In composer Paul Moravec's tribute to colleague Fred Lerdahl, found in the booklet of the Bridge disc Music of Fred Lerdahl, Moravec stated, "Fred Lerdahl became an influence on my own musical world in my freshman year at Harvard, in 1975. Fred seemed to me simply the smartest musician I ever met. And 31 years later, he still does." Moravec, who won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 2004, knows what he's talking about; Lerdahl is a very smart composer, and author of two books, A Generative Theory of Tonal Music and Tonal ...
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In composer Paul Moravec's tribute to colleague Fred Lerdahl, found in the booklet of the Bridge disc Music of Fred Lerdahl, Moravec stated, "Fred Lerdahl became an influence on my own musical world in my freshman year at Harvard, in 1975. Fred seemed to me simply the smartest musician I ever met. And 31 years later, he still does." Moravec, who won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 2004, knows what he's talking about; Lerdahl is a very smart composer, and author of two books, A Generative Theory of Tonal Music and Tonal Pitch Space, "both of which model musical listening from the perspective of cognitive science." Whoa!For one listener who can respond to these concepts there are many whose eyes will glaze over at the mere mention of "cognitive science." Lerdahl seeks to incorporate the listener's cognitive ability as a factor to be considered in formalized composition, something he finds lacking in the music of arch-serial composers like Pierre Boulez. Lerdahl is a little vague about how his theoretical...
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