ISBN10: 0374249393, ISBN13: 9780374249397, [publisher: New York City, NY: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2007] Hardcover First Edition 1st Printing. 625 pages. Published in 2007. The author's breakthrough debut book. One of the most important books on classical music ever published in our time. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only that sold out shortly after publication. The First Edition is now rare. Presents Alex Ross' "The Rest Is Noise: Listening To The Twentieth Century". Still his very best book. "A whirlwind tour, from the Viennese premiere of Richard Strauss' 'Salome' in 1906 to Minimalist Steve Reich's downtown Manhattan apartment. The wide-ranging historical material is organized in thematic essays grounded in personalities and places, in a disarmingly comprehensive style. Thus, composers who led dramatic lives, such as Shostakovich's struggles under the Soviet Regime, make for gripping reading, but Ross treats each composer with equal gravitas. The real strength of this study, however, lies in his detailed musical analysis, teasing out, in precise but readily accessible language, the notes that link Leonard Bernstein's 'West Side Story' to Arnold Schoenberg's avant-garde compositions or hint at a connection between Sibelius and John Coltrane. Among ...