| Contents |
Part I. Precedents, influences, and early postwar trends. Composers and audiences -- Precedents and influences: Music from 1890-1945. Music from 1890-1920 ; Music from 1920-1945 ; Prophetic factors anticipating post-1945 developments ; Four works composed before 1945 -- New ways of listening: the "Loudspeaker revolution". Changes in listener perception -- New concepts and tools. Seven concepts for the study of new music ; Two compositional tools ; A perspective on new approaches -- The early postwar years. Social contexts for stylistic change ; The influence of Webern and Messiaen ; The growth of integral serialism ; Other postwar directions ; Styles in transition -- Pieces for study I. Karlheinz Stockhausen: Kreuzspiel (1952) ; Elliot Carter: Sonata for Flute, Oboe, Cello, and Harpsichord (1952) ; Lukas Foss: Time Cycle (1959) ; Igor Stravinsky: Agon (1957) ; John Cage: Sonatas and Interludes (1948) and Music of Changes (1951) ; Benjamin Britten: The Turn of the Screw (1954) -- Part II. New aesthetic approaches. "Order" and "Chaos". A brief look at the twelve-tone set ; "Order" ; "Chaos" ; Intermediate positions between "Order" and "Chaos" ; Similarities between the philosophies of "Chaos" and "Order" ; Process and texture -- The electronic revolution I: tape composition and early synthesizers. Precedents ; Music and noise: expanding philosophies ; The first major developments ; Electronic music comes of age ; Conclusion: looking ahead -- Multimedia and total theater. The extended performer ; Electronics in live performance ; Sound and sight ; Music and movement ; Audience participation ; Musicians as actors, music as polemic ; Toward total theater ; Conclusion -- Texture, mass, and density. Precedents ; Texture and instrumental color ; Texture and process ; Sound mass: variable density and complexity ; Conclusion -- Non-western musical influences. Embracing sounds from other cultures ; Ritual and function ; Conclusion -- Pieces for study II. Krzysztof Penderecki: Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima (1960) ; Milton Babbitt: Vision and Prayer (1961) ; Mario Davidovsky: Synchronisms No. 1 (1963) ; John Cage and Lejaren Hiller: HPSCHD (1969) ; Peter Maxwell Davies: Eight Songs for a Mad King (1969) ; George Crumb: Ancient Voices of Children (1970) ; Peter Schat: To You (1972) ; Pierre Boulez: Rituel in Memoriam Bruno Maderna (1974) -- Part III. More recent developments. Collage and quotation. Precedents and influences ; Collage ; Style juxtaposition and quotation ; Conclusion -- The resurgence of tonality. Revisiting the past ; Creating new languages with "Old" materials ; Melding past and present ; Tonality and serialism ; Simplicity, stasis, and slow motion ; The real vanguard of modern tonality ; Conclusion -- New views of performance: Space, ritual, and play. Components of performance ; Ritual ; Play: music as "Game" -- Process and minimalism. Processes, inaudible and audible ; Different approaches to minimalism ; Minimalist techniques ; Minimalist composers: the earliest generation ; The middle and younger generations of minimalists ; Conclusion -- The electronic revolution II: computers and digital systems. Analog versus digital ; The discovery of computer music ; Music from the mainframe ; Interactive digital composition and performance ; Acoustic versus digital sound: a vanishing boundary ; Future developments -- Pieces for study III. Lukas Foss: Baroque Variations (1967) ; Harrison Birtwistle: Punch and Judy (1967) ; Luciano Berio: Sinfonia (1968-69) ; Mauricio Kagel: Staatstheater (1970) ; Tom Johnson: Failing (1976) ; David Del Tredici: Final Alice (1976) ; Paul Lansky: Six Fantasies on a Poem by Thomas Campion (1978-79) ; Laurie Anderson: "O superman" (1981) ; Helmut Lachenmann: Mouvement (-vor der Erstarrung) (1984) ; Henry Brant: Bran(d)t aan de Amstel (1984) -- Part IV. Issues and directions. Notation, improvisation, and composition. Functions of notation ; Improvisation ; Composition -- Composers and national traditions. Scandinavia ; Eastern Europe ; Japan ; The Netherlands ; Latin America ; England ; Canada -- Pieces for study IV: a panorama of works by genre. Opera. Philip Glass: Einstein on the Beach (1975) ; Thea Musgrave: A Christmas Carol (1979) ; Gyorgy Ligeti: Le Grand Macabre (1977) ; R. Murray Schafer: The Princess of the Stars (1981) ; Richard O'Brien: The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1973) -- Concerto. Charles Wuorinen: Second Piano Concerto (1974) ; Sofia Gubaidulina: Offertorium (1980) ; Brian Ferneyhough: Carceri d'Invenzione I (1982) ; John Corigliano: Pied Piper Fantasy (1982) ; Donald Erb: Concerto for Contrabassoon and Orchestra (1984) -- Chamber music. Gunther Schuller: Abstraction (1960) ; Samuel Adler: Seven Epigrams (1970) ; George Rochberg: String Quartet No. 6 (1978) ; Morton Subotnick: The Wild Beasts (1978) ; Ralph Shapey: Kroslish Sonata (1985) -- Orchestral music. Peter Sculthorpe: Sun Music I (1965) ; Karel Husa: Music for Prague (1968) ; Per Norgard: Symphony No. 3 (1975) ; Magnus Lindberg: Kraft (1985) ; Joan Tower: Silver Ladders (1986). |
| Abstract |
This text presents a challenging and comprehensive survey of the music of the postwar periods. Written in a concise and engaging style, the authors encourage students to re-examine aesthetic assumptions and cultural biases as they explore the rich diversity of music in our time. This book examines how composers and listeners deal with nine essential aspects of new music: pitch logic, process, texture, sound color, time, performance ritual, parody/historicism, notation, and technology. This framework of nine factors serves as a powerful and flexible focus for exploration throughout the text. The book illustrates key topics through extensive analytical discussions of works by Stockhausen, Carter, Foss, Oliveros, Cage, Babbitt, Boulez, Berio, Kagel, Tower, Glass, and many others, and features more than 110 music examples, 50 photographs, and an extensive bibliography and discography. |
