Preview: Ernst Cassirer rightly observed that culture, in all its manifold forms, requires expression and, accordingly, is always mediated by some means of communication. These means are extremely diverse – from simple gestures and face expressions or drawings on the stone walls to sounds combined in sophisticated ways into musical compositions, subtle languages of literature, carefully…
Preview: The ties between music and philosophy are strong and venerable, as they date back to the very beginnings of the latter. According to the ancient tale, Pythagoras, when passing by a smithy one day, noticed that the hammers make sounds of different pitch and, more importantly, that some of the pitch combinations feel pleasant…
Abstract: The essay presents an attempt at characterizing contemporary music’s culture by identifying a dialectical tension between “modern” and “postmodern” currents in it. After initial considerations on the manifold usages of the term “postmodernism,” five composers’ approaches will be analyzed: John Cage, Philip Glass (and other minimalists), Bernhard Lang, Mauricio Kagel and Johannes Kreidler. However different…
Preview: Technology is everywhere. Whether we like it or not, technology in its manifold forms permeates all aspects of the contemporary world. Its boom is no longer limited to the “developed” countries, on the contrary, it can be observed that often poorer regions and communities are more eager to employ the most up-to-date solutions (take for example the…