1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910810644303321

Autore

Kramer Lawrence <1946->

Titolo

Why classical music still matters / / Lawrence Kramer

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Berkeley, Calif. ; ; London, : University of California Press, 2007

ISBN

1-281-75247-9

9786611752477

1-4294-7181-6

0-520-93364-8

1-4337-0967-8

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (252 p.)

Disciplina

781.68

Soggetti

Music - Philosophy and aesthetics

Musical analysis

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- In Lieu Of A Preface -- Chapter One. Classical Music And Its Values -- Chapter Two. The Fate Of Melody And The Dream Of Return -- Chapter Three. Score And Performance, Performance And Film: Classical Music As Liberating Energy -- Chapter Four. But Not For Me: Love Song And The Heartache Of Modern Life -- Chapter Five. The Ghost In The Machine: Keyboard Rhapsodies -- Chapter Six. Crisis And Memory: The Music Of Lost Time -- Chapter Seven. Persephone's Fiddle: The Value Of Classical Music -- References -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

"What can be done about the state of classical music?" Lawrence Kramer asks in this elegant, sharply observed, and beautifully written extended essay. Classical music, whose demise has been predicted for at least a decade, has always had its staunch advocates, but in today's media-saturated world there are real concerns about its viability. Why Classical Music Still Matters takes a forthright approach by engaging both skeptics and music lovers alike. In seven highly original chapters, Why Classical Music Still Matters affirms the value of classical music-defined as a body of nontheatrical music produced since the eighteenth century with the single aim of being listened to-by revealing what its values



are: the specific beliefs, attitudes, and meanings that the music has supported in the past and which, Kramer believes, it can support in the future. Why Classical Music Still Matters also clears the air of old prejudices. Unlike other apologists, whose defense of the music often depends on arguments about the corrupting influence of popular culture, Kramer admits that classical music needs a broader, more up-to-date rationale. He succeeds in engaging the reader by putting into words music's complex relationship with individual human drives and larger social needs. In prose that is fresh, stimulating, and conversational, he explores the nature of subjectivity, the conquest of time and mortality, the harmonization of humanity and technology, the cultivation of attention, and the liberation of human energy.