Product Description

Nat Brandt is a veteran journalist who began his career with CBS News asa senior newswriter, then turned to print journalism. He was a reporter before joining The New York Times as an editor, working primarily on the NationalNews Desk. Subsequently, he was Managing Editor of American Heritage magazineand Editor-in-Chief of Publishers Weekly. He is a past president of the nation'soldest journalists' organization, the Society of the Silurians.

A native of New York City, Brandt majored in history at the University of Rochester and was a member of the school's history honor society, the Morey Club. He has written many books dealing with Civil War history, including The Man Who Tried to Burn New York, which dealt with a Confederate plotto burn New York City in 1864. It won the Douglas Southall Freeman History Award in 1987 and is available from iUniverse.com.

Brandt's other books include Mr. Tubbs' Civil War; Harlem at War: The BlackExperience in WWII; The Town That Started the Civil War, which was a best-sellingBook-of-the-Month Club and History Book Club selection; T he Congressman WhoGot Away With Murder; Massacre in Shansi (also available from iUniverse.com),and When Oberlin Was King of the Gridiron: The HeismanYears.

Brandt has lectured on both the East and West Coasts on Civil War subjects, and at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., on both the Civil War and the Harlem riot of World War II. He is currently the co-creator of the television series "Crucible of the Millennium," which will be broadcast by PBS in the fall of 2001.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2210417 in Books
• Published on: 2000-07-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 308 pages

From Kirkus Reviews
A relaxed and engaging portrait of the incomparable chamber- music ensemble (1917-67) and its four most important principals, gracefully interwoven into a history of string-quartet playing in America. Brandt (The Congressman Who Got Away with Murder, 1991, etc.) was connected to the famed Budapest String Quartet during its headiest days: His father-in-law was the violist Boris Kroyt. Brandt's affection for the men who shaped the group's intimately communicative style (Joseph Roisman, first violin; Alexander (``Sasha'') Schneider, second violin; Kroyt; and Mischa Schneider, cello) never constrains his acute observations on the often difficult temperaments of four virtuosi who sublimated their own egos to achieve previously unattained artistic unity. Russian and Polish Jews, Roisman and company fled Hitler's Europe for an uncertain future in America, where chamber music was among the last forms of serious music-making to be accepted. Extraordinary talent prevailed, however, and the Budapest became quartet-in-residence at the Library of Congress, giving an annual series of sold-out (and widely broadcast) recitals using Stradivarius instruments donated to the Library by a wealthy patroness. Among other fascinating sidelights, Brandt illuminates the democratic decision-making procedures the group employed to achieve a concert of musical vision: Contested points of interpretation were put to a vote, with any tie broken by ``the composer's vote'' (cast by the instrumentalist whose predecessor had, with respect to the particular piece in question, won a match-stick drawing and whose initials had been noted on the first page of the score). This neatly written volume appears following Sony's CD rerelease of the early Beethoven quartets recorded in 1951-52 by the same personnel (with the exception of Jac Gorodetsky for Sasha Schneider). Reading the book while listening to the recording reinforces the impression of the Budapest's unanimity of cultural background and creative idealism. As the world that shaped this paragon fades, the legacy remains, thanks to modern technology and this sympathetic record. (Valuable discography and 26 halftones) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review
"Mr. Brandt is the late Boris Kroyt's son-in-law, and his portrait of the group is affectionate, though by no means invariably flattering....The book is essentially a straightforward history of the Budapest, based on interviews and correspondence, and anchored by character profiles. Mr. Brandt's description of the group dynamics, based on intimate personal knowledge of the individuals, is especially vivid."--The New York Times Book Review

"[A] diverting contribution to American musical history....The Budapest's performances immediately thrilled American critics, and over the decades their playing expanded the audience for chamber music in this country and inspired a younger generation of American chamber players."--The New Yorker

"Brandt (whose father-in-law was Boris Kroyt, the Budapest violist) has done an excellent job of limning the complex history of this most celebrated of all string quartets....Affectionate as well as scholarly, full of lively anecdote, and placing the Budapesters firmly in their cultural context."--Publishers Weekly

"A relaxed and engaging portrait of the incomparable chamber-music ensemble and its four most important principals, gracefully interwoven into a history of string-quartet playing in America....As the world that shaped this paragon fades, the legacy remains, thanks to modern technology and this sympathetic record."--Kirkus Reviews

"A feast for every music lover."--Joseph Machlis

About the Author
Nat Brandt is a veteran journalist who began his career with CBS News asasenior newswriter, then turned to print journalism. He was a reporter beforejoining The New York Times as an editor, working primarily on theNationalNews Desk. Subsequently, he was Managing Editor of American Heritagemagazineand Editor-in-Chief of Publishers Weekly. He is a past presidentof the nation'soldest journalists' organization, the Society of the Silurians.A native of New York City, Brandt majored in history at the University ofRochester and was a member of the school's history honor society, the MoreyClub. He has written many books dealing with Civil War history, includingThe Man Who Tried to Burn New York, which dealt with a Confederateplotto burn New York City in 1864. It won the Douglas Southall Freeman HistoryAward in 1987 and is available from iUniverse.com.Brandt's other books include Mr. Tubbs' Civil War; Harlem at War: TheBlackExperience in WWII; The Town That Started the Civil War, which wasa best-sellingBook-of-the-Month Club and History Book Club selection; The Congressman WhoGot Away With Murder; Massacre in Shansi (alsoavailable from iUniverse.com),and When Oberlin Was King of the Gridiron:The HeismanYears.Brandt has lectured on both the East and West Coasts on Civil War subjects,and at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., on both the Civil War andthe Harlem riot of World War II. He is currently the co-creator of the televisionseries "Crucible of the Millennium," which will be broadcast by PBS in thefall of 2001.

Customer Reviews

ceo
I was surprised by the books condition as it was perfect. The book was as good as new. I was extremely opleased and will continue to make similar purchases. Austin Hyde