Includes bibliographical references and index.

"Suggested listening": p. [335]-345.

Listen to this : crossing the border from classical to pop -- Chacona, lamento, walking blues : bass lines of music history -- Infernal machines : how recordings changed music -- The storm of style : Mozart's golden mean -- Orbiting : Radiohead's grand tour -- The anti-maestro : Esa-Pekka Salonen at the Los Angeles Philharmonic -- Great soul : searching for Schubert -- Emotional landscapes : Bjèork's saga -- Symphony of millions : classical music in China -- Song of the Earth : the Arctic sound of John Luther Adams -- Verdi's grip : opera as popular art -- Almost famous : on the road with the St. Lawrence Quartet -- Edges of pop : Kiki and Herb, Cecil Taylor and Sonic Youth, Sinatra, Kurt Cobain -- Learning the score : the crisis in music education -- Voice of the century : Marian Anderson -- The music mountain : inside the Marlboro retreat -- I saw the light : following Bob Dylan -- Fervor : remembering Lorraine Hunt Lieberson -- Blessed are the sad : late Brahms.

This collection of essays showcases the best of Ross's writing from more than a decade at" The New Yorker." Whether his subject is Mozart or Bob Dylan, Ross shows how music expresses the full complexity of the human condition. Witty, passionate, and brimming with insight, "Listen to This" teaches us how to listen.