From The New York Times Book Review, a special issue on music. From TNR, the musical mystique: A review of Who Needs Classical Music? Cultural Choice and Musical Value by Julian Johnson; Classical Music, Why Bother? Hearing the World of Contemporary Culture Through a Composer's Ears by Joshua Fineberg; and Why Classical Music Still Matters by Lawrence Kramer. Haydn vs. Mozart: A guide for listeners who can't tell the composers apart. From The Moscow Times, a review of Mstislav Rostropovich: Cellist, Teacher, Legend by Elizabeth Wilson. A review of Lost Genius: The Curious and Tragic Story of An Extraordinary Musical Prodigy by Kevin Bazzana. Struck by Apollo! Hungarian composer Gyorgy Kurtag remembers his lifelong friend, Gyorgy Ligeti, a gesamtkunstwerk. Tuned to the 20th century: The dissonance
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