THEMATIC ISSUE: CONTEMPORARY MUSIC AT THE FRINGE
New Sound No. 38, II /2011
The label “contemporary music” is often associated with Western European concert music from the second half of the 20th Century, most notably with composers connected to specific places such as Darmstadt’s summer schools in Germany or research centres such as IRCAM in France, to cite but two. Composers such as Pierre Boulez, Iannis Xenakis, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Luigi Nono and John Cage have often been considered epitomes of contemporary music, much the same way as Gillette has become a synonym for razor blades.
However, there surely must have been interesting musical developments and composers working at the fringe of such schools and centres. What if for some reason a composer never attended a Darmstadt summer school or never had the opportunity to migrate to Paris or New York? Does one’s music need to sound like the music made in trendy Berlin venues today to make its way into tomorrow’s music history books?
New Sound is seeking submissions of papers revealing other initiatives, approaches, composers, etc., at the fringe of the contemporary music establishment, from the mid-1950s until today. We are particularly interested in papers addressing historical and sociological contexts that favoured the dominance of certain contemporary musical approaches over others, and also in the work of innovative composers that have remained out of the spotlight of contemporary musicology in spite of the quality of their work.
Eduardo R. Miranda, PhD (Brazil/UK)
Member of the Editorial Board of the International Magazine for Music New Sound
We also welcome proposals for review essays on important books, music editions, festivals and symposia reports. Please submit your paper topic to the following e-mail address: magazine.newsound@gmail.com by 1 April 2011, and final version of your paper (no more than 3500 words) by 1 June 2011 at the latest.
