This book continues the line of publications of the first book in a highly interdisciplinary mode. This time, we offer eight chapters that provide the in-depth study of music in four large sub-fields: mathematics, language and theory of narrative, evolution and perception, and, finally, sociology. The first chapter, by Dr. Roman Ruditsa, delves into the study of structural pitch organization. It is based upon mathematical interpretation of the idea of pitch provided by North American proponents of group theory synthesized naturally with the ideas of Russian theorists Tatiana Bershadskaya. Noteworthy is the term conjugacy that harkens back to Boleslav Yavorski’s concept. The second chapter, in the same mathematical venue, by Celina Richter and Stefan E. Schmidt, revisits the millennial question of the essence of an interval. Using highly advanced mathematical language, the categories of monoid, and the algebraic theory of measurement, the authors take further the concepts of transformational theory and chord geometry of Dmitri Tymoczko. The next block is dedicated to language and narrative; the first chapter in it is by Vincent Meelberg. Here, the reader finds fascinating developments in the ongoing deliberations on this elusive category. The author refers to the texts of Almén, Huron, Gershon, and Sternberg. An interesting conclusion introduces the ideas of tension and resolution into the definition of the musical narrative. The name of Trevor Rawbone, perhaps, does not need an introduction to those involved with cognitive studies of music. This time, his chapter deals with the idea of the language of musical thought, which shifts the traditional discussion of language into a very new dimension. The references include all the accolade of the major cognitivists. Both the chosen direction and the elaboration on it make this chapter really worth reading. Carlos Almada begins a new section in the book, the one dedicated to evolution and perception. He begins with Darwin and takes us through the exciting path of development of the science of evolution, which he masterfully connects to his model of derivative analysis of music. Indeed, musical work is just a moment on a timeline, and the analysis of its text presupposes taking into account the aspects of work’s derivation—a purely evolutionary concept as such. The question of psycho-physiological foundation of the ethnic hearing, raised in the chapter by Аlla V. Toropova and Irina N. Simakova, is a difficult one. The idea of ethnic character of music had been a part of traditional musicology and usually was expressed in specific language of humanities. This chapter proves the opposite: it approaches the phenomenon of ethic selectivity in listening in a solid scientific language with the use of the apparatus of classical experiment and data analysis. The chapter by Daniil Shutko on the theoretical ideas of the legendary professor of St. Petersburg conservatory, Dr. Tatiana Bershadskaya, was difficult to put into any category. Her concept of music was truly universal and interdisciplinary. At the same time, the concept and Shutko’s description are as closely focused on music theory in a narrow and precise sense as possible. In the center of discussion lies the mysterious Russian category of lad—a comprehensive term unites mode and tonality and adds much more to the meaning of the pitch system. The last paper brings us into the jovial mood. Its topic is as unusual as, paradoxically, actual. The art and culture of consumption of wine in correlation with the choice of music for listening is a theme for a true connoisseur. It becomes even more intriguing when the authors, Diego Pérez-Fuertes, Emma Juaneda-Ayensa, and Cristina Olarte-Pascual, add to the discussion the special circumstance of the pandemic and the way human spirit meets this challenge in the most graceful way.weiterlesen