A radical new book by journalist, critic and BBC Radio 3 broadcaster Kate Molleson, which fundamentally changes the way we think about classical music and the musicians who made it on a global scale.

'Wonderful . . . This is a book of discovery that speaks of music as a life force, that urges us to live our lives through music. '

COSEY FANNI TUTTI

'A marvellous book that opens our ears to sonic worlds that will enrich and delight us, whoever and wherever we are.'

IAN McMILLAN

 

Mathematical Music offers a concise and easily accessible history of how mathematics was used to create music. The story presented in this short, engaging volume ranges from ratios in antiquity to random combinations in the 17th century, 20th-century statistics, and contemporary artificial intelligence.

This book provides a fascinating panorama of the gradual mechanization of thought processes involved in the creation of music. How did Baroque authors envision a composition system based on combinatorics? What was it like to create musical algorithms at the beginning of the 20th century, before the computer became a reality? 

Popular Music in the Post-Digital Age explores the relationship between macro environmental factors, such as politics, economics, culture and technology, captured by terms such as 'post-digital' and 'post-internet'. It also discusses the creation, monetisation and consumption of music and what changes in the music industry can tell us about wider shifts in economy and culture. This collection of 13 case studies covers issues such as curation algorithms, blockchain, careers of mainstream and independent musicians, festivals and clubs-to inform greater understanding and better navigation of the popular music landscape within a global context.