Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Classical Music by Richard FairmanTchaikovsky’s Empire — A New Life of Russia’s Greatest Composer by Simon Morrison (Yale)Unlike many of Tchaikovsky’s recent biographers, Morrison has no patience with poring over his subject’s homosexuality or claims that he died by suicide. His concise book focuses on the imperial world in which Tchaikovsky moved and the wider influences on his music to create a fresh profile of a familiar composer.A New Philosophy of Opera by Yuval Sharon (Liveright)In recent years Yuval Sharon’s opera productions in the US have won him a reputation as the art form’s “disrupter-in-residence”. In this book, the director challenges the status quo and proposes radical new ways to present operas new and old. Expect insight, originality and some contentious views that will stimulate debate.In Search of Beethoven by John Suchet (Elliott & Thompson)News reporter Suchet has written seven books on Beethoven. This personal account of his life-long passion has an appealing light touch. Suchet follows in the composer’s footsteps as he visits archives, churches and city apartments on a mission of discovery that at times tells us as much about the author as his subject.Pop Music by Ludovic Hunter-TilneyLogo Rhythm: Band Logos That Rocked the World by Jim K Davies and Jamie Ellul (Circa)The best band logos are design classics. Logo Rhythm tells their stories with a handsome spread of illustrations, interviews and commentary. Here we find The Beatles’ accidental invention of the branded band, AC/DC’s gothic-lettered link to the Gutenberg bible and OutKast’s mash-up of Cadillac’s and Rolex’s marques.And the Roots of Rhythm Remain: A Journey Through Global Music by Joe Boyd (Faber/Ze Books) Anchoring this immense 940-page panorama of music from around the world is Joe Boyd’s celebrated career producing records for Nick Drake, The Incredible String Band and others. He’s knowledgeable without being overbearing and attentive to the way musical cultures overlap, from South Africa to South Asia.Never Understood: The Jesus and Mary Chain by William and Jim Reid (White Rabbit/Hachette Books)“Don’t meet your heroes,” Jim Reid realises after dispiriting encounters with Iggy Pop and David Bowie. Those idolising The Jesus and Mary Chain, Reid’s band with his brother William, should beware: the pair’s ruefully droll memoir is nothing like their sullen stage presence or abrasive music. But it doesn’t disappoint.From Here to the Great Unknown: A Memoir by Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough (Macmillan/Random House)The fact of Lisa Marie Presley’s memoir being ghosted takes on a double meaning: she died in 2023 after asking her daughter Riley Keough to help her with the book. Interspersing her mother’s taped recollections with her own text, Keough has brought it to fruition, recounting the difficult life of Elvis’s only child.Street-Level Superstar: A Year with Lawrence by Will Hodgkinson (Nine Eight Books)Hermetic solitude and a craving for pop stardom are united in the eccentric person of Lawrence Hayward from the band Felt, a cult figure in UK indie music (like true stars, he’s known only by his first name). Hodgkinson, an affectionate, insightful chronicler, plays the Boswell to his Johnson.Join our online book group on Facebook at FT Books Café
