When you find yourself entranced and involved with a particular composition--or assigned to write a paper on it--the line or two (or paragraph, if you're lucky) given to it in most musical reference works just isn't enough. The Cambridge Music Handbooks, edited by Julian Rushton, help to plug the hole. In this volume, David Brodbeck examines the genesis of Brahms's Symphony No. 1, from its uncertain beginnings to its completion, along with a look at its "structure and meaning" throughout. Accessible in its approach (there are a few musical examples, but the musically illiterate should find them too few to be a hindrance) and in its language, this book will be appreciated by the music student and the Brahms aficionado alike.