UK journalist David Stubbs has a new book out from Zero Books, Fear of Music: Why People Get Rothko But Don’t Get Stockhausen exploring the reasons why visual art has gained much more prominence and acceptance than its equivalents in music. This is a conversation that comes up commonly amongst friends and scholars. Every time I walk through one of the many grand and well-funded modern art museums causes me to also wonder just how music got it wrong.
I am not positive that using Stockhausen and Rothko as direct comparisons is the most promising starting place, but I am looking forward to his ideas on this often lamented issue.
John Luther Adams’ new book about his fantastic installation The Place Where You Go To Listen was just made available on Amazon and is titled appropriately enough,