A Devil to Play: One Man's Year-Long Quest to Master the Orchestra's Most Difficult Instrument

A Devil to Play: One Man's Year-Long Quest to Master the Orchestra's Most Difficult Instrument
by Jasper Rees

A Devil to Play: One Man's Year-Long Quest to Master the Orchestra's Most Difficult Instrument
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Book Summary Information

Author: Jasper Rees
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Published)
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2008-12-01
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 336
Publisher: Harper

Book Reviews of A Devil to Play: One Man's Year-Long Quest to Master the Orchestra's Most Difficult Instrument

Book Review: Great book for anyone who has ever been interested in the Horn
Summary: 5 Stars

With over 50 years experience as a player and teacher of Horn, I found this book a great read. The author's style is delightfully humorous, and his research into the history of the Horn is amazing. He also interviews many of the world's top horn players and shares their insights on the Horn and Horn Playing as well as entertaining anecdotes. I've read several boring books detailing the history of the Horn that are good reference works, but this one is actually fun to read!

Summary of A Devil to Play: One Man's Year-Long Quest to Master the Orchestra's Most Difficult Instrument

In the days before his fortieth birthday, London-based journalist Jasper Rees trades his pen for a French horn that has been gathering dust in the attic for more than twenty-two years, and, on a lark, plays it at the annual festival of the British Horn Society.

Despite an embarrassingly poor performance, the experience inspires Rees to embark on a daunting, bizarre, and ultimately winning journey: to return to the festival in one year's time and play a Mozart concerto?solo?to a large paying audience.

A Devil to Play is the true story of an unlikely midlife crisis spent conquering sixteen feet of wrapped brass tubing widely regarded as the most difficult instrument to master, as well as the most treacherous to play in public. It is the history of man's first musical instrument, a compelling journey that moves from the walls of Jericho to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, from the hunting fields of France to the heart of Hollywood. And it is the account of one man's mounting musical obsession, told with pitch-perfect wit and an undeniable charm?an endearing, inspiring tale of perseverance and achievement, relayed masterfully, one side-splittingly off-key note at a time.

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