Alex Ross - The Rest is Noise

This is a great quote from the preface of Alex Ross' "The Rest is Noise." Since Ross' mission is to explore twentieth century history through the scope of music, he attempts the impossible: to explain our love for music and its vitalness to our culture. Music, of course, is ubiquitous. IPods are everywhere. Music is entirely transportable. But why? Ross elevates music listening to an essential experience:

"Music unfolds along an unbroken continuum, however dissimilar the sounds on the surface. Music is always migrating from its point of origin to its destiny in someone's fleeting moment of experience-- last night's concert, tomorrow's solitary jog."

Visit the New Yorker's classical music critic's personal website