La tesi doctoral "La música clàssica contemporània: una perspectiva sociomusicològica" combina, en les seues pàgines, el desenvolupament d’una investigació sociològica amb un seguit de reflexions teòriques i epistemològiques. El seu autor, Xavier Mas i Sempere, aborda consecutivament la música clàssica contemporània, les divisions i les definicions de la música i el boirós espai entre la ciència, l’objectivitat i la veritat. Tot plegat, per acabar responent la pregunta que obri la investigació: quina és la presència i el tractament de la música clàssica contemporània a l’estat espanyol. Els primers capítols serveixen per explicitar l’epistemologia del treball, els objectius de la tesi i la delimitació de l’objecte d’investigació. A continuació, i després d’una breu discussió sobre la ciència i el mètode, es fa esment de la metodologia. En aquesta ocasió, es combinen tècniques quantitatives i qualitatives i es fa ús, respectivament, d’anàlisis estadístiques, anàlisis de contingut i anàlisis de discurs. Tot seguit, s’explicita el marc teòric que servirà de bastida per als apartats empírics. Són fonamentals, en aquesta ocasió, els autors clàssics de la Sociologia i la Musicologia (Max Weber, Theodor Adorno, Bruno Nettl i John Blacking). Les aportacions de Pierre Bourdieu –especialment els seus conceptes de camp, capital cultural i distinció– constitueixen les ferramentes teòriques més imprescindibles. No es perden de vista, emperò, les quatre grans branques de la Sociomusicologia contemporània: l’estudi de la música as social meaning, as social identity, as social interaction i as commercial and industrial process. Entre els objectius secundaris de la tesi figura la proposta d’una nova estructuració i definició de la música. Els termes música despersonalitzada i música participativa –oberta i tancada– configuren una aportació conceptual que es duu a terme sota els plantejaments teòrics de Jesús Ibáñez. El corpus empíric està conformat per quatre grans apartats on s’estudien, consecutivament, les programacions d’orquestres i auditoris, els col•lectius artístics –compositors, intèrprets, docents, gestors culturals i públics–, els mitjans de comunicació –revistes, premsa, ràdio i televisió– i les empreses de difusió –discogràfiques i plataformes en streaming–. Els resultats ens mostren uns auditoris copats, principalment, per la música del segle XIX i de la primera meitat del segle XX. El notable volum d’estrenes contrasta amb la modesta presència de la música de la segona meitat del segle XX. Es vincula, això sí, la música més actual amb l’aparició de dones compositores i de música d’arreu del món. Entre el col•lectius podem percebre el conflicte existent entre els creadors i els públics. En cada cas, emperò, s’assenyalen responsables diferents. Existeix, encara més, la noció de caducitat del format concertístic actual i la necessitat de replantejar les noves posades en escena. En els mitjans de comunicació, la presència de la música clàssica contemporània va vinculada a l’especificitat del mitjà, és a dir, quan més massiu és menys espai ocupa. La presència a les plataformes de difusió és ben notable i, especialment en streaming, assoleix un protagonisme inèdit. La música clàssica contemporània, que va nàixer per qüestionar el sistema, ha acabat en dues posicions extremes: bé expulsada i obviada o bé plenament assimilada dins l’àmbit més exclusiu i esnob. D’aquesta forma, la vessant crítica i contestatària original d’aquestes obres es dilueix dins un compartiment, convenientment estanc, on pot exercir el rol de música de gran prestigi i reservada per a les elits –culturals– més exclusives, selectes i amb major capital cultural institucionalitzat. Econòmicament, així, s’aprofita fins la darrera opció monetària que ofereixen els segles XX i XXI. Socialment, es possibilita l’emergència d’una nova elit –més minoritària i elevada, encara– que es reconeix en el context del consum, la comprensió i el gaudi d’aquestes noves formes musicals. Aquesta situació ha provocat, en l’àmbit dels públics, l’establiment d’una cosmovisió basada en la sacralització de la música. L’absència de ferramentes que els permeten descodificar la música més enllà del seguiment d’una melodia, provoca que s’establisca un tall. Una escletxa que provoca, finalment, que no se senten apel•lats per aquesta música i que no puguen aproximar-se a les noves músiques, sense l’apriorisme del prejuí i amb la guia que els ajude a entendre el procés històric, social i intel•lectual que hi ha sota les noves formes de fer música.

So-called contemporary classical music is a cultural, artistic and social phenomenon. Over a century after its origin – at the beginning of the 20th century – it is still in the process of definition, space location and negotiation with the public and trying to gain prestige. Our research question arises from this unstable situation and one of constant construction: what is the position of contemporary classical music in our regional context? This question is the starting point for our sociological-musical reflection. The question, thus, ends up being translated into key terms used by the social sciences. On the one hand, its presence. The different artistic and cultural manifestations where this sound phenomenon appears: what, who, where and when. On the other hand, its management; the different forms under which it takes place in the different social interconnection processes: how, when and why. Social processes –production, diffusion and musical consumption– and discourses (which include aesthetics, public policies of artistic diffusion and the power fights for the hegemony of the musical discourse) are the two branches through which we articulate our main objective. Thus, this research’s main contribution should be to determine the presence and management of contemporary classical music in Spain. At the same time, another twofold objective of ours –although secondary– is to carry out a revision of the terminology and classification of the art of sound which we have inherited. Then, to propose a more suitable division and conceptualization for the scientific research and carried out from the critical and subversive paradigm itself. Music has not yet had a rigorous conceptualization process. Even today we still carry the weight of terms which come from the colloquial linguistic field, with an ideological load, not innocent at all, and with all the ethnocentric and elitist bias: classical music, popular music, and traditional or folk music. Another element which is added to this scientific obstacle is the original sin which brings about the division between Musicology –focused on history and the sciences of music at Western academies– and Ethnomusicology –focused, firstly, on whatever manifestation, beyond Western political barriers and, secondly, in the manifestation of oral and folkloric traditions of the researcher’s territories themselves. This paternalistic and discriminatory consideration must be overcome with holistic reflections which are free from the ideological apriorisms, and able to identify with critical and multidisciplinary ability –in addition to the scientific richness of Musicology and Sociology– the characteristics of the different societies. Sociomusicology is a discipline with a relatively modest development in Spain and in the scientific production in Catalan. Consequently, we would like our doctoral thesis to be a testing ground where we can prove the validity of the methodology and the theoretical framework used to study the musical phenomenon. With these constant dialectics between both disciplines –Sociology and Musicology– we aim to shape our approach and to enrich the social and artistic postulates. Our aim is, all in all, to create a theoretical and methodological framework suitable for the study of whatever type of music from a critical and holistic perspective. Finally, the introduction of our proposal within the scientific and artistic community aims to be useful in the field of the public policies and of those of cultural management. That is why, as our last secondary objective, our thesis aims to provide the tools and strategies to facilitate a greater and bigger diffusion of the studied phenomenon. By presenting the information at the disposal of the art field, we would like the actions regarding musical themes to have a firm theoretical and empiric basis. This research is articulated, mainly, around the contemporary classical music syntagm. It is important, thus, that we clarify the meaning we give to each of the three elements in play. On the one hand, we understand classical music as that musical typology linked to the Western academic, artistic and philosophical tradition and with a social recognition based on the technical complexity of its composition (harmony, counterpoint, orchestration) and its interpretation, in the structural composition which allows to delimit styles and genres and in the usage of certain spaces for its diffusion (auditoriums, theatres, concert halls). On the other hand, and after having assessed the different historiographical options, we believe that contemporary classical music is all that classical music composed between 1900 and the present. The empirical corpus of this doctoral thesis is constructed through the articulation of elements from three different fields which, simultaneously, establish links among themselves. Firstly, the field of the art. Here we shall find the different actors which form part of the musical creation and diffusion process: composers, performers (instrumentalists and conductors), the public (audiences), academics and cultural managers –the last three, also, linked to the following field. Furthermore, we shall include the programs of the symphonic season tickets. Secondly, the power field, where, apart from the three above-mentioned elements, we shall focus on the discographic production and music consumption. Finally, in the field of the mass media, we shall analyze the traditional mass media: television, radio and press, with special attention to the magazines specialized on classical music. It should be mentioned that we have carried out our research within the geographical limits of Spain even though we have, always, paid special attention to the territories of our linguistic environment. Therefore, in the case of the auditoriums and mass media, we have wanted to include, specifically, cases in the País Valencià, Catalonia and the Balearic Islands and the media in Catalan. Following the most common practices of contemporary Sociolinguistics, we conjugate quantitative and qualitative methodology. From each one of them we shall extrapolate its more interesting possibilities, and combine them in such a way that allows us to efficiently and relevantly cover the different elements of our research topic. With the former, we shall measure elements –under the classic conception of objectivity– of the social reality and shall try to establish generalizations and causality links. The statistics analysis will allow us to convert the information gathered structurally and systematically into conclusive mathematical elements. At the same time, with the latter, we shall describe the human action and, through the interpretation, we shall try to establish meanings which allow us to understand it. Through quantitative methodology we shall arrive at specific data about the program of the auditoriums –number of pieces, composers, time– and the audiences of the Alicante Actual at the Auditorio de la Diputación de Alicante cycle. We shall also be able to see the presence of contemporary classical music in the traditional mass media, such as the press, radio, and television. Furthermore, we shall be able to see how the current classical music magazines are configured and how the discographic offer is orientated –in the labels Deutsche Grammophon and Decca Classics– and the consumption in streaming, in the Spotify platform in our research field. Using qualitative methodology, we shall be able to analyse the contents that the mass media carry out around classical music and, more specifically, contemporary music. And we shall also analyse the discourses of the members of the artistic framework of music, which will allow us to get to know what their perception of contemporary classical music is, and how they explain it. A deeper analysis of the usage of techniques allows us to distinguish two big working mechanisms. The analysis of the programs –both of the symphonic auditoriums, and the Alicante Actual cycle– of the production of the discographies, of the music consumption in streaming and the informative pieces in the daily press has been done from the gathering and transfer of the data to a matrix. Then, a quantitative analysis has been carried out from the comparison of all the different variables. For this task the SPSS software has been used, from which we have been able to define the variables, calculate the statistics data and elaborate a graphic which allowed us to read the data through a visual representation. Regarding television, radio and magazines, as we had to list the programs, count the minutes and consider the pages, we have used Microsoft Excel software to elaborate some tables. With secondary data –provided by both Centro Nacional para la Difusión de la Música and the Cultural Ministry itself, through its annual– the task has been limited to its recovery and integration into the research, without any later manipulation of the data. Finally, for the study of composers, performers, academics and cultural managers we have opted exclusively for qualitative methodology. In this case, we have combined the in-depth interview, the transcription and the analysis of the discourse. The snow ball sampling allowed us to gather 28 interviews, from different parts of country and all with Spanish nationality. This technique allowed us, despite all the problems when trying to access the subjects of interest, to appreciate the ideas of creators of different trends and schools, instrumentalists of different musical practices and academics and managers of different political views and cultural traditions. With the purpose of gathering some specific topics which were of interest to us, a pattern was created on which to develop the interview. In the first section, we dealt with personal elements: their family and formative context and we learnt about different aspects of the consecutive socializations of the subject. In the second one, we focused on the artistic and social elements and tried to gather the incidence of the consumption of the mass media, their taste, the aprioristic reflections of music and their terminology. In the case of the composers we added a section which dealt exclusively with creation. Finally, in all cases, we focused on contemporary classical music and tried to learn about the opinion of the interviewee about the impact of the public on their work and the diffusion strategies. Parallel to the interviews, we carried out the transcription. The analysis, in this way, could be carried out together and simultaneously with all the materials. Even though we have identified codes in the different parts of the interviews, we have done so only to distinguish the sections covered. The discourses, however, have been regarded in full and always understanding them as a “jugada para legitimar la propia posición y prácticas frente a aquellos discursos que podrían cuestionarlas” (hand to legitimize their own position and practices in front of all those discourses which might question them –my translation) (Martín Criado, 2014: 134). The public –in their own position of audience at an auditorium– has been approached also using this same methodological trend, through a discussion group. A group which, formed by 6 people, gathered at the Auditorio de la Diputación de Alicante at the beginning of 2017, just before one of the concerts of the symphonic cycle.