©Atena

Osmo Tapio Räihälä: Why Is Contemporary Music So Difficult?

Winner of the Non-Fiction Finlandia Prize 2021.

Composer Osmo Tapio Räihälä describes – not without humour – music composing and listening both from a historical and a personal point of view. He guides the reader playfully, expertly and comprehensively into the world of contemporary music. He writes about both pop music and more traditional classical works, discusses the connections between rock art music and visual art while contemplating on the meaning of art itself.

Original title: Miksi nykymusiikki on niin vaikeaa.
Atena 2021, 250 pp.
Foreign rights: Sebes & Bisseling, sebesbisseling.se,