Stephen Fry

Tim Lihoreau

Entertaining and brilliantly written, this is a pretty reckless romp of a history through classical music and much much more.

Stephen Fry's Incomplete and Utter History of Classical Music

Darren Henley

Sam Jackson

The Ultimate Classic FM Hall of Fame celebrates classical music's unique ability to stir the emotions of a listener - whether it's the haunting melodies of Gorecki's Symphony of Sorrowful Songs or Purcell's Dido and Aeneas; the passionately charged opening bars of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5; dramatic operas such as Puccini's La boheme; the moving sounds of Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2 and Mozart's Clarinet Concerto; beautiful ballet scores from Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky; or blockbuster film soundtracks composed by John Williams and Howard Shore.

The Ultimate Classic FM Hall of Fame: the Greatest Classical Music of All Time

'Hello, I'm Stephen the Fry. Now time for the first outing of a brand, spanking new feature here on The Incomplete and Utter History of Classic Music... putting some unsuspecting figure in music under the spotlight.' In his Incomplete & Utter History of Classical Music, Stephen Fry presents a potted and brilliantly rambling 700-year history of classical music and the world as we know it. Along this musical journey he casually throws in references to pretty much whatever takes his fancy, from the Mongol invasion of Russia and Mr Khan (Genghis to his Friends), the founding of the MCC, the Black Death (which once again became the new black in England) to the heady revolutionary atmosphere of Mozart's Don Giovanni and the deep doo-doo that Louis XVI got into (or 'du-du' as the French would say). It's all here - Ambrose and early-English plainsong, Bach, Mozart (beloved of mobile phones everywhere), Beethoven, Debussy, Wagner (the old romantic), right up to the present day. Entertaining and brilliantly written, this is a pretty reckless romp of a history through classical music and much much more.

The Classic FM Family Music Boxis the perfect introduction to the world of classical music. Featuring beautiful hand-drawn illustrations and 8 sound-chip buttons that play short bursts of iconic pieces of music, this unique book brings to life some of the greatest composers throughout history. Readers will be introduced to the genius of legendary artists such as Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Elgar, Handel, Verdi, Vivaldi and Strauss, and will experience their lives, inspirations and music as never before. In addition to high-quality sound chips, a unique QR code allows access to a bespoke landing page on Classic FM's website allowing readers to listen to full versions of the music featured in the book.

Hear iconic music from the great composers

The Classic FM Family Music Box

Did you leave work yesterday and have a stab of fear that you'd forgotten to press save before switching off your computer? Did you then go to the pub, get very drunk, then wake this morning unable to remember what awful things you might have said or done ...? You're not paranoid (most of the time) but suffering from modern phobias. Such as Antefamaphobia - the fear that people were talking about you, but stopped just before you entered the room. Or Agmenophobia - the fear that the queue you join will end up being slower than the other one. The Book of Phobias will confirm every sneaking suspicion you have of a suffering from a weird and wonderful phobia, and highlight some you never knew you had!

Modern Phobias

Readers are pushed to their memory limits to recall their most obscure music knowledge with this collection of 1,000 questions and answers to stump every music-lover With questions for the novice, the enthusiast, and the downright expert, this book is guaranteed to set your musical knowledge a-quaver as you pit wits against Quick Fire, Famous Quotations, True or False, Film Scores, Name the Year, Name the Composer, Classical Oddities, and many more family-friendly rounds. This is the perfect companion for any quizmaster looking to bring a little extra something to the quiz night; families looking to see, once and for all, who really is the best; classical music buffs; and listeners who like to have their knowledge expanded in the quiz's playful manner. This book provides 1,000 questions to get you thinking—and fortunately provides the answers too!

The Classic FM Quiz Book

Daniel Ross

A witty and fun graphic depiction of the classical music world With this fun and lighthearted book, readers can see the world of classical music as it’s never been seen before. Using flow charts, pie charts, Venn diagrams, checklists, graphs, and other ingenious graphics, the authors have neatly represented many favorite pieces of classical music, musicians, and composers, along with insights on orchestras, concert etiquette, and much more, in nearly 100 simple and amusing images. Music fans will be delighted by this alternative representation of the classical music world, surprised by some of the connections, and, yes, stumped by the occasional puzzle—but immensely satisfied once they have worked them all out. This humorous collection is a must for both classical music fans and puzzle enthusiasts—it’s also a witty and fun gift for music lovers of all stripes.

Tim Lihoreau

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