Scholarlink

This chapter explores the role of record reviews in disseminating the idea of absolute music during the interwar years, focusing on the writings of Swedish critic Kajsa Rootzén. Through her regular reviews in Svenska Dagbladet, Rootzén promoted a mode of solitary listening cantered on the musical work rather than performance or sound quality. The chapter argues that record reviews helped reify the concept of the autonomous musical work, contributing to a new paradigm of listening shaped by repetition, introspection, and conceptual framing. Rootzén’s writing exemplifies a “cordial objectivity” that aligns with broader Neue Sachlichkeit themes while articulating a historically significant shift in musical perception—away from live interpretation and toward the private experience of the recorded work as die Sache selbst.

错误：搜索内容不能为空，请输入英文关键词
错误：关键词超出字数限制，请精简
高级检索

Kajsa Rootzén and the Record Review: Solitary Listening to die Sache selbst

  • 章节

  • 发表日期：

    2025年

查看全文
  • Ulrik Volgsten

摘要

This chapter explores the role of record reviews in disseminating the idea of absolute music during the interwar years, focusing on the writings of Swedish critic Kajsa Rootzén. Through her regular reviews in Svenska Dagbladet, Rootzén promoted a mode of solitary listening cantered on the musical work rather than performance or sound quality. The chapter argues that record reviews helped reify the concept of the autonomous musical work, contributing to a new paradigm of listening shaped by repetition, introspection, and conceptual framing. Rootzén’s writing exemplifies a “cordial objectivity” that aligns with broader Neue Sachlichkeit themes while articulating a historically significant shift in musical perception—away from live interpretation and toward the private experience of the recorded work as die Sache selbst.