(It remained the most imposing music text in my library until the arrival, a decade later, of Taruskin's five-volume "Oxford History of Western Music," which is likely to remain the "Ring of the Nibelung" of American musicology).
But there's nothing solemn or overemphatically spiritual here – except for Erdem's tendency to overuse the imposing music of Arvo Pärt, all too easy a way to buy in ready-made momentousness.
In response to a questioner who told him it was "rude" to impose their music upon everyone, Bono said: "Oops, I'm sorry about that".
Some listeners, accustomed to performers with big personalities who impose themselves upon music, may confuse Mr. Andsnes's Apollonian restraint with coolness.
Yet he is also troubled by the music industry's efforts to impose limits on how digital music can be copied, redistributed and, ultimately, transformed.
He went on, "It treats every user like a potential criminal, and tries to impose new controls on music people paid for years ago".
The move is one of a range of new restrictions Hollywood is beginning to impose on digital movies, music and television.
When I met him at a censorship conference in Oslo, he said the militias were stopping the music "to impose their authority, so there's nothing to threaten them".
As a result of the army's manipulation of the elections in 2002, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), a coalition of rightwing religious parties that never achieved electoral success, became the official opposition and took power in the North West Frontier Province, where it has sought to ban music and impose restrictions on women.
He tends to impose his ebullience on the music, whether or not the music demands it.
