Theory into Practice: Composition, Performance and the Listening Experience

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The central theme of this book is the relationship between the reflections about and the realization of a musical composition. In his essay Words about Music, or Analysis versus Performance, Nicholas Cook states that words and music can never be aligned exactly with one another. He embarks on a quest for models of the relationship between analytical conception and performance that are more challenging than those in general currency. Peter Johnson’s essay, Performance and the Listening Experience: Bach’s ‘Erbarme dich’ shows that a performance is an element within the intentionality of the work itself. He looks for scientific methods capable of proving the artisticity of a performance. And the composer Hans Zender, in his A Road Map for Orpheus?, states that a composer must be capable of questioning obvious basic principles (such as equal temperament) and finding creative solutions.