YEAR OF WONDER: Classical Music for Every Day

Burton-Hill had this deceptively simple idea. A book listing a piece of classical music to listen to every day for a year. And for each piece a short summary of why she chose it. But this brief description cannot begin to sum up just what a wonderful book this is. Full of insights on the various pieces (and Composers) chosen. The story around why she chose the Verdi Requiem moved me to tears. I bought this as a Christmas present for a friend who is developing her knowledge of classical music and loved it so much I bought one for myself. The book itself is a thing of beauty with a dark blue cover with the silhouette of a violin and musical notes picked out in gold. If you know someone who wants to learn about classical music but does not know where to start, then this book is perfect. But it's not just for the novice. My husband, who has been listening to classical music for 50 years has made discoveries (eg Lotti's Crucifixus) and we are only half way through January! I recommend it if you know little or nothing about classical music and my husband recommends it if you have been listening to classical music for years. Either way you are likely to find something to enjoy here.

As classical music lovers we can sometimes be left out of the usual “new” music discovery. Classic fm is good but listen for a week and you’ve heard their repertoire.This book lifts the classical lover out of the discovery doldrums every single day. Combining useful and accessible text along with truly inspirational choices means I’m looking forward to a year of inspiration and delight!A week in and loving the choices.There are useful playlists on Spotify and Apple Music but Amazon Prime Music has been left out. As a PrimeSubscriber it would have been good to have this but it’s easy enough to search and listen.Lovely book, superb writing and a genuine inspiration.

I have learned much of the pieces she selects: the slightly gossipy tone is forgivable, concealing erudition aplenty. My only criticism is that many of the music is not available on CD. I don't do downloads, where, possibly, one can hear her selection.

I had wanted to start exploring Classical music in more depth and this book is exactly what I had been looking for. Cleverly set out as a track a day, it then gives you the opportunity to jump off into other selections by composer or style to explore further.As an aside much like others I had been looking at how I could find more Classical music and came across Qobuz. I am only on the month of February but have so far only found a few tracks that aren't there. The added advantage is that Qobuz supports High-Resolution playback, offline playback and streams to many of the available streamers that allow connection to existing Hi-Fi. I can highly recommend it.

My hubby is a big fan of Clemmy & her various roles. So when her book came out, I had to get it for him. This is an extraordinary book which can be used everyday for years to come. Every day Clemmy gives a brief overview of the composer & why she's chosen that piece for that day. The book is educating us about composers & music we'd never heard before & reminded us of some we'd forgotten about. Every morning we look at Clemmy's choice for that day, & now enjoy our breakfast to the sounds of lovely music. And next year we can start all over again. Brilliant.