1991 / Ebook / 128 pages / USA
**
Summarising the state of scholarship on the elusive, impractical mass c.1991, this didn't succeed in illuminating Bach's wonders more than other things I've read, and some of those tried a lot harder. If you can graph it out symmetrically, it must be good, right?
1998 / Ebook / 160 pages / UK
**
There's no chance of conjuring your own connotations after you've been bombarded with the composer's politics and the corresponding history of interpretations. The last chapter finally gets around to the music and attempts some vaguer themes, but it's already been ruined.
2000 / Ebook / 176 pages / USA
***
Whether the font was smaller or he just had more worth writing about as he drew links across the symphography, this seemed more substantial than these usually are, even without the unnecessary chapter-length digression on reception.
2000 / Ebook / 184 pages / UK
***
Such a comprehensive look at the polarising ballet, its origins, form and behind-the-scenes and before-the-pit drama that it's a shame I'm not obsessed with it, really.
1996 / Ebook / 120 pages / Ireland
***
A brief overview to kick off independent study of the well-loved concept album and its accompanying, less overplayed, but similarly digestible themed works. Along with some less interesting abstract ones to skip.
