Why classical music still matters / Lawrence Kramer

In lieu of a preface -- 1. Classical music and Its values -- 2. The fate of melody and the dream of return -- 3. Score and performance, performance and film : classical music as liberating energy -- 4. But not for me : love song and the heartache of modern life -- 5. The ghost in the machine : keyboard rhapsodies -- 6. Crisis and memory : the music of lost time -- 7. Persephone's fiddle : the value of classical music references

Classical music, whose demise has been predicted for at least a decade, has always had its staunch advocates, but in today's media-saturated world, there are real concerns about its viability In seven highly original chapters, Kramer affirms the value of classical music - defined as a body of nontheatrical music produced since the eighteenth century with the single aim of being listened to - by revealing what its values are: the specific beliefs, attitudes, and meanings that the music has supported in the past and which, Kramer believes, it can support in the future. Unlike other apologists, whose defense of the music often depends on arguments about the corrupting influence of popular culture, Kramer admits that classical music needs a broader, more up-to-date rationale. He succeeds in engaging the reader by putting into words music's complex relationship with individual human drives and larger social needs