Biographies (again)

[amanfang]

I realize there have been a couple threads on this already, but I didn't find what I was really looking for in them.  I need an interesting biography of a composer or performer that was born after 1800.  My preference is something scholarly and reputable, but it doesn't necessarily HAVE to be.  Any suggestions?  Thanks.

[Motrax]

Richter's biography (The Enigma) by Bruno Monsaingeon is a great read. Although the writing style is a little odd (it's written in an autobiographical style, even though Richter didn't write it), I found it to be very entertaining.

[ted]

For something different try "They All Played Ragtime" by Blesh and Janis. Eric Fenby's "Delius as I Knew Him" is worth reading for the musical insights alone.

[Brian Healey]

I absolutely love the Bill Evans biography, "How My Heart Sings" by Peter Pettinger (himself a concert pianist). Evans was classified as a jazz pianist, but his technique and sensibility spanned the gap between classical and jazz genres. I might be a bit biased, since I think Evans was one of the best pianists in the world in the last hundred years. In his later years, Evans improvised things that could have been composed by Rachmaninoff. Absolutely stunning. Also, since he's also an accomplished pianist, Pettinger's insights and musical examples are great.

On the one,
Bri

[dlu]

Berlioz-either his autobiographical memoirs or any book on Berlioz by David Cairns. Also Berlioz's Evening's with the Orchestra