In Planet Beethoven, Mina Yang makes the compelling case that classical music in the twenty-first century is just as vibrant and relevant as ever—but with significant changes that give us insight into the major cultural shifts of our day. Perusing events, projects, programs, writings, musicians, and compositions, Yang shines a spotlight on the Western art music tradition. The book covers an array of topics, from the use of Beethoven’s “Für Elise” in YouTube clips and hip-hop, to the marketing claims of Baby Einstein products, and the new forms of music education introduced by Gustavo Dudamel, conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. While the book is global in its outlook, each chapter investigates the unique attributes of a specific performer, performance, or event. One chapter reflects on Chinese pianist Yuja Wang’s controversial performance at the Hollywood Bowl, another explores the highly symbolic Passion 2000 Project in Stuttgart, Germany. Sure to be of interest to students, professionals, and aficionados, Planet Beethoven traces the tensions that arise from the “classical” nature of this tradition and our rapidly changing world. Ebook Edition Note: One image has been redacted.

Exploring the complexities and significance of classical music today

From Confucius to Saint Augustine and Beethoven to the blues, a rediscovery of the joy that is music In this revelatory book, Daniel K. L. Chua asks a simple question: Is music joy? For Chua, the answer is a resounding yes--music is a lesson in joy that teaches us how to live well. But to hear this ancient knowledge, he says, we have to attend to a music that is so much greater than our greatest hits. Drawing on extensive sources, from the Confucian classics to the writings of Saint Augustine, Chua's book is a globe‑trotting, time‑traveling, mind‑boggling journey to rediscover the joy that is music. Using examples from Beethoven to the blues and from philosophy and theology to music theory, Chua updates the relation between music and joy and argues for its relevance in the face of our many political and environmental crises. He opens our ears to a music that is the very definition of joy for today's troubled world.

Fr. Papandreou reminded the conference of the question which had bothered the 'composer' so much. 'Had he been talking to Beethoven in heaven? If not, to whom was he talking?' The western bishop could not contain himself any longer. 'So now the walking dead are targeting the walking living and giving them ready-made symphonies announcing the end of the world, in this case written by Beethoven but not before he died. You must be joking! Where do you get this from? Even the inspector sounds now like he is losing it.' All over the world people are buzzing about a symphony that seems divinely inspired. But even more intriguing is the statement made by the conductor that he didn't use any music to direct the orchestra. Charged with investigating the mystery for the the Times newspaper, Inspector Michael Lewis travels across the world to engage in a summit discussion about the source of the mystical piece of music. Join author Dr. Erik Eriksson for a spiritual epiphany of historic proportions, and the profound impact of Beethoven's Tenth Symphony.

Love and Rage is a deeply ethnographic account of punk in Mexico City as it is lived and practiced, connecting the sounds of punk music to different styles of political action. Through compelling first-person accounts, ethnographer Kelley Tatro shows that punk is more than music. It is a lifestyle choice that commits scene participants to experimentation with anarchist politics. Key to that process is the concept of autogestión ("self-management"), a term with deep history in local leftist politics. In detailed vignettes, grounded in historical, social, and political frames, the book shows how punk-scene sounds and practices foster autogestión through intensely affective experiences, understood as manifestations of love and rage. Drawing on the history of anarchism in Mexico City, as well as social movement scholarship, Love and Rage details the pleasures and problems of using music as a tool for creating an autonomous politics. Includes 25 photographs from photographer Yaz "Punk" Núñez.

Critical Brass tells the story of neofanfarrismo, an explosive carnival brass band community turned activist musical movement in Rio de Janeiro, as Brazil shifted from a country on the rise in the 2000s to one beset by various crises in the 2010s. Though predominantly middle-class, neofanfarristas have creatively adapted the critical theories of carnival to militate for a more democratic city. Illuminating the tangible obstacles to musical movement building, Andrew Snyder argues that festive activism with privileged origins can promote real alternatives to the neoliberal city, but meets many limits and contradictions in a society marked by diverse inequalities. -- Salwa El-Shawan Castelo-Branco, Professor Emerita, NOVA University of Lisbon