Music Lessons

From the bestselling author of How Shostakovich Changed My Mind comes a new book about the cathartic power of music.For Stephen Johnson, there have been key points in his life when music that is considered ‘dark’ has confronted him with life-changing insights. Some of these insights have been hard to accept, but once accepted have opened up new possibilities of thinking, feeling and living. Through an exploration of seven pieces, including Anton Bruckner’s ‘Symphony No 8’, All-Night Vigil by Sergei Rachmaninoff, Johann Sebastian Bach's St Matthew Passion, Lili Boulanger’s Du fond de l’abîme, Richard Wagner's Parsifal, Act II, Jean Sibelius’s ‘Symphony No 5’ and Ludwig van Beethoven's Fidelio, Johnson explores the lives and the intentions of the composers who created them, and how they have affected him personally.