Larry Sherwood:

>Last month, Steve Schwartz posted a fine review of the Verdi String
>Quartet's recording of Toch's sixth and twelfth quartets (cpo 999 776-2).
>A book by Toch, "The Shaping Forces of Music", is in print and, at $8.95,
>is not inordinately expensive.  Here's a mini-review and a link where
>you can purchase the book: http://www.midi-classics.com/p1445.htm.  But
>people on this List- particularly residents of the USA- are urged to go
>to the classical website (www.classical.net) and click on the amazon
>link to purchase the book, thereby supporting this List.

This has been one of my favorite books about music for many years.
Toch intended it as a "vade-mecum" for the budding composer.  However,
there's very little here that one normally finds in composition texts.
Toch concerns himself mainly with musical rhetoric.  How does the piece
begin?  How does it end?  What sort of musical gestures and shapes do
composers use and why?  He analyzes some well-known compositions from a
fresh perspective.  Toch mainly taught himself how to compose, learning
by writing, rather than in a classroom.  The book is free from academese
and pedantry.

Steve Schwartz