In this episode we speak to Professor Andrew Bowie, who discusses his work at the intersection of philosophy and music, suggesting that both practices “make sense” of things, and that aesthetic experience opens up new ways of relating that extend beyond the simply cognitive. It is within this context that ideas of freedom arise. While resisting a definition of freedom, Andrew is clear that music is not just a metaphor for freedom but is itself a liberatory practice, responding to constraints and working to transcend these.
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Biography
Andrew Bowie is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and German, Royal Holloway, University of London, and a jazz saxophonist. He has written extensively about the relationship between music and philosophy, showing how they are entangled with each other historically, and how each illuminates the other. Works in this area include Music, Philosophy, and Modernity (Cambridge University Press, 2007), Aesthetic Dimensions of Modern Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 2022), alongside numerous articles and chapters, as well as two introductions to German philosophy.
Links to accompany the episode
This is from the same tour as when I heard alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges live with the Ellington band, which sparked a lifelong obsession with the expressive possibilities of saxophone tone. https://youtu.be/ASdihZyUIy0?si=aoEzyEJ4JO5vPH6D
The coda to Bruckner’s 8th Symphony, which I never tire of, since hearing it live with Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic in 1976. This excerpted version of the coda gets a clarity many recordings lack. However one thinks about it, this seems to me to show what is meant by musical transcendence. https://youtu.be/uXS-LvrJgdU?si=xmzRgyTYYqLXIThG
This is my favourite example of how Louis Armstrong really invented jazz: there is nothing like this in music before Louis started playing in this way. The rather staid accompaniment only serves to highlight how startling his playing was. https://youtu.be/KF7-xh8Ai1c?si=WHZ2_dEamZS_NuZR
Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis in an outstanding live performance. It’s works like this that make me resist trying to reduce the great tradition of Western music to issues like colonialism. https://youtu.be/pKPVAyDaFY4?si=vc7eOivnVC9LCV3s
This not very well recorded version of Thelonious Monk’s Round Midnight by Charlie Parker, with a completely exceptional piano solo by Bud Powell, was on about the 3rdjazz LP I ever bought, aged 16 in 1968. https://youtu.be/ECLoE-bw3Kw?si=RzMce_K9XMbul9JP
Beethoven’s Grosse Fuge. Like the Missa Solemnis, this resists reduction to any of the ways it might be thought about. He said of it that it was ‘“tantôt libre, tantôt recherchée”: the freedom it embodies is expressed so powerfully because it is manifest in relation to music governed by many complex rules. https://youtu.be/EqGKHDjMTiM?si=
The conclusion of Mahler’s 2nd Symphony in a remarkable performance under Klaus Tennstedt. At a time when the world is descending into chaos such music offers a form of temporary liberation whose value cannot be underestimated. https://youtu.be/cUccRm0SYaY?si=jVSnbU1Y2KLAB60s
Andrew recommends …
“The best books to show why so much modern philosophy fails to make real sense of the world”: https://shepherd.com/best-books/why-so-much-modern-philosophy-fails-to-make-real-s
Podcast hosts
Dr Férdia Stone-Davis: www.ferdiastonedavis.com
Dr Charissa Granger: https://sta.uwi.edu/fhe/dlcc/dr-charissa-granger
Podcast acknowledgements
The Sounding Freedom and Liberation music was composed by Samuel J. Wilson. Website: https://www.samueljwilson.com/profile
The Sounding Freedom and Liberation logo was designed by Pavlína Kašparová. Website: https://www.creativenun.com/bio
The Podcast was recorded at the Media Lab, the West Hub, Cambridge, and was edited by Mike Chivers
