---
product_id: 17582736
title: "Listen to This"
brand: "alex ross"
price: "€ 22.10"
currency: EUR
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 12
url: https://www.desertcart.ie/products/17582736-listen-to-this
store_origin: IE
region: Ireland
---

# Listen to This

**Brand:** alex ross
**Price:** € 22.10
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Listen to This by alex ross
- **How much does it cost?** € 22.10 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.ie](https://www.desertcart.ie/products/17582736-listen-to-this)

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- alex ross enthusiasts

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- Trusted alex ross brand quality
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## Description

Listen to This

## Images

![Listen to This - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81BV4VxiXvL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Good, Not Great Like Its Older Brother
  

*by A***S on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 8, 2012*

Had I not read the author's "The Rest is Noise" before reading "Listen to This", I would probably have enjoyed "Listen" more and might given it four stars. But that's the problem with being the pretty good younger sibling of a dazzling first child: nobody judges you on your own merits.  "Noise" is one of the few books that have really taught me a lot: it's also a beautifully written book, pulling the reader along without the effort usually entailed in learning a lot."Listen" isn't in the same league as "Noise".  Now, before going further, I should say that it clearly was not intended to be.  "Listen to This", as Ross says, "combines various New Yorker articles, several of them substantially revised, with one long piece written for the occasion."  The articles cover a wide range of musical topics, ranging in time from the Renaissance to yesterday, and in genre from the most popular to the most intellectualized.  There is little structural linkage between one article and another, and it probably doesn't matter much if you read them out of order.The articles are well worth reading, though some (not surprisingly) are on topics of more interest to this reader than others.  But that is good feature in this sort of miscellany.  Reading something about a musician or composer in whom the reader has absolutely no interest could (and in this case did) spark some interest, leading to a listen to one of the works in question, and to a broadening of horizons.  The first essay is of particular interest. It traces a pair of musical figures through the whole history of "western" music.  It is also demanding, whereas some of the other essays are the non-fiction equivalent of easy listening.As usual, Ross's writing is a delight; clear, supple, and unusually successful in conveying something about music (so much writing about music brings to mind the quote about dancing about architecture)  Also, thanks and cheers for his website [...] where you can listen to the music he discusses in the book.In sum, this is a pleasant and perceptive collection of essays by a music critic who is always worth reading.  Let's hope that something more major is waiting in the wings.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    More that about music...
  

*by W***O on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 10, 2010*

He had me at "national bombast, materialistic excess, and cultural bizarrerie"- with thoughts as well-formulated as that it will be a book I will look forward to reading; his thoughts transcend music- I just saw a 'thought-provoking' section at Barnes and Nobel, and this book should be placed front and center...He does lament the state of classical music in his preface- which may be a bit dated, or he hasn't been facing East considering what has been uploaded on Youtube recently (quite a direct social barometer)- it is plain to see (literally) that the Classical Baton has been passed from West to East- it has been taken up wholeheartedly and with a youthful, energetic, innocent enthusiasm never realized in the West- it is treated more like pop culture there (sans the gratuitous themes of decadence and death plaguing the West).I'm sure one of his purposes must be to bring relevance to classical music again, and to do that he had to explore the music that is currently relevant. He has a monumental task, for higher art in the West seems to be mired in glossy photos, receptions, and résumés, losing touch with the basic forces of (and fundamental reasons for) art, being more about the artist turning his back on the audience, and the audience is supposed to like it? Just what is going through the narcissistic minds of Western performers/composers these days? I'd say it verges on artistic cluelessness, and I am saying that angrily. He says today's composers hail from China, Estonia, Argentina, and Queens- as far as artistic relevance is concerned I would take that to a much further extreme...Like I said, thought-provoking, and I'll add stirring...

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Music Lovers Will Want to Read This Book
  

*by T***R on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 3, 2016*

Alex Ross is a stellar writer, and I'm willing to bet he's a great musician, too.This book of essays is based on articles he wrote for the New Yorker and the New York Times from the late 1990's, until 2011.  The essays cover everything from the musical history of the descending chromatic bass line (also known as the "lament," and "the walking blues"), to Bjork and Radiohead, and Bach, Brahms, and Bob ... as in Bob Dylan.  Along the way, Mr. Ross captures the many ways music communicates deeper emotions than can be expressed in words, as in his description of Peter Lieberson's song for his dying wife, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, "Sonnet XCII."As with Mr. Ross's previous work, "The Rest if Noise," I have nothing but superlatives.  If you love music, you'll want to read this book.

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*Product available on Desertcart Ireland*
*Store origin: IE*
*Last updated: 2026-03-10*