
Who Needs Classical Music?
Cultural Choice and Musical Value
Julian Johnson(Author)
Oxford University Press Inc
Published on 29. September 2011
Book
Paperback/Softback
160 pages
978-0-19-975542-4 (ISBN)
Description
During the last few decades, most cultural critics have come to agree that the division between "high" and "low" art is an artificial one, that Beethoven's Ninth and "Blue Suede Shoes" are equally valuable as cultural texts. In Who Needs Classical Music?, Julian Johnson challenges these assumptions about the relativism of cultural judgments. The author maintains that music is more than just "a matter of taste": while some music provides entertainment, or serves as background noise, other music claims to function as art. This book considers the value of classical music in contemporary society, arguing that it remains distinctive because it works in quite different ways to most of the other music that surrounds us.
This intellectually sophisticated yet accessible book offers a new and balanced defense of the specific values of classical music in contemporary culture. The paperback edition includes a new preface from the author, re-contextualizing the debate ten years out. Who Needs Classical Music? will stimulate readers to reflect on their own investment (or lack of it) in music and art of all kinds.
This intellectually sophisticated yet accessible book offers a new and balanced defense of the specific values of classical music in contemporary culture. The paperback edition includes a new preface from the author, re-contextualizing the debate ten years out. Who Needs Classical Music? will stimulate readers to reflect on their own investment (or lack of it) in music and art of all kinds.
Reviews / Votes
You will often cheer out loud! I did...more profound than can be communicated in a book review. I read this twice. Like all my favorite books, I will read it again and again. Nothing is more relevant to classical music devotees. * American Record Guide *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 9 mm
Weight
251 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-975542-4 (9780199755424)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
09/2011
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€18.49
Available for download

Book
06/2002
Oxford University Press Inc
€80.60
Shipment within 15-20 days

E-Book
03/2002
1st Edition
OUP USA
€18.49
Available for download
Person
Professor of Music, Royal Holloway University of London, author of Webern and the Transformation of Nature, (Cambridge, 2000), Who Needs Classical Music (OUP, 2002), and Mahler's Voices (OUP, 2009), and composer. Winner, Dent Medal (2005) from the Royal Music Association.
Content
INTRODUCTION; BIBLIOGRAPHY; INDEX