Alan Durant is a Lecturer at the University of Strathclyde and a musician with experience in performing and recording.

• AcknowledgmentsI. Four Areas in Question 1. Music and Its LanguageThe unanswered question of music as a languageMusical 'languages' and musical changeThe non-referentiality of music'All art constantly aspires towards the condition of music'Deryk Cooke's The Language of MusicMusic and language: comparison or theory?Historical change and musical terminologyMousikeContinuity, change and purposeThe importance of transitionsRevaluations2. Classical MusicThe 'classical' in classical musicCanon of works or relations of address?Beginning of the concertBalance and visionThe orchestra, format and historyOrchestra and orchestrationComposer and conductor: specialisationForms and their originsForms, listening and formal analysis: the symphony'Classical' music and modernismSerialismRecording and the 'classical' composerCollaborative music and listening3. Tuning and DissonanceMusic, dissonance and noiseMusic, sounds, and acousticsFormalism or musakHistorical reference I: The GreeksHistorical reference II: The Middle AgesThe Middle Ages: sounds and symbolsThe Middle Ages: polyphonyHistorical Reference III: tonalityThe contemporary argument: three viewsThe contemporary argument: directionsDissonance and today's ear4. Performance: Sound and VisionMusical performance and spectacleLocating soundsThe significance of sound and visionBarthes and the body: 'The Grain of the Voice'Three points of position in sound and visionPerformance in transitionMusical reproduction and its technologyReproduction and performanceForms in transition'Musica Practica' or musical image?II. Two Case Studies 5. False Relations and the Madrigal: An Alchemy of England's Golden Age in MusicGolden Age or period of transitionMadrigal and the madrigalists: employment and publicationThe madrigal and religious controversyMusic by metaphor and rhetoricImitation and ornamentMadrigal, ballett and ayreThe ayre and the singing voiceThe period and its prospectPerformance and contemporary cultural argument6. Rock Today: Facing the MusicDiversity of forms and its implicationsRegional comparison: disco music in Jamaica, India and the USAMeanings and options in once placeIdentification and revoltThe Who, 'My Generation, and David Bowie, 'Fashion'Groups'Real' experience or convention genre?The rock song I: radioThe rock song II: 'shifters' and the term of addressThe rock song III: position, polysemy and innovationAlbums I: Sergeant Pepper and The Dark Side of the MoonAlbums II: new form or sell-out?Albums III: implications for the contemporary sceneThe current prospect: synthesisers and videoNotes and ReferencesSelect Bibliography and Record ListIndex