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Beethoven
- Anguish and Triumph
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 39 hrs and 7 mins
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Publisher's summary
Jan Swafford's biographies have established him as a revered music historian, capable of bringing his subjects vibrantly to life. His magnificent new biography of Ludwig van Beethoven peels away layers of legend to get to the living, breathing human being who composed some of the world's most iconic music.
Swafford mines sources never before used in English-language biographies to reanimate the revolutionary ferment of Enlightenment-era Bonn, where Beethoven grew up and imbibed the ideas that would shape all of his future work. Swafford then tracks his subject to Vienna, capital of European music, where Beethoven built his career in the face of critical incomprehension, crippling ill health, romantic rejection, and "fate's hammer," his ever-encroaching deafness.
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This is an extensive collection of short essays and other pieces by C. S. Lewis that have been brought together in one volume for the first time. As well as his many books, letters, and poems, Lewis also wrote a great number of essays and shorter pieces on various subjects. He wrote extensively on Christian theology and the defense of faith but also on various ethical issues and on the nature of literature and storytelling. In this essay collection we find a treasure trove of Lewis' reflections on diverse topics.
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Acclaimed biographer Donald Spoto explores the roots of Hitchcock’s obsessions - with food, murder, and idealized love, among others - and traces the origins of his incomparable, bizarre genius, from his childhood and education to the golden years of his career. Based on interviews with his writers, actors, and longtime associates, and on exhaustive research, The Dark Side of Genius is the definitive biography of Alfred Hitchcock.
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Jazz is a uniquely American art form, one of America's great contributions to not only musical culture, but world culture, with each generation of musicians applying new levels of creativity that take the music in unexpected directions that defy definition, category, and stagnation. Now you can learn the basics and history of this intoxicating genre in an eight-lecture series that is as free-flowing and original as the art form itself.
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Just in time for the Chairman's centennial, the endlessly absorbing sequel to James Kaplan's best-selling Frank: The Voice - finally the definitive biography that Frank Sinatra, justly termed "The Entertainer of the Century", deserves and requires. Like Peter Guralnick on Elvis, Kaplan goes behind the legend to give us the man in full, in his many guises and aspects: peerless singer, (sometimes) powerful actor, business mogul, tireless lover, and associate of the powerful and infamous.
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So, So Long...
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Excellent Book
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Wish the sample was not from the preface!
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Very, very good, but very, very long.
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Drawing on previously unpublished sources, this groundbreaking biography of Robert Schumann sheds new light on the great composer’s life and work. With the rigorous research of a scholar and the eloquent prose of a novelist, Judith Chernaik takes us into Schumann’s 19th-century Romantic milieu, where he wore many “masks” that gave voice to each corner of his soul.
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Great history, needs music
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Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has attracted one of the world’s largest online followings with his fascinating, widely accessible insights into science and our universe. Now, Tyson invites us to go behind the scenes of his public fame by unveiling his candid correspondence with people across the globe who have sought him out in search of answers. In this hand-picked collection of 100 letters, Tyson draws upon cosmic perspectives to address a vast array of questions about science, faith, philosophy, life, and of course, Pluto.
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Dear Neil...
- By Tina G. on 10-14-19
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The Demon Next Door
- By: Bryan Burrough
- Narrated by: Steve White
- Length: 2 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Best-selling author Bryan Burrough recently made a shocking discovery: The small town of Temple, Texas, where he had grown up, had harbored a dark secret. One of his high school classmates, Danny Corwin, was a vicious serial killer. In this chilling tale, Burrough raises important questions of whether serial killers can be recognized before they kill or rehabilitated after they do. It is also a story of Texas politics and power that led the good citizens of the town of Temple to enable a demon who was their worst nightmare.
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Odd narration choice
- By Amanda Fredericks on 03-08-19
By: Bryan Burrough
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Evil Has a Name
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For his victims, for their families and for the investigators tasked with finding him, the senselessness and brutality of the Golden State Killer's acts were matched only by the powerlessness they felt at failing to uncover his identity. Then, on April 24, 2018, authorities arrested 72-year-old Joseph James DeAngelo at his home in Citrus Heights, Calif., based on DNA evidence linked to the crimes. Amazingly, it seemed, evil finally had a name. Please note: This work contains descriptions of violent crime and sexual assault and may not be suitable for all listeners.
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Audible Raises The Bar On True Crime Genre
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The Autobiography of Malcolm X
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Experience a bold take on this classic autobiography as it’s performed by Oscar-nominated Laurence Fishburne. In this searing classic autobiography, originally published in 1965, Malcolm X, the Muslim leader, firebrand, and Black empowerment activist, tells the extraordinary story of his life and the growth of the Human Rights movement. His fascinating perspective on the lies and limitations of the American dream and the inherent racism in a society that denies its non-White citizens the opportunity to dream, gives extraordinary insight into the most urgent issues of our own time.
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it's Nearly perfect
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Blues Brothers: The Arc of Gratitude
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Elwood Blues (aka Dan Aykroyd) is on another mission—to tell the full story of how two young actors went from blues lovers to Blues Brothers. In this fascinating audio documentary Aykroyd “gets the band back together”, taking listeners on a road trip through time—from late nights in the early days with John Belushi at Dan’s speakeasy in Toronto, to working with blues legends Aretha Franklin, James Brown, and Ray Charles on The Blues Brothers movie, through the founding of House of Blues, the Blues Brothers 2000 sequel, and beyond.
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You had to be there
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Elvis and Me
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The inspiration for the major motion picture Priscilla directed by Sofia Coppola, this New York Times best seller reveals the intimate story of Elvis Presley and Priscilla Presley, told by the woman who lived it.
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What a story!
- By Pen Name on 08-28-22
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Pulse
- The Untold Story
- By: Trevor Aaronson
- Narrated by: Trevor Aaronson
- Length: 4 hrs and 55 mins
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In a gay nightclub in Orlando on June 12, 2016, the shooter, Omar Mateen, murdered 49 people and wounded 53 others. The attack was the deadliest act of violence against the LGBTQ+ community in US history and the deadliest terrorist attack in the United States since 9/11. But there’s a story you haven’t heard. The FBI had a secret history with the shooter and his father. To obscure that history, the FBI pushed a false story that the media dutifully carried—that the attacker was a secretly gay Islamist extremist who had chosen to target Pulse and planned the attack for weeks.
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Heart wrenching
- By Kaylee Charles on 07-21-24
By: Trevor Aaronson
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Helter Skelter
- The True Story of the Manson Murders
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Prosecuting attorney in the Manson trial Vincent Bugliosi held a unique insider's position in one of the most baffling and horrifying cases of the 20th century: the cold-blooded Tate-LaBianca murders carried out by Charles Manson and four of his followers. What motivated Manson in his seemingly mindless selection of victims, and what was his hold over the young women who obeyed his orders? Now available for the first time in unabridged audio, the gripping story of this famous and haunting crime is brought to life by acclaimed narrator Scott Brick.
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Everything I remembered about the case was wrong..
- By karen on 06-22-12
By: Vincent Bugliosi, and others
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How I Get It Done
- By: Shereen Marisol Meraji
- Narrated by: Shereen Marisol Meraji
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In a series of deeply moving and inspiring conversations, host Shereen Marisol Meraji connects with successful women from all walks of life to reveal how they manage their careers and every aspect of their lives. Based on the long-running column from The Cut and New York Magazine.
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Relatable, helpful, and beautifully produced.
- By Anonymous User on 09-07-24
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Frédéric Chopin is the pianist-composer par excellence. Regarded as one of the most mesmerizing performers of his day, he lives on in his music – his waltzes, mazurkas, études, preludes, nocturnes, three piano sonatas, two piano concertos, and much more. Here, his life, from his birth in Poland, his famous affair with the French writer George Sand, to his death at the age of 39 in Paris, is told with his music featuring prominently. We think of Chopin as a "frail, sheltered genius" but this forthright portrait demonstrates he was far more boisterous than that.
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Frederic Chopin
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What listeners say about Beethoven
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Kindle Customer
- 02-21-17
A good listen for the first 4/5 of the book.
Where does Beethoven rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
Top 30%
What was one of the most memorable moments of Beethoven?
His upbring with a an abusive alcoholic father, his musical genius and persistence in getting every note and cord perfect, sometimes taking him weeks to accomplish.
What does Michael Prichard bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Making what could be a tedious read a good listen.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Hans Rigelman
- 12-15-16
Beethoven - the man and his music
This is a sad story, but also encouraging as you see how Beethoven struggled through his many physical ailments, tortured by his unrequited loves, but yet wrote some of the most beautiful and passionate music ever heard at his time.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Jdhpiano
- 08-05-24
How it would go into the pieces themselves and what makes them work.
So overall great, the material is very interesting. It weaves a great narrative of Beethoven’s life while also breaking down his most famous pieces.
At times the reader was very dry and boring. I listened to this one on and off over a year.
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- Barry Katz
- 04-02-19
Great book. Terrible narration.
Very poor choice of reader for this book. The voice and affect of the performer are really spoiling it for me. Much as I want to read this, I'm not sure I can take 39 hours of this narrator's voice.
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12 people found this helpful
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- Curt
- 12-09-15
Enjoyable, engrossing.
Would you consider the audio edition of Beethoven to be better than the print version?
This is a wonderfully in depth examination of Beethoven's life and his times. My only complaint is the occasional mispronunciation.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Although impossible, yes.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Joe Schmoe
- 02-17-16
Very Detailed Biography
What did you like best about this story?
The level of details available about his daily life. Letters and manuscripts (many records kept due to conversations written down because of his deafness).
Any additional comments?
I read other reviews that complained about too much musical composition details. I thought that I would still enjoy that part but found myself eventually skipping through those parts as they could only be enjoyed by another composer. I still enjoyed the book and learned much about Beethoven's life which is what I was hoping to learn.
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14 people found this helpful
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- Christopher Jenkins
- 09-17-17
Must read for anyone interested in Beethoven
An in depth look at the life and works of Beethoven, particularly good for the latter. Narrator is clear and the conveys the tone of the author well.
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2 people found this helpful
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- A. Yerkes
- 02-19-24
A Gift: Well Conceived, Well Written, Well Read
This is a monumental work that is beautifully written with a pace that moves right along, filling in historical context as needed and holding the reader's attention with vivid description. As always, Michael Prichard's narration is the icing on the cake. He doesn't do funny accents or mispronounce foreign words. He is as expressive as the text requires, but maintains a neutral delivery style that, at least for me, gets out of the way and lets the words' meanings come through. The author clearly sets up the project, giving the reader a sense of what is to come and signaling when he moves from fact to deduction.
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- Jonathan R. Zeko
- 03-08-16
Wonderful Biography of A Supreme Artist
Would you listen to Beethoven again? Why?
Yes. You cannot separate the music from the person. The author told the story of Beethoven and wove in the analysis of his music synchronized with his life.
What other book might you compare Beethoven to and why?
There are other masterpiece books about Beethoven, but this one gave the most expert analysis of the music.
Which scene was your favorite?
Beethoven's writing the Heiligenstadt Testament and his death bed.
If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
No film could do justice to such a person.
Any additional comments?
Mr. Pritchard is an experienced and excellent narrator. His narration was wonderful, except he mispronounced "Pianoforte" 100s of times.
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Margaret
- 07-02-18
Informative look at the life of a remarkable man whose fate it was to enlarge the scope of musical expression.
I really loved Swafford's portrait of Brahms, hence the reason I bought this book. Having read Thayer's tome on Beethoven since the age of 12, I was hungry for new insights into the life of Beethoven.
I was delighted to read newer information about Beethoven the man, and felt gratified as Mr. Stafford dispelled all of the silly gossip and rumors (especially the movie "Immortal Beloved) surrounding his loves and his death.
I was a little disappointed when Mr. Stafford would analyse various works throughout the composer's life; although he does point out the turning points in Beethoven's composition styles, his analysis become largely subjective where he could have stuck to the point.
I don't know if it is a Kindle problem, but many of the paintings of Beethoven were not included. Also, links to YouTube performances of his sited compositions would have been a blessing. My Kindle edition was also missing the music scores of the pieces being analysed, with notations regarding the specific uses of harmony and rhythm being described by Swafford.
Overall, I do recommend this work. It is missing some of the objective, detailed analysis that is present in Swafford's Brahms biography, but it does clarify Beethoven's idiosyncratic personality, and the events that changed his life and music. I was able to derive that Beethoven, from an early age, was bent on enlarging the scope of musical expression, and through hard work and self-discipline, he achieved his goal! Lucky for us!
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