This is not pop music

Defining music using “the contrary\’ is a more common practice than it seems. In the nineteenth century, a name had to be found for music that was neither art nor folk, and the concepts of popular music, pop music and musique de variétés were born. Forty years ago, someone still called it extra-cultured music. So why not define Art music as \’not pop\’ music? Often a change of perspective shows things in a different light. The first part of this book contains essays on music born between the beginning of the twentieth century and the early 2000s, from Mahler to Donatoni, Sciarrino and Francesconi, passing through Ives, Bartok, Weill, Šostakovich, Schonberg, Bernstein, Glass, Zappa and others. The second part contains theoretical essays on music and musicology, which address Art music as one of the musical cultures of the planet, not the only one. It is not Pop music, in fact.