Perspectives on Musical Aesthetics

In this volume, editor John Rahn has assembled a fascinating collection of essays that focus on creating, performing, and thinking about music in today's world. The essays, drawn from the journal Perspectives of New Music, reflect a wide variety of artistic viewpoints and the latest critical perspectives - all from the creative point of view. Featured writers include composers Pierre Boulez, John Cage, Iannis Xenakis, Milton Babbitt, Benjamin Boretz, and J. K. Randall, as well as literary scholars Douglas Collins and Arthur Nestrovski, anthropologist Eric Gans, philosopher Michel Foucault, and poet Delmore Schwartz.

This collection helps explain why today's audiences often feel alienated from and confused by contemporary Western art music. It also asks whether there is a consensus of musical values in today's cultural climate.