Includes bibliographical references (pages 265-278)

Musical understanding : Wittgenstein, ethics, and aesthetics ; Spectral semiotics : sound, temporality, and affect in Chopin ; Communication and meaning : music as social system ; The creativity of electroacoustic and digital music ; The temple of electronic music : the electronic music studio of Cologne in the 1990s ; Audiovisual and multimedia composition : the relationship between medium and form

This book presents theoretical, critical and analytical reflections on key topics of contemporary music including acoustic, electroacoustic and digital music, and audiovisual and multimedia composition. Six essays by Paolo Paulo C. Chagas approach music from different perspectives such as philosophy, sociology, cybernetics, musical semiotics, media, and critical studies. Chagas's practical experience, both as a composer of contemporary music and sound director of the Electronic Music Studio of Cologne, nourishes his observations on the specific creativity that emerges with the use of the technical apparatus, the development of the electronic music studio, the different aesthetics of electroacoustic music, and the forms of audiovisual and multimedia composition. The title is a reference to Wittgenstein, who suggested that sound is only the surface of music and that the musical work conceals something more profound that can hardly be described by philosophical models or scientific theories