El mundo en el oído. El nacimiento de la música en la cultura

“This book stands as clear proof that the best way to look at music is to take an unorthodox approach, thereby showing how it overlaps with the other domains of culture. Ramón Andrés’ book is a fine illustration of what binds music and religion, or music and culture.” Eugenio Trías, El Mundo

“Nearly 500 unputdownable pages for all those in thrall to the art of Euterpe. An intense, beautifully informed way of satisfying their cravings. Music, in essence, seen and heard in the words of a man who is not only a great connoisseur and lover of the art, but also a man who cultivates everything music has meant and continues to mean as an aesthetic pleasure, as well as a work rooted in the most exacting of scholarship.” Enrique Badosa, ABC

“Ramón Andrés has the disposition of a Renaissance figure. A man in possession of a rich intellectual universe. The world in the ear is his most ambitious work.” Ana María Dávila, El Mundo

“Ramón Andrés, a one-off on our shores, is the author of highly readable, erudite essays.” Carles Barba, La Vanguardia

“A towering work. A book no lover of music will want to go without.” Andrés Ibáñez, ABC

“The world in the ear is a concerto grosso that wants for nothing. Its pages are home to history, philosophy, astronomy, mythology, mathematics and musical theory, disciplines that form the cornerstones of this solid essay.” Rosa Massagué, El Periódico

“A journey recounted with taste and skill, with an erudition worn lightly that makes for a thrilling read”. Reforma (México)

(The world in the ear: the birth of music in culture) When did music begin? This question guides Ramón Andrés as he travels from man’s first encounter with sound right up to the present day composers, from China to Mesopotamia, via India, Egypt, Greece and Rome, before ending up in the modern West, drawing on magic, medicine, mathematics and astronomy. The world in the ear is an extraordinarily well-documented study, as well as a thrilling journey through an art that, century after century, has proven to be an unparalleled source of learning and delight.