Digital Infiltrations
The Content/Aesthetic Turn in New Music
Harry Lehmann
The shift in aesthetic content that is becoming apparent on the new music horizon is a multicausal phenomenon. It is only conceivable because the ideal of intrinsic musical progress is no longer convincingly attainable with acoustic instruments. And it is becoming a real option because the digital revolution also brings with it an all-encompassing democratization of the “high art” that is new music. The philosopher Harry Lehmann argues that this has resulted in an entire generation of composers being able to use aesthetic content to bridge the gap between “life” and “art” that is characteristic of contemporary art music – and he maintains that this generation also desires to bridge it out of a genuine interest in art.
