Sound Within Sound: Opening Our Ears to the Twentieth Century

Description

The twentieth century was the century of modernity; in a world undergoing rapid transformation, musicians drew upon new technologies, social revolution and seismic geopolitical changes to bring forth a truly paradigm-shifting aural catalogue of human existence. Classical music flourished, and yet when we reflect on the genre's history its central figures seem to share three characteristics: they were white, male, and western. Through charting the stories of ten forgotten sonic pioneers, Kate Molleson opens up the world of classical music far beyond its established centres, challenging stereotypical portrayals of the genre and shattering its traditional canon. Traversing the globe from Ethiopia and the Philippines to Mexico, Russia, and beyond, she sheds light on the unheralded figures that altered the course of musical history, only to be sidelined and denied recognition during an era that systemically favoured certain sounds - and people - over others. A survey of radical creativity rooted in ideas of protest, gender, race, ecology and resistance, Sound Within Sound is an energetic reappraisal of twentieth century classical music that announces the arrival of a vital talent.

Kate Molleson is a journalist and broadcaster, and one of the UK's leading commentators on contemporary classical music. She presents BBC Radio 3's New Music Show and Music Matters, and her articles are published in the Guardian, The Herald, BBC Music Magazine, Opera, Gramophone and elsewhere. From 2010-2017 she was a music critic for the Guardian. Her documentaries (BBC Radio 4, BBC World Service) include a portrait of Ethiopian pianist/composer Emahoy Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou and a feature on Mongolian opera. She teaches music journalism at the Darmstadt and Dartington international summer schools. Having grown up in Scotland and the far north of Canada, she studied clarinet performance at McGill University and musicology at King's College London. She lives in Edinburgh.