BOOK REVIEW - "THE ROUGH GUIDE TO CLASSICAL MUSIC: AN A-Z OF COMPOSERS, KEY WORKS, AND TOP RECORDINGS," EDITED BY JOE STAINES

I've heard of series like "Complete Idiot's" and "...for Dummies," but this is my first encounter with "Rough Guides." Joe Staines is listed as the editor of this book, and as co-authors with Jonathan Buckley, Phillip Clark, Andrew Dickson, Kate Hopkins, Stephen Johnson, Nick Kimberley, and Gavin Thomas.

This book gives you an introduction to many classical composers, identifies what is considered as their key works, and providing you with a list of recordings, making this a good guide if you want to enlarge your collection of classical music. 

Note I said this is "a good guide." Considering that three of my ten favorite symponies are not considered "key works" (i.e. the Lobesang and Reformation symphonies by Felix Mendelssohn, and the Singulaire Symphone of Franz Berwald), or that one composer I like is not mentioned (again, Berwald), I'm being fair when I call it "a good guide." After all, this is not meant to be exhaustive, and I've recently looked at another book where Berwald is again omitted from the list. 

I've read some reviews that are critical of this, but I do not agree with the criticisms. In spite of my disappointments, I think this book achieves its goals, and I would recommend it to someone who wants to learn more about classical music.