While acknowledging that Pierre Boulez is not a philosopher, and that he is wary of the potential misuse of philosophy with regard to music, this study investigates a series of philosophically charged terms and concepts which he uses in discussion of his music. Campbell examines significant encounters which link Boulez to the work of a number of important philosophers and thinkers, including Adorno, Lévi-Strauss, Eco and Deleuze. Relating Boulez's music and ideas to broader currents of thought, the book illuminates a number of affinities linking music and philosophy, and also literature and visual art. These connections facilitate enhanced understanding of post-war modernist music and Boulez's distinctive approach to composition. Drawing on a wide range of previously unpublished documentary sources and providing musical analysis of a number of key scores, the book traces the changing musical, philosophical and intellectual currents which inform Boulez's work.
| ISBN: | 9780521862424 |
| Publication date: | 19th August 2010 |
| Author: | Edward (University of Aberdeen) Campbell |
| Publisher: | Cambridge University Press |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 298 pages |
| Series: | Music in the Twentieth Century |
| Genres: |
Art music, orchestral and formal music Composers and songwriters Western philosophy from c 1800 |