Composing under the Skin

"Composer Paul Craenen explores ways in which the musician's body is revealed in musical performances. He leads us from Cage, Lachenmann, Kagel and their contemporaries to a discussion of how today's generation of young composers is writing a body paradigm into composition itself. Micro-temporal physical gestures and instrumental timbre provide the key to unveiling the physical presence of both a musician and a 'composing body.' The author's concept of 'intercorporeality, ' along with the idea of an alternating linear and non-linear relationship of the composing body to time, casts new light on the relationship between musicians, composers and music consumers"--Back cover.