univ., 1994. 2d ed.) and Don M. Randel's New Harvard Dictionary of Music (1986).Anthony J. Adam, Prairie View A&M Univ. Lib., Tex. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Library Journal Review
