Theories and Analyses of Twentieth-Century Music

Rating:
Summary: How boring can we make Music Theory?
Review: "Dry and testing" is a perfectly accurate description. Maybe it is becuase I have a bias against most twentieth century music, but I really have a distaste for this book. I must say, the exercises are good. They helped me understand the material much more quickly than simply reading about it or listening to the author ramble on - he's dry and testing too. I suppose this book is decent enough for a class - given that the teacher is creative and uses other sources as well. I wouldn't want to keep it around afterwards as a reference.

Rating:
Summary: How boring can we make Music Theory?
Review: This is a workbook generally covering all major twentieth century developments in composition. However, it heavily concentrates on rigid objective theories which analyse 20th century music, and as a result can tend to be a little dry and testing for the reader at times. The author also tends to overcomplicate simple concepts ocassionally. Nevertheless, it is interesting to see how music theorists have attempted to grapple with highly complex areas such as twelve-tone theory and neotonal harmony.

Rating:
Summary: General comments
Review: This is a workbook generally covering all major twentieth century developments in composition. However, it heavily concentrates on rigid objective theories which analyse 20th century music, and as a result can tend to be a little dry and testing for the reader at times. The author also tends to overcomplicate simple concepts ocassionally. Nevertheless, it is interesting to see how music theorists have attempted to grapple with highly complex areas such as twelve-tone theory and neotonal harmony.