Will I love Time's Echo?

Opened a unique window to a fascinating, dark chapter in Europe and its classical musical world. Powerful stories of how great composers persevered under harrowing circumstances.

My wife is a pianist, and at a musical performance, the director of the local symphony orchestra said that this was a must-read book. So, of course, I read it, and I was hooked. Through the music of Strauss, Britten, Schoenberg, and Shostakovich, I learned a hidden story about the power of music to shape public opinion and, in the shadow of the Holocaust, speak truth to power.

I finished it with an appreciation for the power of music and the courage of musicians to reflect people’s yearning for a just and equitable world.

This is a remarkable study of the relationships between music, culture, history and memory. It reshaped the way I think about these topics, and put the events of the 20th century in a different perspective than I had considered. It is beautifully written and deeply researched.

It is a brilliant tour through twentieth century concert music that illuminates the history of the century, the agonies of the Holocaust, and the ineffable influence of music in shaping our relationship to both the past and the future.