Classical Music, Why Bother?

The famous quip I don't know much about art, but I know what I like sums up many people's ideas about how to judge a work of art; but there are inherent limitations if we rely on immediate impressions in judging what should be enduring products of our culture. While some might criticize this as a return to elitism, Joshua Fineberg argues that without some way of determining intrinsic value, there can be no movement forward for creators or their audience. He draws on contemporary thought about Design space and Universal Grammar to show how intrinsic values can be rediscovered. He then looks at the importance of multimedia in allowing multiple points of entry for the discovering of new works, finally showing how the composer can Design music for human beings--creating a kind of art that can preserve the research agenda of conceptual work without renouncing the understanding of human listeners and performers embodied by craft. Classical Music: Why Bother? will intrigue all listeners of contemporary music, students of musical thought, and composers-but it will also interest students of contemporary aesthetics. It answers the age-old question How can we bring a new audience to contemporary art? - and challenges both the creators and their audience to broaden their ideas about what is valuable and lasting in today's culture.

"The subject of this book is an important one...it will provide a basis for discussion and dialogue and I am sure it will generate a substantial amount of interest among composers, music theorists, and musicologists." -- Keith Harnel at the University of British Columbia School of Music

Joshua Fineberg is the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University and Associate Director of the Harvard University Studio for Electroacoustic Composition. He is a well-known composer whose works have been performed around the world.