Instrumental

James Rhodes

• Publisher: Canongate Books
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9781782113393
• eBook ISBN:
  9781782113386
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: Social Sciences

James Rhodes' passion for music has been his absolute lifeline. It has been the thread that has held him together through a life that has encompassed pain, conflict and turmoil. Listening to Rachmaninov on a loop as a traumatised teenager or discovering an Adagio by Bach while in a hospital ward – such exquisite miracles of musical genius have helped him survive his demons, and, along with a chance encounter with a stranger, inspired him to become the renowned concert pianist he is today.

This is a memoir like no other: unapologetically candid, boldly outspoken and surprisingly funny - James' prose is shot through with an unexpectedly mordant wit, even at the darkest of moments. An impassioned tribute to the therapeutic powers of music, Instrumental also weaves in fascinating facts about how classical music actually works and about the extraordinary lives of some of the great composers. It explains why and how music has the potential to transform all of our lives.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Prelude
• La Tête
• Track One: Bach, ‘Goldberg Variations’, Aria
• Track Two: Prokofiev, Piano Concerto No. 2, Finale
• Track Three: Schubert, Piano Trio No. 2 in E flat, Second Movement
• Track Four: Bach-Busoni, Chaconne
• Track Five: Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 32, Op. 111, Second Movement
• Track Six: Scriabin, Piano Concerto, Last Movement
• Track Seven: Ravel, Piano Trio
• Track Eight: Shostakovich, Piano Concerto No. 2, Second Movement
• Track Nine: Bruckner Symphony No. 7, Second Movement
• Track Ten: Liszt, ‘Totentanz’
• Track Eleven: Brahms, ‘German Requiem’, First Movement
• Track Twelve: Mozart, Symphony No. 41 (‘Jupiter’), Fourth Movement
• Track Thirteen: Chopin Étude in C major, Op. 10/1
• Track Fourteen: Chopin, Fantasie in F minor, Op. 49
• Track Fifteen: Ravel, Piano Concerto in G, Second Movement
• Track Sixteen: Schumann, ‘Geister Variations’ for Piano
• Track Seventeen: Schubert, Sonata No. 20, D959, Second Movement
• Track Eighteen: Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 5 (‘Emperor’), Second Movement
• Track Nineteen: Rachmaninov, ‘Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini’
• Track Twenty: Bach, ‘Goldberg Variations’, Aria da capo
• Afterword
• Acknowledgments
• Appendix