Have you been doing your musicological beach reading this summer? We’re in the process of updating the must-reads list with new entries, and I wanted to take this opportunity once again to solicit suggestions (either credited or uncredited). Let us know which works you find completely indispensable to the field (and for music-lovers generally), and we’ll make sure they’re included.
Must-Reads Update
Published by Zachary Wallmark
During the Challenge I was graduate student in musicology at UCLA (completed 2014). I am currently Assistant Professor of Music History at SMU in Dallas, TX, where I teach courses on cultural musicology, opera history, music perception and cognition, popular music, and research methods. My monograph project, "Nothing but Noise: Timbre and Musical Meaning at the Edge," is under contract with Oxford University Press. View all posts by Zachary Wallmark
The Taruskin Challenge 
Don’t miss the recent book by critic and commentator Harvey Sachs on Beethoven’s ninth.
It’s a cultural history of this iconic masterpiece which places the work in its historical perspective and offers much fascinating information about its genesis and early performances.
Sachs has already written biographies of Toscanini and Artur Rubistein,among other things, and has a blog at artsjournal.,com. Unfortunately he appears to be so busy with other activities that his posts are infrequent, But they’re laways interesting.
Thanks for the suggestion – I’m adding it now. Sachs gave a very interesting radio interview a few months ago on his new book; you can find links to the broadcast and the book at my post on the topic here:
https://taruskinchallenge.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/notes-on-the-ninth/