Current models of aesthetic experience of music (AEM) have emerged in the recent years capitalizing on evidence from psychology and neuroscience research, thus modeling mainly cognitive and information processes in the brain. However, a large part of the empirical research on which these models are based is related to Western tonal music, while another style of Western music, namely, contemporary classical music (CCM), has been almost neglected. CCM is often dissonant and lacks a tonal hierarchical structure, as, for example, in serial musical pieces. The current study qualitatively explored aesthetic dimensions of a CCM experience by contrasting it to classic–romantic music (CM). To this end, 16 semi-structured interviews with experts of both CCM (n = 8) and CM (n = 8) were conducted. The interview guide consisted of questions relating to physiological, affective, and cognitive dimensions of music listening. We applied qualitative content analysis on the textual material and compared the emerging main and sub-themes between the groups. Our findings show that especially the categories of expectations, physiological and emotional responses, pleasurable aspects, and, lastly, existential relevance revealed striking differences which allow us to conclude that CM and CCM afford distinguishable types of AEM in listeners.

近年来，利用心理学和神经科学研究的证据，出现了当前的音乐审美体验 (AEM) 模型，因此主要对大脑中的认知和信息过程进行建模。然而，这些模型所依据的实证研究很大一部分与西方音调音乐有关，而另一种西方音乐风格，即当代古典音乐（CCM）几乎被忽视了。CCM 通常是不和谐的并且缺乏音调层次结构，例如在连续音乐作品中。目前的研究通过将 CCM 体验与经典浪漫音乐 (CM) 进行对比，定性地探索了 CCM 体验的审美维度。为此，对 CCM ( n  = 8) 和 CM ( n = 8) 进行。访谈指南包括与音乐聆听的生理、情感和认知维度有关的问题。我们对文本材料进行了定性内容分析，并比较了各组之间出现的主要和次主题。我们的研究结果表明，尤其是期望类别、生理和情绪反应、令人愉悦的方面以及最后的存在相关性揭示了显着的差异，这使我们能够得出结论，CM 和 CCM 在听众中提供了可区分的 AEM 类型。