Unlimited Replays

Video Games and Classical Music

William Gibbons author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Oxford University Press Inc

Published:10th May '18

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

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Unlimited Replays cover

Classical music is everywhere in video games. Works by composers like Bach and Mozart fill the soundtracks of games ranging from arcade classics, to indie titles, to major franchises like BioShock, Civilization, and Fallout. Children can learn about classical works and their histories from interactive iPad games. World-renowned classical orchestras frequently perform concerts of game music to sold-out audiences. But what do such combinations of art and entertainment reveal about the cultural value we place on these media? Can classical music ever be video game music, and can game music ever be classical? Delving into the shifting and often contradictory cultural definitions that emerge when classical music meets video games, Replay Value offers a new perspective on the possibilities and challenges of trying to distinguish between art and pop culture in contemporary society.

Unlimited Replays occupies a significant place in game music scholarship. It is the first book devoted to ever-intriguing instances of classical music in video games, and through addressing that topic, it seeks to build a bridge from ludomusicology toward more longstanding fields of enquiry ... an accessible, thoughtful, and thought-provoking work on a topic of interest across academic disciplines, and beyond -- classical-music concert programmers and critics might find much to consider here in regard to the music's future, for instance. Indeed, the book could be recommended to almost anybody with an interest in its topic. * Jonathan Godsall, Journal of Sound and Music in Games *

ISBN: 9780190265250

Dimensions: 160mm x 236mm x 18mm

Weight: 499g

210 pages