by Alex Ross
First published 2007
Modern music remains controversial while modern paintings command astronomical prices. Stravinsky's Rite of Spring still unsettles audiences today, yet modern musical ideas have shaped every aspect of twentieth century culture. New Yorker music critic Alex Ross illuminates this hidden influence across a century of sound. He guides readers from Vienna at the century's turn through bohemian Paris, then into Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia, finally arriving in downtown New York during the sixties and seventies. Ross introduces the rebellious composers who broke from classical traditions and traces how mass culture and mass politics evolved alongside musical innovation. This journey through twentieth century history reveals how modern sound infiltrated daily life in ways most people never recognized. Ross demonstrates that understanding this musical evolution unlocks a deeper comprehension of the modern world itself.
Genres: history, 20th-century, non-fiction, music, criticism, 21st-century, art-history, classical-music
Vibes: intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: historical-narrative
Setting: Vienna, Paris, Germany, Russia, New York
Period: 20th Century, 21st Century
18 pages · Audio CD · Blackstone Publishing