In his translator’s preface, Jamieson remarks that, as a composer, Kondo ‘is, in fact, rather better known – and his music more widely performed – outside of his home country of Japan than inside it.’ However, ‘Kondo’s parallel vocation as a writer about music and aesthetics is almost unknown in the non-Japanese-speaking world.’ This new release will go a great way towards redressing this imbalance.
Further into his preface, Jamieson points out that ‘Homo audiens … focuses on the more widely applicable question of interpretation of music, arguing for the centrality of the act of listening to all aspects of the music-making and -receiving process through the concept of listening out – that is, extracting musical information in reaction to, and thus anchoring interpretation in, the musical sounds themselves.’
This is sure to be fascinating reading, and UYMP would love to get our hands on a copy of the book in the near future. You can find the book through MusikTexte here, and read the full translator’s preface here. Happy reading!