Originally published: A la recherche d'une musique concrete / Pierre Schaeffer. Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1952.

The Treatise on Musical Objects is regarded as Pierre Schaeffer’s most important work on music and its relationship with technology. Schaeffer expands his earlier research in musique concrète to suggest a methodology of working with sounds based on his experiences in radio broadcasting and the recording studio. Drawing on acoustics, physics, and physiology, but also on philosophy and the relationship between subject and object, Schaeffer’s essay summarizes his theoretical and practical work in music composition. Translators Christine North and John Dack present an important book in the history of ideas in Europe that will resonate far beyond electroacoustic music.

Suitable for those interested in contemporary musicology or media history, this title offers a translation of the author's pioneering work - at once a journal of his experiments in sound composition and a treatise on the raison d'etre of concrete music.

Cement and concrete are of great interest to the construction and civil engineering communities. This study provides an appreciation of the complex nature of these materials and a realization that most of the failures involving concrete constructions are preventable.

Why does music have such a powerful effect on our minds and bodies? It is the most mysterious and most tangible of all forms of art. Yet, Anthony Storr believes, music today is a deeply significant experience for a greater number of people than ever before. In this book, he explores why this should be so. Drawing on a wide variety of opinions, Storr argues that the patterns of music make sense of our inner experience, giving both structure and coherence to our feelings and emotions. It is because music possesses this capacity to restore our sense of personal wholeness in a culture which requires us to separate rational thought from feelings that many people find it so life-enhancing that it justifies existence.

This book provides an up-to-date survey of durability issues, with a particular focus on specification and design, and how to achieve durability in actual concrete construction. It is aimed at the practising engineer, but is also a valuable resource for graduate-level programs in universities. Along with background to current philosophies it gathers together in one useful reference a summary of current knowledge on concrete durability, includes information on modern concrete materials, and shows how these materials can be combined to produce durable concrete. The approach is consistent with the increasing focus on sustainability that is being addressed by the concrete industry, with the current emphasis on ‘design for durability’.