Book Reviews - Leonard B Meyer

This book predates Deryck Cooke's 'The Language of Music' by a couple of years, and its discussion of the emotional resonances of tonality seems pretty obtuse in comparison (Meyer essentially maintaining that our associations of particular intervals with particular meanings is wholly arbitrary and culturally conditioned). Also, compared to Cooke's engaging prose, Meyer's is decidedly dry and academic. However, he does have interesting things to say about aspects of music such as rhythm and the role of psychological expectation, and he brings in the music of other cultures, in contrast to Cooke's focus on the European classical canon.