Publisher's Synopsis
The book looks at:
The experience of listening
Rhythm and musical movement
What modernism has meant for musical aesthetics
The relation of music to other 'sound arts'
Improvisation and composition as well as more traditional issues in musical aesthetics such as absolute versus programme music and the question of musical formalism.
Thinkers discussed range from Pythagoras and Plato to Kant, Nietzsche and Adorno. Areas of music covered include classical, popular and traditional music, and jazz. Aesthetics and Music makes an eloquent case for a humanistic, democratic and genuinely aesthetic conception of music and musical understanding. Anyone interested in what contemporary philosophy has to say about music as an art form will find this thought-provoking and highly enjoyable book required reading.