What really happened to classical music in the 20th century?

Don't be put off just because you don't much listen to classical music. The malaise in 'popular' music has deeper roots. Artistic development relies on the avant-garde ...

Historians, not surprisingly, are still sorting out the collapse of the avant-garde, and so most of the new “narratives” of musical modernism have been less descriptive of what was than prescriptive statements defending what the critic happens to consider desirable.

Alex Ross, the music critic of the New Yorker, has approached the task in a different way in his new book, The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the 20th Century. As he writes in the preface:

Histories of music since 1900 often take the form of a teleological tale, a goal-obsessed narrative full of great leaps forward and heroic battles with the philistine bourgeoisie. When the concept of progress assumes exaggerated importance, many works are struck from the historical record on the grounds that they have nothing new to say. These pieces often happen to be those that have found a broader public. . . . Two distinct repertories have formed, one intellectual and one popular. Here [in this book] they are merged: no language is considered more intrinsically modern than any other.

The result is a volume sharply different in tone from its predecessors—and truer, in my view, to the history of musical modernism.

The book earns a starred review from Publishers Weekly:

Ross leads a whirlwind tour from the Viennese premiere of Richard Strauss's Salome in 1906 to minimalist Steve Reich's downtown Manhattan apartment. The wide-ranging historical material is organized in thematic essays grounded in personalities and places, in a disarmingly comprehensive style reminiscent of historian Otto Friedrich. Thus, composers who led dramatic lives—such as Shostakovich's struggles under the Soviet regime—make for gripping reading, but Ross treats each composer with equal gravitas. The real strength of this study, however, lies in his detailed musical analysis, teasing out—in precise but readily accessible language—the notes that link Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story to Arnold Schoenberg's avant-garde compositions or hint at a connection between Sibelius and John Coltrane. Among the many notable passages, a close reading of Benjamin Britten's opera Peter Grimes stands out for its masterful blend of artistic and biographical insight. Readers new to classical music will quickly seek out the recordings Ross recommends, especially the works by less prominent composers, and even avid fans will find themselves hearing familiar favorites with new ears.

The praise flows freely for this book:

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