Declassified

Arianna Warsaw-Fan Rauch has spent her life immersed in classical music, a passion that led her through Juilliard and onto symphony stages and international tours. Her relationship with the form has never been simple: she has loved it and resented it for as long as she can remember.

Her central argument is that the music world is far less coherent than its label suggests. Just as a listener can enjoy one pop star without enjoying another, one can prefer Brahms to Bach, even though the two were born 148 years apart. The term "classical music" bundles together centuries of very different works, and Warsaw-Fan Rauch sets out to clear away the snobbery and gatekeeping that surround it, encouraging readers of any background to form their own opinions.

The book works as a guided tour. It takes readers behind the scenes of the industry, offers advice for approaching the music in different listening situations, and walks through the seven major compositional periods, including the gloomy Medieval era. It also profiles the instruments and the personalities that are supposedly associated with each, with a tongue-in-cheek apology to violists and conductors, and describes what professional life at the highest level really demands.

Along the way, the author answers some playful questions, such as how one might steal a Stradivarius and what it would earn, and when audiences should or should not applaud during a live performance. Throughout, she aims to demystify what is often called High Art and to argue that classical music still matters, perhaps more than ever.