Discovering 20th-century music
The aim of the first two volumes of a three-volume work published by Le mot et le reste is to help readers discover the diversity of important works composed during the 20th century.
In his presentations, generally three to six pages long, of 123 emblematic works from the years 1882-1962 (Volume 1) and 1963 to 1989 (Volume 2), Guillaume Kosmicki not only takes a lively approach to the composers and works chosen, he also places them in their time and in relation to both the past and the future. Believing that "every artist is necessarily the product of his time and the society in which he fits in or refuses to fit in", he is open-minded about the different aesthetics that make up the richness of 20th-century music. The author's aim is not to be exhaustive (there is no Sibelius, Szymanowski or Nancarrow, for example), but to provide a vast panorama (from Liszt to Tavener, from Joplin to Pärt, via Cage, Xenakis, Ligeti or Grisey) of a century in which music diversified to the extreme. In the first volume, a balance has been sought between the different genres presented: opera, ballet, chamber music, symphonic music, piano works and vocal works. The second volume also reflects the explosion of genres and the gradual opening of frontiers to other types of music.
No cold or hermetic analysis, as the aim is to help musicians and music lovers alike to discover or rediscover the essential milestones of Western art music. For the latter, a glossary of key musical terms is included at the end of the book. After whetting the reader's appetite, Guillaume Kosmicki offers a disc version of each piece analyzed, as well as a complementary selection of works to listen to. In extensive introductions to each period, the author skilfully describes the historical, sociological and cultural context, as well as the major underlying movements that weave the fabric around the composers and their works.
Guillaume Kosmicki, Musiques savantes, Tome I, De Debussy au mur de Berlin 1882-1962, 432 p., € 23.00, Éditions Le mot et le reste, Marseille 2012, ISBN 978-2-36054-055-6
id, Musiques savantes, Tome II, De Ligeti à la fin de la Guerre Froide 1963-1989, 400 p., € 23.00, ISBN 978-2-36054-155-3
