Price: $30
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
Let's stipulate that you, like almost everybody, have little interest in 20th-century classical music. But let's also say that you admire incisive thinking, lucid prose, and sheer mastery of one's subject. I believe that Alex Ross, who writes about classical music for The New Yorker, is the single finest critic - on any subject - writing today. Reading him is a revelation, and might even make you want to listen to music you've avoided.
