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Modern Music and After: Directions Since 1945
This fully revised new edition re-establishes Paul Griffiths's survey as the definitive study of music since the Second World War. The disruptions of the war, and the struggles of the ensuing peace, were reflected in the music of the in Pierre Boulez's radical re-forming of compositional technique and in John Cage's move into zen music, in Milton Babbitt's settling of the serial system, and in Dmitry Shostakovich's unsettling symphonies, in Karlheinz Stockhausen's development of electronic music and in Luigi Nono's pursuit of the universally human, in Iannis Xenakis's view of music as sounding mathematics and in Luciano Berio's consideration of it as language. The initiatives of these composers and their contemporaries opened prospects that have continued to unfold. This constant expansion of musical thinking since 1945 has left us with no single history of music. `We live' as Griffiths says, `among many simultaneous histories'. His study accordingly follows several different paths, showing how they converge and diverge. In addition to the composers mentioned above, others whose music is discussed include Steve Reich, Jean Barraque, Elliott Carter, Olivier Messiaen, Gyorgy Kurtag, Bill Hopkins, Harrison Birtwhistle and Gyorgy Ligeti. Publication and recording details are given for the works of all these composers and many others. For its breadth and for its wealth of detail, Modern Music and After will appeal to both student and the general reader in search of a lively and comprehensive introduction to the music of our time.
388 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
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About the author
Paul Griffiths
101 books35 followersPaul Anthony Griffiths, OBE, is a British music critic, novelist and librettist. He is particularly noted for his writings on modern classical music and for having written the libretti for two 20th century operas, Tan Dun's Marco Polo and Elliott Carter's What Next? [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Gr...]
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 19, 2014
An intelligent overview of recent classical music, but not for the ordinary reader. That is due to the nature of the subject. The works of most of these composers are so complex and technical that Griffiths cannot simplify the works and still explain them. So it's quite worthwhile for someone who has been following 20th century music, especially the works of Ligeti, Cage, Stockhausen, Nono, Berio, etc. In fact, we should be thankful tht Griffiths stays informed about what is happening in that world, because, well, most people could care less, as we see from classical music concert programs.
December 17, 2012
Griffiths seems to be at his strongest when elucidating the technical intricacies and aural pleasures to be found in the works of these great composers, which lands this survey of post-war music somewhere in the "academically pleasurable" category. It would be safe to assume that those looking to pick up a book on Boulez, Stockhausen and co. would be somewhat musically literate, and therefore the assumed knowledge is not too much to ask in this case, though the force of Griffiths' writing is enough to keep any enthusiast of the avant-garde engaged.
More than enough to whet my appetite for new sounds, and illuminate much of the Darmstadt years and intermingling of composers (thanks the more narrative driven first third), though I would love to see some more attention payed to some of the composers mentioned later in the book, who read less like historical figures and instead subjects of brief liner notes for a record. Also, where is Per Nørgård?
More than enough to whet my appetite for new sounds, and illuminate much of the Darmstadt years and intermingling of composers (thanks the more narrative driven first third), though I would love to see some more attention payed to some of the composers mentioned later in the book, who read less like historical figures and instead subjects of brief liner notes for a record. Also, where is Per Nørgård?
November 28, 2019
I've been listening to modern (the word is disputed among authors) music since the 70's when Ned Rorem was composer in residence at the Univ. of Utah. Since I haven't studied the history of it till n0w I have always been mostly lost in the development of our current music - just enjoying it. I was completely converted when I had an opportunity to hear Messiaen's Couleurs de la Cité céleste in concert - it was mind blowing to me.
Therefore I picked up Griffiths book to fill in the history. For me it mostly did just that including some writings by composers about their contemporaries. Yet this wasn't a lineal history and had a lot off gaps that I need to fill.
The reason is this was written more as a comparison of the methods and theories of the composers. So much so that the bulk of the book is a rather detailed examination of the styles; the efforts to break down the 12 tone octave (including 12 tone composition) to find the means toward a pure music form where there are no steps between notes, but a continuous spectrum of sound. This led to the use of terminology that was way over my head; and examples of manuscript that, not being a musician, were meaningless to me.
Therefore I was able to to skim through over half of the volume! I would say that this is more for composers or anyone familiar with the minutia of the subject. Still I found it very interesting! Someday, I may actually understand what a semi-quaver and many other terms mean....
Therefore I picked up Griffiths book to fill in the history. For me it mostly did just that including some writings by composers about their contemporaries. Yet this wasn't a lineal history and had a lot off gaps that I need to fill.
The reason is this was written more as a comparison of the methods and theories of the composers. So much so that the bulk of the book is a rather detailed examination of the styles; the efforts to break down the 12 tone octave (including 12 tone composition) to find the means toward a pure music form where there are no steps between notes, but a continuous spectrum of sound. This led to the use of terminology that was way over my head; and examples of manuscript that, not being a musician, were meaningless to me.
Therefore I was able to to skim through over half of the volume! I would say that this is more for composers or anyone familiar with the minutia of the subject. Still I found it very interesting! Someday, I may actually understand what a semi-quaver and many other terms mean....
September 19, 2020
This book is beyond ambitious. It tries to present a totality of what might tentatively be called 'Western Art Music' from after WW2 to 'the present' (at the time of writing--about 2010). The complete opening up of musical style, type...etc. barely has its surface scratched by this book. There is, for example, only a brief mention of how the internet has changed musical distribution (and thus how we might listen even to modernist works of the 1950s.
For that reason, the narrative is strongest up until roughly the 1970s. Whilst talking about every musical advance would be impossible, the discussions of the later stuff deserved more space. It becomes virtually concert notes from then on, which is a shame, because the points are usually strong, and the analyses are usually discussed with finesse.
I've read other 'big picture' musicology books and they do more with less. Nevertheless, this book does not compromise for easy reading. I just wish there could be more of it.
For that reason, the narrative is strongest up until roughly the 1970s. Whilst talking about every musical advance would be impossible, the discussions of the later stuff deserved more space. It becomes virtually concert notes from then on, which is a shame, because the points are usually strong, and the analyses are usually discussed with finesse.
I've read other 'big picture' musicology books and they do more with less. Nevertheless, this book does not compromise for easy reading. I just wish there could be more of it.
July 18, 2019
Some of the best prose in an academic book I've ever seen. Griffiths seams together narratives that tell the story of these composers and their work in an almost novel-like way. The book is equally textbook and storytelling. Also very in-depth in his coverage, Griffiths touches on music before 1945 to well into the 21st-Century. I've never read another book on this topic, but I'm assuming this is the best one!
August 9, 2007
MODERN MUSIC AND AFTER is Paul Griffiths' survey of the art music scene from 1945 to 1995, a time when music had first gone from limitless optimism for "progress" after World War II, to the disappointment of the late 1960s, and finally to the thousand forking paths of the 70s and later. I found the work interesting as a quick read, though certainly not a useful reference work.
The initial hero of Griffiths' work is Pierre Boulez, who in post-war Paris was certain that the twelve-tone method of Schoenberg and (even more so) Webern was the future of music, and by relentlessly publishing and composing Boulez was trying himself to make it turn out that way. After speaking something about the French composer's post-war worldview, the author presents the 1950s development of the Darmstadt school, when Boulez was joined at the forefront by Stockhausen and Nono, with important contributions by Cage and Barraque. At the same time, the "classic modernism" of Babbitt and Carter was flourishing. The 1960s and 1970s is shown as six waves, these being the use of quotation, music theatre, politics, virtuosity and improvisation, computer music, and minimalism. Ligeti, Xenakis, Cardew, Reich, Messiaen get the most attention here. The chapter on the 1980s and 1990s gets the title "Many Rivers" and discusses Schnittke, Rihm, Part, Kurtag, Gubaidulina, Ferneyhough, Feldman, Birtwistle, and Berio among others.
As is probably inevitable in such a work, some important people are left out. Per Norgard, whose infinity series is one of the most innovative concepts of contemporary music, is missing, as is Magnus Lindberg, who established himself as Finland's foremost young composer with "Kraft" in 1986. Lutoslawski is simply inexplicably absent. Sofia Gubaidulina scandously gets only about a page. However, Griffiths was prescient in including Tan Dun, who was little known then but is increasingly popular now. Another failing of the book is that for reasons of space, most composers only get a few paragraphs, and really, if you already own recordings of a given composer's work, the musicological essays in the CD notes are probably more substantial than anything you'll find here.
MODERN MUSIC AND AFTER is worth flipping through for any fan of contemporary music, but I think that it works better as a historical document than as a useful resource for said fans to learn more about the music they love.
The initial hero of Griffiths' work is Pierre Boulez, who in post-war Paris was certain that the twelve-tone method of Schoenberg and (even more so) Webern was the future of music, and by relentlessly publishing and composing Boulez was trying himself to make it turn out that way. After speaking something about the French composer's post-war worldview, the author presents the 1950s development of the Darmstadt school, when Boulez was joined at the forefront by Stockhausen and Nono, with important contributions by Cage and Barraque. At the same time, the "classic modernism" of Babbitt and Carter was flourishing. The 1960s and 1970s is shown as six waves, these being the use of quotation, music theatre, politics, virtuosity and improvisation, computer music, and minimalism. Ligeti, Xenakis, Cardew, Reich, Messiaen get the most attention here. The chapter on the 1980s and 1990s gets the title "Many Rivers" and discusses Schnittke, Rihm, Part, Kurtag, Gubaidulina, Ferneyhough, Feldman, Birtwistle, and Berio among others.
As is probably inevitable in such a work, some important people are left out. Per Norgard, whose infinity series is one of the most innovative concepts of contemporary music, is missing, as is Magnus Lindberg, who established himself as Finland's foremost young composer with "Kraft" in 1986. Lutoslawski is simply inexplicably absent. Sofia Gubaidulina scandously gets only about a page. However, Griffiths was prescient in including Tan Dun, who was little known then but is increasingly popular now. Another failing of the book is that for reasons of space, most composers only get a few paragraphs, and really, if you already own recordings of a given composer's work, the musicological essays in the CD notes are probably more substantial than anything you'll find here.
MODERN MUSIC AND AFTER is worth flipping through for any fan of contemporary music, but I think that it works better as a historical document than as a useful resource for said fans to learn more about the music they love.
July 23, 2013
Perfect for my purposes, in this case, learning about some music that I might like to listen to, and learning a (very) little about some music with which I'm already familiar. Griffiths is hamstrung by the actual history of modernist music, and the time in which he was writing the book: the story starts out comprehensible and gripping (post-war composers go to work to invent a new musical language etc...), and then, thanks to any number of events both aesthetic (e.g., discovering the problems with music derived from serialism) and social (e.g., the strong links with pre-war music in the Soviet republics, since liking pre-war music was a protest rather than a conservative gesture), that unified story falls apart.
Or did it? I suspect that in a hundred years much of the chaff will have been winnowed out and a book like this will have a discrete, easy to follow narrative all the way through. On the other hand, it'll leave out a bunch of interesting stuff. I wish Griffiths had said a bit more about all the indie-punkish types combining minimalism, noise, composition and generally dark-toned cover-art, but then I've never read anything that does say much about them. As ever, classical music buffs treat album centered music poorly. Griffiths seems to regard the latter as more or less reactionary (McCartney), which it sometimes is. But sometimes it's really great.
Nice bonuses include Griffiths' prose, the way he's willing to discuss the social implications and motivations to musical change, and his points in the later chapter about how changes in media have aesthetic effects. Soon we'll be able to download individual pieces rather than having to download albums including one piece we want to hear and some guff in which we have no interest. One day.
Or did it? I suspect that in a hundred years much of the chaff will have been winnowed out and a book like this will have a discrete, easy to follow narrative all the way through. On the other hand, it'll leave out a bunch of interesting stuff. I wish Griffiths had said a bit more about all the indie-punkish types combining minimalism, noise, composition and generally dark-toned cover-art, but then I've never read anything that does say much about them. As ever, classical music buffs treat album centered music poorly. Griffiths seems to regard the latter as more or less reactionary (McCartney), which it sometimes is. But sometimes it's really great.
Nice bonuses include Griffiths' prose, the way he's willing to discuss the social implications and motivations to musical change, and his points in the later chapter about how changes in media have aesthetic effects. Soon we'll be able to download individual pieces rather than having to download albums including one piece we want to hear and some guff in which we have no interest. One day.
August 31, 2012
This book was okay, I guess. It had some really interesting sections, but the actual NARRATIVE of the book was lacking. Some people (Boulez and Stockhausen in particular) come up a lot and are the "main characters," of the book, but about halfway through, the book sort of collapses into a bunch of secondary composers and the reader (or at least I) didn't really know who I should be remembering for later sections. The book also focused on the more "uptown," composers (serialism, Darmsdat, etc) and only treats "downtown," composers (Reich, Zorn, Glass) in passing, in their relation to the main composers of the book.
tl;dr Read The Rest is Noise; if you were interested by the sections on Boulez and Stockhausen, read this book.
tl;dr Read The Rest is Noise; if you were interested by the sections on Boulez and Stockhausen, read this book.
May 4, 2007
Despite the heinous omission of developments in America outside of the realm of the serialist/minimalist persuasions, this is probably the authoratative history of at least Europe's musical development after WWII. Griffiths has his biases, and they are well known, but he write about what he knows better than anyone else.
May 30, 2015
Overall, a good overview of modern music (music since 1945). The first half was particularly well written, great detail given to Boulez, Stockhausen, and Cage. However, as the book continued on (moving away from those composers), it seemed to lose some of its momentum.
November 30, 2016
comprehensive but at times needlessly complicated in style
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March 2, 2008Recommended
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews