Paul Griffiths: Modern Music and After, 3rd ed (2011)

Over three decades, Paul Griffiths’s survey has remained the definitive study of music since the Second World War; this fully revised and updated edition re-establishes Modern Music and After as the preeminent introduction to the music of our time. The disruptions of the war, and the struggles of the ensuing peace, were reflected in the music of the time: in Pierre Boulez’s radical reformation of compositional technique and in John Cage’s development of zen music; in Milton Babbitt’s settling of the serial system and in Dmitry Shostakovich’s unsettling symphonies; in Karlheinz Stockhausen’s development of electronic music and in Luigi Nono’s pursuit of the universally human, in Iannis Xenakis’s view of music as sounding mathematics and in Luciano Berio’s consideration of it as language. The initiatives of these composers and their contemporaries opened prospects that haven’t yet stopped unfolding.

This constant expansion of musical thinking since 1945 has left us with no singular history of music; Griffiths’s study accordingly follows several different paths, showing how and why they converge and diverge. This new edition of Modern Music and After discusses not only the music of the fifteen years that have passed since the previous edition, but also the recent explosion of scholarly interest in the latter half of the twentieth century. In particular, the book has been expanded to incorporate the variety of responses to the modernist impasse experienced by composers of the 1980s and 1990s. Griffiths then moves the book into the twenty-first century as he examines such highly influential composers as Helmut Lachenmann and Salvatore Sciarrino.

For its breadth, wealth of detail, and characteristic wit and clarity, the third edition of Modern Music and After is required reading for the student and the enquiring listener.

– Provides the most comprehensive study in English of musical composition from 1945 on
– Offers a keen examination of how important composers have responded to the constant flux of their cultural environs, both socially and technically
– Griffiths is considered by many in the field the finest writer on modern “classical” music in the English language today

Publisher Oxford University Press, 2011
ISBN 0199792828, 9780199792825
480 pages

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PDF (updated on 2012-8-3)

Charles A. Csuri (ed.): Interactive Sound and Visual Systems, catalogue (1970)

“Charles Csuri organized and participated the Interactive Sound and Visual Systems exhibition, which included the installation of a large computer system with which visitors could interact. In the catalogue introduction, Csuri states, “Interdisciplinary approaches to problem solving represent the frontiers of research and education in the modern university.” The Interactive Sound and Visual Systems exhibition was held in the Hopkins Gallery, Hopkins Hall, The Ohio State University. The exhibition had to be closed early due to political demonstrations and subsequent riots on campus. Only this small catalogue remains to document the exhibition.”

College of the Arts, The Ohio State University, 25 April – 12 May 1970
Design by Eric Marlow
Photographs by David Hlynsky
Collages by Edd Benton
31 pages

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James Vogel, Nevin B. Scrimshaw: The Commodore 64 Music Book. A Guide to Programming Music and Sound (1984)

Are you interested in electronic music? Do you dream of playing “Rhapsody in Blue” … without a piano? You can … with THE COMMODORE 64 MUSIC BOOK. It will teach you to play your Commodore 64 as a musical instrument, and you’ll pick up profes sional programming skills along the way. THE COMMODORE 64 MUSIC BOOK is designed for people with little or no programming experience. It includes the fundamental techniques of musical composition, programming in BASIC, and electronic sound synthesis. All of the instructions are in practical step-by-step language, and are geared to teach, rather than train by rote. With THE COMMODORE 64 MUSIC BOOK, you can learn to compose music, write advanced programs, and enjoy the sheer pleasure of creation. Praised by Popular Computing for “simulating the sounds of acoustic instruments better than any other personal computer,” the Commodore 64 is an exciting addition to electronic musicology. With THE COMMODORE 64 MUSIC BOOK you can play too … from a simple one-voice tune, to a complex multi-instrumental score. Consider the possibilities! So, give Gershwin your best… with THE COMMODORE 64 MUSIC BOOK!

Publisher Birkhauser Verlag AG, 1984
ISBN 3764331585, 9783764331580
146 pages

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PDF (updated on 2012-7-18)