Baroque Beatles Book, The

Musiciologist-conductor-pianist Joshua Rifkin's The Baroque Beatles Book is a milestone from the early days of Nonesuch Records. It began as a marketing concept-cum-youthful prank: How about writing Baroque-era arrangements of the Fab Four's Top 40 hits,as if Lennon & McCartney were contemporaries of Bach & Handel? Beatlemania and the Baroque were both in fashion with their respective audiences, and the disc became a crossover hit at the height of the 1965 holiday season. But The Baroque Beatles Book was no mere novelty item; over the years it has gained downright legendary status among Beatles fans, classical enthusiasts and those who have followed the remarkable evolution of the Nonesuch label. Newsweek declared the collection 'inspired'; the Boston Globe called it 'brilliant.'