Reviews - Landscapes of Eloquence?

This brilliant and beautifully written book, handsomely printed on decent paper... is an impressive contribution to an aspect of garden history that unaccountably is still either denied or played down by some commentators, despite the evidence provided in eighteenth-century sources and by modern investigators....both Tarling and the Punnett Press deserve our gratitude for bringing out this fascinating, intelligent, illuminating and finely produced volume.

(James Stevens Curl writing in Garden History, Journal of The Gardens Trust Summer 2021)

A significant academic treatise and the result of many years of meticulous study. As such it will find a place on the shelves of serious scholars of the eighteenth-century landscape garden but more general readers will also find much to enjoy. A lucid and clever book, thick with illustrations and beautifully produced on quality paper.

The level of scholarly research, the integrity of the writing and the range of references is impressive.

(Sussex Gardens Trust Newsletter)

Reviews - Baroque String Playing

A really remarkable book which combines a huge range of scholarly information with being delightfully readable and entertaining ... how to achieve expressiveness within a suitable historical style ... here is every baroque player's companion. Irresistible ... well beyond the value of the price.

News and Views (European String Teachers' Association)

... indispensable. A practical, comprehensive yet easily accessible guide from someone with a wealth of experience of baroque performance ... a valuable source of reference both for the string player new to baroque style and performance and for the experienced.

Early Music Review

She aims to re-launch a spirit of discovery in historical performance, while recognising that theorists' rules should never obscure artistry, taste and musical intelligence ... A stimulating, rounded and thoroughly readable book, which should inspire period players to re-examine their approach to historical performance.

The Strad

An ideal treatise not only for baroque bowing but for so many other facets of baroque practice which I have hardly ever seen in books on the subject.

The late Sir Charles Mackerras, who used to recommend this book to his conducting students. 

Reviews - The Weapons of Rhetoric

A most exciting and important document ... this is a truly fascinating book researched and written in all humility by a performer exploring a long neglected subject. I can imagine that it may appeal to the avid concert goer as well as to the committed performer, for it provides a code to what one hears and a context within which to listen.

Very approachable, with amusing drawings and instructive illustrations.

News and Views (European String Teachers' Association)

The Weapons of Rhetoric is an invaluable resource for any musician wanting to study the essential ingredients of an effective performance of Baroque music. It may well be the most useful and intriguing book on Baroque performance practice ever written.

Early Music America

Serious performers and listeners should read it ... whether because of rhetorical theory or Judy's musical common sense, you'll learn a lot about performance, as any who have heard her teaching will expect.

Early Music Review

This is a book by a musician, for all musicians, especially those who aspire to be better ones.

Bach Notes (London Bach Society)

...the quotations are woven into a coherent narrative that provides the necessary context. Not only has Tarling read very widely and with a scholarly mentality, but also the liveliness of her interest is constantly in evidence in many informative comments by the way, nourished by a reading that extends well beyond the central literary sources, to Frances Yates on memory, Michael Baxendale on gesture in Renaissance painting, and much else ...The value of Tarling’s work is that her aim is fundamentally a practical one, getting beyond the usual categorizations and drawing on her experience as a performer ... The approach from practice is much rarer than that from analysis, and, although distinguished performers have often commented on the need for understanding rhetoric, this has not until now been backed up with such comprehensive theoretical background and specific detail ... For its comprehensive nature, scholarly interest, and particularly for its practical insights this is a book from which performers should learn a very great deal of value.

David Ledbetter writing in Early Music, May 2005

Reviews - Handel's Messiah: a Rhetorical Guide .

This book examining the rhetorical background of Messiah seeks to shed light on the performance of Messiah through an exploration of the rhetoric contained within it. It builds well on the author's previous books, Baroque String Playing for Ingenious Learners (St. Albans, 2000), a guide to historical source material on playing bowed string instruments, and The Weapons of Rhetoric (St. Albans, 2004), which is designed to teach today's audiences and performers an understanding of the rhetorical style as it would have been understood by eighteenth-century audiences....Part One is divided into six sections. Of these, the strongest and most convincing are those titled Figures of Rhetoric, Exclamations and Questions, and Decorum, Choice of Means. These sections all place a strong emphasis on rhetoric, and it is in this field that the author is at her best. Figures of Rhetoric, in particular, carries a unique exposition and explanation of the huge number of rhetorical devices (all named and explained) incorporated by Jennens into the text and exploited in various imaginative ways by Handel in the music. Similarly Exclamations and Questions, though brief, also has its basis in the exposition of rhetoric within the work.... The sections on 'Decorum', 'Tone of Voice', 'Emphasis', 'Dynamics', 'Tempo', 'Rhythm', and 'Silence' are each interesting in their own right and, as with the more successful sections of Part One, all of these sections in Part Two have their basis in the explanation of rhetorical terms, accompanied by musical examples and a discussion of how rhetoric should affect the performance of such examples. Of use to today's performers (the author's stated target audience), these sections also show Tarling's strengths as a writer. Each rhetorical term and device is explained clearly and intelligibly, and the examples are discussed in such a way as to suggest, rather than dictate, how they might impact performance. This has the benefit of leading the reader to consider, rather than blindly follow, the author's ideas, which, in turn, should lead to a greater understanding of the arguments behind such ideas.

Review by Amanda Babington, Fontes Artis Musicae 62/2

Other Publications and articles

'Like the bread of Life' - Italian influence on violin playing in London c. 1700. An essay to accompany the CD of Semele by John Eccles, Academy of Ancient Music/Cambridge Handel Opera (2021)

Strad 2009: Read about playing Baroque music on modern instruments. Compiled from interviews Judy made with string players Steven Isserlis, Roger Chase, Elizabeth Wallfisch, Sebastian Comberti and others.

Humphry Repton in Sussex contains Judy's two essays concerning Repton at Heathfield Park, including the story behind the glees written by William Crotch based on Repton’s description of the park. In another essay she describes his disappointing experience with the Prince of Wales at the Brighton Royal Pavilion.

To purchase contact information@sussexgardenstrust.org.uk £15 + p&p. 

'Working with Peter Holman: from a seat in The Parley of Instruments'. A chapter In Musical Exchange Between Britain and Europe 1500-1800. Essays in honour of Peter Holman, ed. John Cunningham and Bryan White. Boydell Press (2020)

'The Mysterie of Rhetorique Unvail'd': some knowledge of rhetoric useful for consort playing. Viola da Gamba Society Journal vol. 18A (2024) PDF downloadable including non-members