Christopher Lawrence

'Love cannot express the idea of music, while music may give an idea of love.' Romantic composer Hector Berlioz Berlioz should know. He didn't just hear the symphony when he fell in love with an Irish actress back in 1827, he wrote it. What was love like for the people who could really feel that song coming on? Symphony of...

In this fully revised and updated edition, Christopher Lawrence leads us through the listening experience, from anger and Beethoven to sadness and Tchaikovsky, triumph and Wagner and freedom and Mozart. It's all here in this whimsical guide to the conduct of a romance, with some handy hints on how to make it more, well, harmonious. The history of classical music...