On today's show, Jenna, Luke and Alex dive into what defines beauty in music..
Theres hot or nots, we discuss whether a persons artistic image is attached to their craft or defines it.. We ponder whether beauty changes how we listen to or enjoy music.. and we play a lot of beautiful music..
We look at two key ideas of beauty in the technical sense - formalist & expressionist
Formalist Perspective (Beauty in Structure & Patterns)
Beauty comes from musical form, symmetry, complexity, and balance, rather than emotional content.
Music is appreciated for its intellectual and aesthetic qualities, similar to mathematics or architecture.
Composers like Stravinsky argued that music expresses nothing but itself—it’s purely an art of sound.
Expressionist Perspective (Beauty in Emotion & Meaning)
Music is beautiful because it conveys emotions, narratives, or spiritual experiences.
Listeners form personal and cultural associations with melodies, harmonies, and rhythms, shaping their emotional response.
Expressionists argue that meaning in music isn’t just subjective—it taps into deep, shared human experiences.
Cracked is produced and broadcasts on unceded Gadigal land in fbiradio's studio in Redfern.