Harvey Sachs, writer, and music historian published his twelfth book in 2023: SCHOENBERG: Why He Matters, issued by Liveright (New York and London). It has been hailed in the New York Times Book Review as one of the “100 Notable Books of 2023.” Also in the Book Review, composer John Adams described the book as “an immensely valuable source for anyone desiring an accessible overview of this endlessly controversial and chronically misunderstood giant of 20th-century music.”
Music critic Tim Page, writing in the Wall Street Journal, praised Sachs’s “personal asides… [which] give a reader the sense that a brilliant teacher is not only leading us through the music but discovering it once more for himself.” Washington Post book critic Michael Dirda wrote: “In his brisk and engaging biography… Sachs makes a compelling case for some of the most difficult and intimidating music ever written.” A Spanish edition was published in January 2024 and an Italian edition and US/UK paperback are scheduled for August 2024.
Books in order of publication:
Toscanini – 1978
Virtuoso: The Life and Art of Niccolo Paganini, Franz Liszt, Anton Rubinstein, Ignace Jan Paderewski, Fritz Kreisler, Pablo Casals, Wanda Landowska, Vladimir Horowitz, Glenn Gould – 1982
Arturo Toscanini. From 1915 To 1946. Art In The Shadow of Politics. Homage to the Maestro on the 30th Anniversary of His Death – 1987
Music in Fascist Italy – 1988
Reflections on Toscanini – 1993
Rubinstein: A Life – 1995
Solti on Solti – 1998
The Letters of Arturo Toscanini – 2002
The Ninth: Beethoven and the World in 1824 – 2010
Toscanini: Musician of Conscience – 2017
Ten Masterpieces of Music -2021
Schoenberg: Why He Matters -2023
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