[audiobook] A Generative Theory of Tonal Music (MIT Press) by Fred Lerdahl; Ray S. Jackendoff in Arts-Photography

Review

0 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Three StarsBy The criticsok21 of 28 people found the following review helpful. very interesting. very technicalBy Mikhail LewisThis very technical work is very interesting and uses a very valuable and relatively new approach. However it is very conservative musically. to the point of losing subjectivity. I would recommend James Tenneys writings instead. META + HODOS: A Phenomenology of 20th-Century Musical Materials and an Approach to the Study of Form (1961; Frog Peak. 1988). is available through . or Hierarchical temporal gestalt perception in music : a metric space model with Larry Polansky. also printed in Soundings Vol. 13: The Music of James Tenney. Garland. Peter (Ed.) (Soundings Press. 1984) which has articles by and about Tenney. who takes a much more progressive and broad view than Lerdahl.34 of 41 people found the following review helpful. This book is a turning point in XXth century music theory...By pclima@ufba.brThis book is a turning point in XXth century music theory.It admits "surface salience" as an important musical attribute (chapter 5). distinguishing it from the "reductional importance" of events. Should we work with a double conception of structure: surface structure (focusing on surface salience) versus deep struture (focusing on reductional importance)? The investigation of surface salience leads to questions related to tension and release. an area that is still to find its best approach. What is best in the book: the ability to uncover the making of a theory; the ability to rejuvenate and integrate schenkerian ideas with a critique of Meyers approach (rhythmic structure versus metrical structure); the linguistic/cognitive connection. What is not so good in the book: the remarks on contemporary music (with an almost fascist view of inherited abilities)