Towards Abstraction: Aesthetics, Institutions and Acousmatic Composition

Abstract

This work aims to explore the relationship between institutions, aesthetics and acousmatic music. It highlights how important academic institutions are to the development of electroacoustic music in the UK, and establishes the benefits of being attached to an institution as an electroacoustic composer. An in-depth discussion of the aesthetics of acousmatic music follows, aiming to establish what it is that makes acousmatic music aesthetically valid, and how this view may vary from one institution to another. How institutions directly influence composers’ work through community and facility is of particular interest. The work concludes with a discussion of my own recent compositions, and how they exemplify what I have ascertained about the interlinked nature of institutions and aesthetics.