“Counterpoint: A Memoir of Bach and Mourning” by Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Philip Kennicott is a powerful exploration of grief, memory, and the transformative power of music. Struggling with the loss of his mother, Kennicott immerses himself in Bach’s Goldberg Variations, embarking on a five-year journey to master this complex masterpiece. This First Edition hardcover details not only the technical challenges and musical triumphs of learning the piece but also the deeply personal reflections it provokes. Through Bach’s intricate counterpoint, Kennicott confronts his own difficult childhood, explores the nature of memory, and questions what it truly means to understand both music and another human being. A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of 2020, “Counterpoint” offers a poignant and insightful meditation on loss, resilience, and the enduring comfort of art. Perfect for classical music enthusiasts, memoir readers, and anyone seeking solace and understanding in the face of grief.
Counterpoint: A Memoir of Bach and Mourning
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A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of 2020
A Pulitzer Prizewinning critic reflects on the meaning and emotional impact of a Bach masterwork.
As his mother was dying, Philip Kennicott began to listen to the music of Bach obsessively. It was the only music that didnt seem trivial or irrelevant, and it enabled him to both experience her death and remove himself from it. For him, Bachs music held the elements of both joy and despair, life and its inevitable end. He spent the next five years trying to learn one of the composers greatest keyboard masterpieces, the Goldberg Variations. In Counterpoint, he recounts his efforts to rise to the challenge, and to fight through his grief by coming to terms with his memories of a difficult, complicated childhood.
He describes the joys of mastering some of the piano pieces, the frustrations that plague his understanding of others, the technical challenges they pose, and the surpassing beauty of the melodies, harmonies, and counterpoint that distinguish them. While exploring Bachs compositions he sketches a cultural history of playing the piano in the twentieth century. And he raises two questions that become increasingly interrelated, not unlike a contrapuntal passage in one of the variations itself: What does it mean to know a piece of music? What does it mean to know another human being?
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| Binding | |
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| ISBN-10 | 0393635368 |
| ISBN-13 | 9780393635362 |
| Language | |
| Pages | 256 |
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| Year published | |
| Weight | 380 |
| Edition | First Edition |