Minimalist Music
Minimalist music is a current of contemporary music emerged in the 1960s to the United States , which is an important part of classical music in this country. In France, the current is often called repetitive music, and more specifically refers to all the works using repetition as a compositional technique. The major composers of minimalist music is La Monte Young , Terry Riley , Steve Reich , Philip Glass and John Adams. The work considered the founder of minimalism is In C by Terry Riley , composed in 1964. Minimalist music is sometimes referred to as the label broader postmodern music.
More than a return to tonality , the current is mainly characterized by the use of a pulse and regular repetition of short motifs evolve slowly. Beyond a reactionary movement to serialism , then dominant in Europe, minimalist music marks the emergence of innovative American music, released from its European ties. Minimalist composers have also made a return to more emotional music, instead of essentially the approach of the intellectual serial music , or conceptual approach to experimental music as practiced by John Cage. After a difficult start outside traditional channels of classical music , minimalist music has acquired the membership of a certain audience, sometimes from different worlds such as jazz , the rock , and improvised music , or electronic music. The television and cinema have used extensively this music, especially the works of Philip Glass, contributing to its spread into the general public. Severe criticisms were also expressed from the musical world to the minimalist movement, accusing it of producing a music consumer, superficial and soulless.
Summary |
General
Introduction
Typically referred to as a current minimalist music of contemporary music emerged in the 1960s to the United States with composers La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich and Philip Glass. The movement grows mainly in two regions of the United States traditionally more open to artistic innovations and influences of non-European cultures: New York and West Coast. Minimalism also has followers in Great Britain ( Michael Nyman , Gavin Bryars ), Holland ( Louis Andriessen ), France ( Renaud Gagneux ), but it remains primarily an American phenomenon with the concomitant creation of Music for 18 Musicians , Reich, opera Einstein on the Beach of Glass, De Staat Louis Andriessen, of Fr Alina part of the founding tintinnabulum style of Arvo Prt and the Third Symphony by Henryk Gorecki. All these works have in common, besides their first date, to be a pivotal in the careers of their composers, or by being the culmination of a theoretical work or by creating the beginning of a new style of writing that bring a "breath of fresh air" in the world of classical music of the twentieth century .
Background Music
The contemporary music of the years 1950-60 was dominated by serialism and the full European avant-garde around Pierre Boulez , Luigi Nono , Bruno Maderna , Luciano Berio , Karlheinz Stockhausen ... The composers are experimenting with new electronic technologies and founded the foundation of electronic music and musique concrete , notably under the impetus of Pierre Schaeffer , Karlheinz Stockhausen and Pierre Henry.
For the U.S. , the figure of John Cage which dominates in a primarily conceptual, close to happening , with the red wire indeterminacy. It is also the time of the creation of the artistic movement Fluxus , to push the boundaries of the notion of works of art, which also influences the minimalists. The years 1950-60 also saw the birth and development under the influence of John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman on free jazz that marks especially American composers of the time.
Popular music can not be ignored in the musical context. The emergence of the dominance of rock , discovered in the west of the Outer Western music , and especially Indian music , they also exert an influence on minimalist.
On the term minimalist
The origin of the term "minimalist" to describe the minimalist movement remains unclear. We generally grant paternity British composer Michael Nyman in his book of 1974 Experimental Music: Cage and beyond , . However, Nyman had from 1968 used the term "minimal", in an article entitled Minimal Music on the work of composers Cornelius Cardew and Henning Christiansen . The term "minimalist" was later used by Nyman to describe not only the U.S. current account, but also the production of British experimental music (including composers Gavin Bryars , Christopher Hobbs , Michael Parsons ...) .
Music critic Tom Johnson also used the term in March 1972 about a concert by Alvin Lucier . Johnson used the term to describe the minimalist compositions of Steve Reich , but the vocabulary is changing, and he sometimes used "hypnotic music" . In 1977 , the journalist wrote an article entitled What is really about Minimalism? in which the term "minimalism" is now well established .
There are also terms of pulse music, music systems, process music, trance music, hypnotic music, repetitive music or French, which is widely used in France and is the term that Steve Reich is the "least worst" .
The adjective minimalist and more the word minimum, creates confusion about the nature of minimalist music. Although it uses a sparse musical equipment and a certain economy of musical structures . It can further be seen as pejorative, in the sense that minimal music is less than a "normal music" and would have required little effort of composition work. Another confusion is that minimalism is a term borrowed from art historians, and minimalist music does not always share in common with the minimalism of the visual arts.
The composers are generally not at all satisfied with the name , . Only La Monte Young is the proper term, and only his early work . Philip Glass prefers the term "music without intent" or "listening to repetitive structure" .
Origins
A precursor and influence: Erik Satie
The premise of minimalist music are found in certain works of Erik Satie in particular through use of form in repetitive ostinato seen as an "ecstatic passing of time in rehearsal, in the obsession of the contemplative" and serves as the basis for several compositions. The First Gnossienne (1890) is the first piece he wrote in a pattern, it will experiment further forward with its mystical piece Vexations (1892-1893). The latter consists of repeated 840 times on a single motif, the length of the room up to twenty hours. Vexations be performed for the first time at the initiative of John Cage in 1963 in New York , c that is to say, in the year of birth of minimalism. Meredith Monk , often associated with the minimalist movement, attend a performance of Vexations Satie at a festival in 1966 , and Gavin Bryars and Christopher Hobbs will do the same at Leicester in 1971 .
Satie is cited by the minimalists as a reference, including Steve Reich . A tribute in the form of snap him is also made with the composition of Philip Glass , Piece In The Shape of a Square, referring to three pieces of pear-shaped , and his works Music with Changing Parts and Einstein On The Beach resume some form of progression movements ABCBCA arch type previously used by Satie . For Michael Nyman , Satie was "indispensable for many reasons" , and it holds only for the pre-experimental composer whose work is essential .
The serialism
More surprisingly, Anton Webern , a student of Arnold Schoenberg and member of the Second Viennese School , also exerts an influence on the minimalist movement. In particular, La Monte Young , who cites the static sections of the Six Bagatelles for String Quartet (1913) and Symphony, Op. 21 (1928) works as having been instrumental in helping to make the transition from serialism and minimalism . The fact that Webern is also a major influence of post-serialism, which develops at the same time in Europe, but in radically different musical conceptions, is sometimes identified as "paradoxical" by musicologists .
Figure of serialism and the Darmstadt school , Karlheinz Stockhausen , however, has links with the minimalist movement. Works like Stimmung , Mantra and Inori use a minimalist material and a time spread . La Monte Young will also discuss with Stockhausen in Darmstadt , and at the time regarded as the greatest living composer . Terry Riley is also a strong interest in works by Stockhausen, especially the rhythmic complexities Zeitmasze , and Arnold Schoenberg.
More generally, the minimalists have all been exposed to serialism, Steve Reich as a student at Mills College , and who immediately felt he had to move away as quickly as possible , or that Philip Glass composed atonal works up to 18 years before changing style .
The American avant-garde
John Cage has a great influence in the birth of minimalism. Composer's most important avant-garde and experimental music in the United States , his ideas have an impact, directly or indirectly on the work of the Minimalists. Some parts may seem Cage linked to Minimalism, especially his early compositions , or the famous 4'33 " dating from 1952 , the composition that is the most minimal, being composed solely of silence. Cage is still very critical of minimalism, and his favorite technique, the uncertainty (or lack of intent), that is to say the use of randomness in the works, or in the process composition itself, will be strongly rejected by the minimalist .
In his book Experimental Music: Cage and Beyond, Michael Nyman clearly raises the minimalism in the post-Cage, as a reaction to the indeterminacy dear to him . However, musicologists have noted similarities with the work of Cage, in particular the interest in the structure more than material, the fact that music is created by processes of composition and musical expression avoiding implementation before the composer's personality, focusing on experiments to go beyond the imagination of the composer .
Another American composer of the generation of cage is linked to the minimalist Morton Feldman. Feldman also uses the indeterminacy and chance in his works, but is attracted by the sounds required long-term and soundscapes calm and flat , . Although it is generally not considered a minimalist, some of its parts, including Piece for Four Pianos (1957), can approach the subsequent documents of Steve Reich using the phase shift. Reich also recognize his admiration for Feldman .
The non-Western music
In 1.95 thousand years / 1960 , Western Europe and the United States discovered the non-Western music. These songs usually based on patterns will affect all minimalist composers.
Inhabiting the west coast , La Monte Young discovered Indian music in 1957 on the campus of UCLA . He quotes Ali Akbar Khan ( sarod ) and Chatur Lal ( tabla ) as particularly significant. Indian music has a decisive influence on Young, especially the discovery of the tambura , he learns with Pandit Pran Nath. The role of drone tambura fascinates the Young, and grows to his interest held sounds of long duration. Young also acknowledges the influence of Japanese music and in particular of Gagaku. This influence is in part seen as the birth of minimalism, Trio for Strings (1958) .
Terry Riley discovered the non-western music during his stay in Europe, particularly the Moroccan music and Indian music, through La Monte Young . It also works with Pran Nath for the disc Music from Mills (1986).
For Steve Reich , are the courts of William Austin at Cornell who introduced her to world music. Austin made his students listen to African music and Balinese music , is quite unusual for the time . On the recommendation of Gunther Schuller , Reich examines the book Studies in African Music of Arthur Morris Jones , who made a strong impression . In 1970, he decided to study during the summer percussion at Ghana , which has the effect of confirming his intuition about the rich sound of acoustic instruments (as opposed to electronic instruments) and his strong interest in percussion. The piece Drumming ( 1971 ) is partly the result of this trip. Musicians Russell Hartenberger and Robert Becker of Nexus , regular members of the ensemble of Reich also studied African drumming. During the summers of 1973 and 1974, Reich will also study the gamelan Balinese on the west coast of the United States. Reich said in 1973 that "non-Western music are currently the main source of inspiration for new ideas for composers and musicians Western" .
For Philip Glass , is the meeting with Ravi Shankar in Paris in 1965 who introduced him to Indian music. He discovered the principle of accumulation of small musical units to form larger, which strongly influence his way of dealing . Glass will also traveled extensively in India in different parts of the country to discover the music and culture .
Jazz
The jazz is of great importance among the minimalists. All recognize its influence, and in particular the modal jazz of John Coltrane , the free jazz and Ornette Coleman.
The improvisation is central in Terry Riley , as with La Monte Young . This is saxophonist and has experience as a jazz instrumentalist, exerted primarily during his years of high school and college. In Los Angeles , he played in big bands and in small groups, especially with Eric Dolphy , Don Cherry , Billy Higgins , and planned to devote himself to jazz . The jazz influence is clearly visible in his work, particularly his game sopranino saxophone , or his interest in forms of improvisation . Riley is on her pianist, and studied ragtime with Wally Rose , and plays for a living while studying at university and during his stay in France. Riley was also impressed by John Coltrane, which inspired her and other learning soprano saxophone .
For Steve Reich , jazz is also a major influence. Reich is drummer by training, and played in jazz bands in high school and Cornell University. It was extremely influenced by John Coltrane, was seen very often in concert, and cites the album My Favorite Things and Africa / Brass as particularly significant . For Reich, it is unthinkable that his music has been possible without the jazz, especially the rhythm , flexibility, and sense of melodic jazz, which appear to be fundamental influences .
Unlike his colleagues, Philip Glass , training more exclusively musical classic, does not see jazz as one of his influences, even if he acknowledges having been fascinated by the free jazz of Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane .
The minimalist movement
The movement is minimalist in the 1960s with the work of La Monte Young and Terry Riley , considered as precursors. Steve Reich and Philip Glass will expand their ideas and suggest processes of composition which will prove very fruitful.
However, minimalism only part of the works of these composers, and we consider that minimalism is generally defined as ending in the mid-1970s . From that date, composers indeed incorporate musical elements richer, more melody and harmony, even counterpoint. The addition of these elements, without deciding with their previous work, provide a clear evolution. Sometimes called post-minimalism, so , especially for John Adams. Philip Glass says explicitly that for him, minimalism ends in 1974 because of his involvement in the whole "musical theater" from that time .
Personalities, sometimes called "mystical minimalist" as Arvo Prt , emerged in the late 1970s, only cons are not the direct heirs of the American minimalists but also included under the banner of post-minimalism, or more generally of postmodernism.
Precursors: La Monte Young and Terry Riley
It is generally assumed that La Monte Young is the founder of the minimalist movement, especially with his play Trio for Strings ( 1958 ). Young is at the time inspired by Webern , and creates a universe of sound quasi-static with long held notes for several minutes and very little change. This will serve as the basis for Young's future work on bumblebees , and is one of the origins of musical style called drone. Young, however, still composed using the twelve-tone system , although it is different in the use of held notes and promotes the intervals based on triads and seventh major . Trio for Strings produces music that is unlike any other at the time, creating a meditative atmosphere, "another world" .
This is Terry Riley who introduced minimalism of two basic elements: a return to a href = "Musique_tonale" class = "mw-redirect" title = "Tonal Music"> music tone and repetition of musical motifs can be seen as particularly challenging for the vanguard serial listing as a return to tonal music, the tone in the simplest possible, C major . In C is written for any number of musicians and any instruments. The play has 53 musical motifs, each running again as many times as desired, by following a few recommendations. In C is generally considered the seminal work of minimalism, which contains all the elements: steady beat, music tone, and all short repeating units, which create a musical world full The repetitive Steve Reich and Philip Glass The experiments of Riley with tapes and In C have a fundamental influence on Steve Reich. This involved the creation of In C as a musician, and acknowledges that the piece, bringing together elements of African music, the contributions of John Coltrane , and rehearsal tapes, helped greatly to find its own way, especially for It's Gonna Rain ( 1965 ) . Steve Reich draw from this piece a technique known as phase shifting / phasing. First applied to magnetic strips, then the composer experimenting the technique on acoustic instruments, giving particular parts Piano Phase ( 1967 ), Violin Phase ( 1967 ). Reich will continue to use the process of phase until 1971 and Drumming ( 1971 ) considered a transitional work. The term "live music" is sometimes used to refer to music written from this technique which is in the works of the composer's so-called period of "Early Minimalism" . After this period, Reich differs from simple techniques for phasing write more ambitious works in terms of instrumental forces, duration, and techniques, expanding its research mainly to the harmony and the rhythmic pulse. This period of "mature minimalism" will culminate with the pieces Music for 18 Musicians ( 1976 ) and Music for a Large Ensemble ( 1978 ) . A third dialing period will begin with pieces like Tehillim ( 1981 ), but especially The Desert Music ( 1984 ) and Different Trains ( 1988 ) that are marked both by the use of voice and speech as writing support a "melody of speech" but also the clear commitment to philosophical and spiritual composer in his later compositions. Philip Glass , after a period of trial and error in its stylistic research of the late 1960s characterized by the use of simple process of repetition and accumulation (as in Two Pages and Music in Fifths ) makes a breakthrough in terms of timbre and harmony with the composition Music with Changing Parts ( 1970 ), which marks the beginning of his compositions called "minimalism mature" . It will continue on this path with the completion of its new bases in the writing room Music in Twelve Parts ( 1974 ). A turning point in her career occurred in 1973 with the meeting of director Bob Wilson , who asked him to compose the music for the opera marathon Einstein on the Beach ( 1976 ). This work will form the first part of his famous trilogy lyrical supplemented Satyagraha ( 1980 ) and Akhnaten ( 1984 ), which appear gradually thematic motifs are characteristic of the compositions of Glass. From the mid-1980s, he turned to writing massive six quartets , nine symphonies , six concertos , ranging themes and rhythms that are now his trademark, instantly recognizable, but away from any further formal research in the minimalist movement. It is gaining popularity in contrast to the general public, including through the world of pop music and film and uses much more or less its original creations, unlike Steve Reich is a leading authority and reference in the classical music world . Many other composers involved in the development of minimalist music in New York in 1960 and 70. Philip Glass particular emphasis on the fact that there was a great vitality and variety of ideas, which have greatly contributed Meredith Monk , Frederic Rzewski , Pauline Oliveros , James Tenney , Charlemagne Palestine , Terry Jennings , Philip Corner , David Behrman , Jon Gibson , Phil Niblock , Rhys Chatham , Ingram Marshall. Glass regrets that these composers have not received as much media exposure that he or Steve Reich . Outside this community in New York, approaching the work of minimalism, or directly inspired by the works of American, grow in Europe : Louis Andriessen in Holland, Gavin Bryars and Michael Nyman in Britain, Renaud Gagneux in France Post-minimalism and postmodernism The musical postmodernism is an attitude of rejection and isolation against the hermetic post-serialism , claiming the postmodern composers blending and mixing of forms through the collage technique, borrowing, and citation. Where the post-serialism had to "clean slate" in the words of Pierre Boulez , postmodernism takes as a reference. Thus John Adams believes his music does not feed "... not only of minimalism, but of Alban Berg , Stravinsky , the Rock'n Roll , the Arab music , Jewish , etc.. " . For his return to form melodic and tonal, with the repetitive use of language, the use of collage and quotation, in all these characteristics minimalism is the most radical current of postmodernism in his break with the post-serialism . Post-minimalism minimalist composers also relates to the first hour. After Drumming ( 1971 ), Reich adds instrumentation of his plays, and is changing its methods to more rhythmic and harmonic complexity . Similarly, Philip Glass began composing for the "musical theater" and opera from 1974, with concerns that moving away from minimalism, especially the use of harmony as an opera Einstein on the Beach ( 1976 ) that marks this development. Post-minimalism minimalism stands thus being less radical and experimental . These composers are sometimes grouped together and associated with the minimalist movement because of their use of certain principles of this style of composition (repetition, long sustained sounds, silences, a certain simplicity) and a spiritual or Christian religious influence in their lives openly claimed and their compositions. Alan Hovhaness is sometimes seen as a forerunner of this trend, but it is mainly the Estonian Arvo Prt , the Pole Henryk Gorecki , and Briton John Tavener that is usually associated with "mystical minimalist". In a broader sense, Giya Kancheli and Sofia Gubaidulina are sometimes included in this branch of minimalism. Works by Prt and Grecki are characterized by the use of tonality, a simple musical material often used repeatedly, and a composition influenced by composers from the Middle Ages and the plainsong Gregorian. Both strongly marked by political repression and spiritual in their country under Communist rule, began composing in the 1960s in a style neoclassical before turning to serialism causing them to censorship by the authorities . Prt turned to the music of silence and contemplation by calling Fr Alina ( 1976 ), Fratres ( 1977 ) and Spiegel im Spiegel ( 1978 ) seminal works of this internal movement in minimalism that will lay the groundwork for a style he describes specific tintinnabulum. This style is characterized by the simultaneous use of two voices, one arpeggios on a tonic triad known as the "tinkling" and the other based on a low flying so diatonic. His work then turned to writing almost exclusively sacred music , mostly choral, developing a "light songs" . Gorecki for his part makes the transition between serial music and sacred minimalism 1976 especially with the writing of his Third Symphony , which has a very high profile a few years later in Western Europe and the United States, thereby providing its international reputation . All the works classified as minimalist music is far include a unity of style or musical characteristics have quite the same. Although classification is still simplistic, however, generally it is accepted that the aesthetics of minimalist music is based on three characteristics : This includes but works very different profiles, and use of different musical techniques. Similarly, the works of minimalist composers said, can not all be considered minimalist, particularly the recent work of Steve Reich and Philip Glass , or the first pieces (often non-musical) by La Monte Young. The pioneers of minimalist La Monte Young and Terry Riley experiment with compositional techniques varied. La Monte Young particular product works very diverse pieces inspired serialism and Webern , conceptual pieces similar to John Cage , group improvisation inspired by Indian music and jazz , plays based on his research on formal the just intonation. Terry Riley is much more empirical him, he experimented with tapes , and uses a lot of improvisation. In the late 1950s, La Monte Young uses serialism in a roundabout way to create a new style, because of long periods quasi-static, composed of long sustained notes . The choice of intervals also makes his compositions. As early as 1957 and Variations for Viola, flute, bassoon, harp and string trio, Young uses mainly quads and straights just as well as major sevenths , which are found in many compositions as for Brass ( 1957 ). especially Trio for Strings ( 1958 ), considered as the major component of this minimum period of Young . Young's harmonic language is built in part on these intervals, as well as avoiding the major third , which according to his words can not express the feelings he wishes . Young isolated four chords he called "Dream Chords" , which become the basis of his harmonic language . The abandonment of the major third is then given a theoretical justification with his formal research on the just intonation . From 1961, La Monte Young uses improvisation sopranino saxophone , repeating sequences of modal at high speed, accompanied by a drone , where the influence of John Coltrane and Indian music is noticeable , . An important part of the work of Terry Riley on the tapes , on which it registers on the piano, recorded speech, laughter, particular sounds, or radio programs, and uses it as a loop, c ' that is to say in the form of short repeated motifs . He experimented with several techniques for handling these bands, using a device to generate echo effects by repeatedly delayed, change the frequency of sounds by changing the rotational speed of the strip, gradually or suddenly, randomly cut pieces of tape and the glue together, hoping to generate interesting phenomena . This is essentially the repetition of patterns at the center of the experiments of Riley , repetition of patterns that also play through the instrumentalists, as in In C ( 1964 ). Riley's approach is more intuitive and structured than experimental, but the composer is trying to produce an "abstract experiment" for the listener, which initially recognizable sounds are gradually distorted until no longer recognizable . Another feature of the work of Riley is the emphasis on the improvisation and jazz. The composer sometimes uses jazz standards like Autumn Leaves , and develops a particular style of piano improvisation, influenced in part by the ragtime. Most of his plays after In C are not rated, and partly improvised, partly constructed from all pre-set musical patterns that are repeated at will, as in Keyboard Study No. 1 and Keyboard Study No. 2. The reasons are played quickly, without pause, so as to obtain a continuous flow of notes, unaccented . Riley also improvised soprano saxophone , including Dorian Reeds and Nogood Poppy And The Phantom Band , in which he uses repetition of motifs and tapes to create an echo effect and generate complex counterpoint with the mixture of voices . Unlike the intuitive approach of Terry Riley, Steve Reich and Philip Glass will establish rigorous methods of composition, to help them structure their work. Reich is widely regarded as the most gifted and most rigorous in the definition of such methods , . In his essay from 1968, Music as a gradual process , Steve Reich explains his intention to be heard at the listener a musical process. If he takes up the idea of composition created by a process he opposes John Cage , some of whose compositions are based on random processes of construction of the composition. Reich wants to make audible the very process of construction of the room. Another important element of dissociation with Cage is the refusal of indeterminacy: the process of Reich is purely deterministic randomness plays no role. These ideas lead to a method of composition which Reich called " phasing "(phase shift in French). This method of composition, which can approximate the shape of the classical canon comes from his work with several poor quality tape, which gradually lost their synchronicity. The phasing is constructed from short musical motifs, repeated ad libitum by many voices, and is gradually introducing a gap between these voices, creating a phase shift. The progression of the phase shift between the voices as to measure the room and creates new musical structures, or simplifies complex rhythms and harmonies, giving actually hear the physical process of mixing the desired voice by the composer . The superposition of the vote shift is sometimes so complex that listening to the piece can give rise to different perceptions of noise between two people, and even between two listening experiences by one person . From Violin Phase ( 1967 ) Reich begins to exploit what he called "by-products psycho-acoustic (or patterns resulting) in the phase shift, that is to say the reasons are spontaneously formed by combining basic motifs . It also complicates the situation by introducing specific reasons resulting to play explicitly by the instrumentalists, in addition to those that occasionally occur naturally, or melodic lines that do not follow the cut temporal basic patterns . The work of Philip Glass are also based on a systematic process of composition, and sound the listener. Glass from 1968 defines a process based on the addition / subtraction of basic patterns, these being subdivisible into two or more other reasons. The score for the grounds, and then do note that their expansions / contractions. The figures resulting from this grouping of patterns are repeating an unspecified number of times. Similarly, the instrumentation and nuances are not specified . Contrary to Young or even Riley, Reich and Glass firmly reject any interpretation of their music as hypnotic or meditative, and reject any word "trance music", held pejorative , . They believe instead that the listener must be particularly active and alert, to hear the details of the processes implemented . A major concern among the minimalists is rhythm. Most of the compositions have a steady pulse, and are constructed by interlocking rhythmic base units. These rhythms are particularly strong consideration at Steve Reich and are made through the technique of phase shift. Drumming ( 1971 ) marks the culmination of Reich's fascination for rhythm, expressed by the phasing. With Philip Glass, the work on rhythm is present in his early minimalist pieces using a method of additive composition, especially in Room 1 +1 ( 1968 ) . The rhythm is the first element analyzed systematically by the minimalists, before the re-integration of future harmony and melody . The early works of minimalists are atonal , Trio for Strings (1958) Young's String Quartet (1960) Riley, although extremely slow evolution and low density of notes give an illusion of tonality, virtually eliminating any movement . Even In C , which is generally regarded as the work back to the tone, is not strictly tonal, atonal composition but without indication of armor , even if the composition is largely diatonic , . The gradual abandonment tapes in favor of acoustic instruments, encourages the development of harmony. Steve Reich, from Piano Phase , a tonal and modal profile is established at the beginning of the work, but remains ambiguous. The resulting processes diatonicism phasing is not chosen a priori, but rather by the necessary experience . At Young and Riley, bass plays a drone , inspired in this by the Indian music. Steve Reich, there is no bass, and the heights and tend to be middle register ( Piano Phase has no rating below 4 Mi, Phase Patterns below C4). The lack of bass produced some ambiguities that Reich seeks to preserve, while not knowing precisely define . Similarly, minimalists do not use any of extended playing techniques , very present in the other streams of contemporary music. The grades generally vary very little, or not at all. The noise level is often very high, for example in some parts of La Monte Young , and in Glass, where we perceive the influence of rock The dance, which by nature has always been intimately linked to the musical ideas of his time, did not escape the influence of minimalist music, particularly around the concept and use of repetition. In some ways the origin of the impact of music on the minimalist dance dates back to the collaborations of John Cage with the American choreographer Merce Cunningham in the early 1950s at the birth of modern dance. Through him, Cunningham also met Morton Feldman , who composed the music for him for his innovative choreography as Melody untitled for Merce Cunningham in 1968 . In addition, a group comprising firstly dancers Simone Forti , Yvonne Rainer , Trisha Brown and others from composers Terry Riley and La Monte Young is formed around Anna Halprin between 1960 and 1962 to conduct performance including the Judson Church in New York . But it is Trisha Brown will explore further the principle of repetition and accumulation of successive choreographic movements during this period of modern dance . Meredith Monk , who is also a dancer, joined by the following this group where she can mingle with both his research and his musical creations in dance performance directed toward a more refined movement and a certain spiritual trance. After years of minimalism, is woven a close relationship between dance and music through this current Lucinda Childs , a student of Cunningham, who, after joining the group of Anna Halprin, is working extensively with Philip Glass at the late 1970s for his opera Einstein on the Beach (1976) . She realized later two of his choreography Dance (1979) and Mad Rush (1981) on compositions homonyms ( Dance and Mad Rush ) commissioned the composer to New York . Lucinda Childs's work has focused on various aspects of research on minimalism with extensive collaboration in the field of designs and pictures made with the artist Sol LeWitt , one of the advocates of minimalism painting. Twyla Tharp also used frequently Glass compositions in which she commissione his 4 th Symphony called "Heroes" in 1996 for his ballet namesake . Similarly Laura Dean worked with Steve Reich between 1971 and 1975 including the first use of choreography composition Drumming . However, the choreography, although using repetitive elements and lag, can not be fully qualified to minimalist music still support a relatively traditional choreography and rich . The direct influence of minimalist music in the process choreographies is actually associated with the discovery and use of the works of Steve Reich by the Belgian choreographer of contemporary dance by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker , during his studies at the Tisch School of the Arts in New York . From 1980 to 1982, she created her piece founder Fase, Four Movements to the music of Steve Reich in which she theorizes further the contribution of live music in dance by giving actually see the principles of phasing / phase developed by Reich his first compositions Piano Phase , Violin Phase , Clapping Music and Come Out . The close relationship between De Keersmaeker and music e Reich will therefore be perpetually renewed in many creations by Belgian choreographer in the decades following, particularly with the ballet Drumming (1998) on the eponymous composition Drumming and Rain (2001) on Music for 18 Musicians . Furthermore, the Swedish choreographer Mats Ek has him facing a time to the "mystic minimalism" by calling in 1995 for the duo Smoke Sylvie Guillem using the compositions Fr Alina and Spiegel im Spiegel of Arvo Prt. More recently, the British choreographer Christopher Wheeldon has used the particular compositions of all the big names for his minimalist works written in a neoclassical style. Minimalist composers have maintained close relationships with artists, especially those with current minimalist and the conceptual art . Steve Reich and Philip Glass have had very good relations of friendship with Richard Serra , Sol Le Witt , Bruce Nauman , Michael Snow , and Nancy Graves. Reich wrote his essay "Music as a Gradual Process (1968) to be included in the catalog of a major exhibition on minimalism in the visual side of his friends at the Whitney Museum in 1969 and during which he gives, with Glass, concerts . Also a work such as Pendulum Music Reich involving Serra, Nauman, as implementers and Snow takes over the performance of that music really. Steve Reich recognize a "common line" between the artists and their creations, characterized by the aspect of geometric and metaphorical "their respective works, but no direct reciprocal influences . He said: "We just swam in the same soup." In 1977, some artists are participating in a sale of their works to bail out the debts arising from the installation of Einstein on the Beach Glass . Finally, Glass has been the personal assistant to full time in 1969 by Richard Serra . Glass is, however, no direct link between his work as a musician and visual works of his friends . La Monte Young has maintained links with some brief movement Fluxus during its period of creation of conceptual pieces. His works are played in the 1959-1961 Fluxus festivals, and some of its parts, including Trio for Strings , published by the movement . Young, however, moves away from Fluxus, 1963. It works by then cons regularly with his wife, visual artist Marian Zazeela , which provides visual installations, including The Well-Tuned Piano and Theatre of Eternal Music . Cinema and Audiovisual generally have frequently borrowed from the early 1980s, the works of minimalist composers such as audio media of movies, documentaries, video art, television commercials and generic. Philip Glass and Arvo Prt are certainly the two composers who most permit the use of their parts as film soundtrack , or have specially made at the request of a director. So we owe to Philip Glass' original bands actually three films in the Trilogy Qatsi of Godfrey Reggio (1982 to 2002), Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters of Paul Schrader (1985), and Kundun of Martin Scorsese ( 1997 ). He also directed to post the music from the movie Dracula 1931 and has worked many times with music and documentary films of Errol Morris and by providing re-orchestrated his previous compositions. In addition, Glass has also worked extensively with director Bob Wilson for the creation of ambitious entertainment, combining opera, video, theater, including Einstein on the Beach (1976) and The Civil Wars (1984) sponsored for the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. On the Estonian Prt, it is not original compositions for film (although he made early in his career many soundtracks, but not in a minimalist style ) but authorizations use of his works. In addition, Steve Reich, many times, worked in close relationship with his wife, artist video artist Beryl Korot , the joint creation of a work integrated from the moment of his music using the image multi-channel video playing on the principle of repetition. In this research, which began in the early 1990's , come from two video operas ( The Cave in 1993 and Three Tales in 2001) whose implementation stage (for both) and recordings (for only the second ) integrate the projection of videos uploaded. The use of repetition as a structure is also used in popular music, with the publication in 1967 of the disk with banana the Velvet Underground , the famous group of pop music produced by Andy Warhol. The ideas come directly from minimalism, John Cale and Angus Maclise collaborated with La Monte Young and the Theatre of Eternal Music prior to their involvement in the Velvet Underground. Much of the work of Philip Glass is bound to rock. He is involved in the production level with the rock world, and acquires a reputation. His music will affect some groups of experimental rock , especially German Kraftwerk , Cluster , or Neu!. David Bowie and Brian Eno are also influenced by Glass or Steve Reich, minimalism and influence is clearly discernible in the movement Ambient created by Eno. Similarly, Eno album with Robert Fripp , No Pussyfooting (1973) is strongly influenced by Music with Changing Parts ( 1970 ) . Robert Fripp develops in the three albums that mark the return of King Crimson in 1981, Discipline, Beat and Three of a Perfect Pair, a progressive post-rock influenced by the minimalist language, to mix with new-wave sounds, electronic, and ethnic . In 1976, Glass works with rock clubs in Manhattan and movement punk rock and post-punk , particularly through the Philip Glass Ensemble. Groups like Theoretical Girls , or composers like Rhys Chatham are also influenced by the experience of Glass with rock . In 1995, he composed an orchestral version of Icct Hedral of Aphex Twin , one of the major writers of electronic music. In the 1990s, Philip Glass draw back albums Low (1976) and "Heroes" (1977) from David Bowie to compose two of his symphonies (the Symphony No. 1 and Symphony No. 4 respectively), underscoring mutual reciprocal interactions between the two artists from different backgrounds. Minimalism was born as an experimental current and developed outside the traditional world of classical music. The first concerts were given mostly in art galleries or museums, and must be arranged by the composers themselves. These are mainly records that allow a wide dissemination of minimalist music, including to Europe, where the reception is pretty good. It is also Europe which provide minimal evidence of their first major recognition with a command of the French State to Philip Glass , and success as a record with an audience not restricted to fans of contemporary music , with registration of Music for 18 Musicians by Steve Reich , the German label Edition of Contemporary Music. A much wider then comes back with the film and television work of minimalist, or music is largely based. The first concerts of minimalist take place outside the traditional channels of representation of classical music. Composers present their works in art galleries ( Park Place Gallery ), museums ( Guggenheim Museum ), in private (the loft of Yoko Ono ) or universities. The artists are particularly open to music by Philip Glass and Steve Reich, and to recognize a kinship with their own work . The first concerts in more formal classical concert halls are the occasion of scandal. A representation of Four Organs by Steve Reich at Carnegie Hall in 1973 wipes protests from the public against the hypnotic nature of the work . Philip Glass undergoes some throws eggs during performances . On the occasion of a tour in Europe with Richard Serra , the public reacted negatively to the works of Glass, in particular Amsterdam . The critical reception is mixed. Tom Johnson of the Village Voice , and Michael Nyman write positive reviews of the first concerts, but they themselves are also composers, close to the minimalist movement. Other journalists are much more severe, especially Donald Henahan the New York Times on the work of Reich . Harold Schonberg of The Times is unseated by a concert including Terry Riley A Rainbow in Curved Air and Poppy Nogood And The Phantom Band. Critic recognizes the hypnotic obtained by repetition of patterns, proximity to the Indian music , but described the result as "monotonous and unpleasant" . The host of musicians is also mixed, La Monte Young is denigrated by his teachers and his plays are widely misunderstood , . Terry Riley was among the first composers to have his work recognized, following the success of In C ( 1964 ). In 1967, the Royal Academy of Music in Sweden commissioned a work for orchestra and choir, Olson III. In 1969, the foundation Dilex who commissioned a score for a video on the work of sculptor Arlo Acton , what would become Music with Balls. It also collaborates with the Swedish and Danish television . The American conductor Michael Tilson Thomas plays an important role in the dissemination of minimalist music, he organized in 1971 and 1973 the first concerts in large halls ( Carnegie Hall in 1973), by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In 1971, Reich and Glass together make a tour in Europe, where their common group plays Four Organs , Pendulum Music , Piano Phase , Phase Patterns of Reich and Music with Changing Parts of Glass. The host concerts in Paris and London is encouraging more mixed in Germany . These are mainly records that allow composers to increase circulation. Since 1967, Come Out Steve Reich, and In C by Terry Riley are recorded for Columbia Records , an album consisting of twenty contemporary works. the album was criticized in the music press, and in the magazine Time. It's Gonna Rain and Violin Phase by Steve Reich in 1969, and The Church of Anthrax Terry Riley in 1970, are recorded, still for Columbia. In 1971 Philip Glass created his own record company, Chatham Square Productions, through which he released Music with Changing Parts , Music in Fifths , Music in Similar Motion. Records are also produced by a French label, Shandar. It also will of France as a true recognition of the minimalists. In 1974, Michel Guy , then Secretary of State for Culture command Einstein on the Beach Philip Glass. The creation and tour of the work in Europe in 1976 is a success, as well as performances in New York the same year. The recognition comes discography of Germany, in 1974 with the recording on the prestigious label of classical music Deutsche Grammophon , of Drumming , Six Pianos , Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices and Organ Steve Reich. In 1978, the registration of Music for 18 Musicians , which is really knowing the music of Steve Reich internationally, and to a wider audience. This is the German label Edition of Contemporary Music , dedicated to jazz and improvised music , who produced the record, and allows a much wider audience than the avant-garde minimalist music to discover . Conversely, refusal to compromise on the part of La Monte Young's face to record companies or venues , makes his record production rare, and his work is actually distributed and less known . It is from the 1980's and 1990 's minimalist music that is copied and distributed en masse by television and film. The composers of film music and television advertisements in particular copy of gimmicks to Philip Glass. Steve Reich and Meredith Monk are also imitated . A revival of the minimalist movement in New York seems to emerge with a new generation of composers such as Nico Muhly , who works particularly with Philip Glass . Extremely strong criticism was expressed towards minimalism, primarily from composers or musicologists close to the forefront , and philosophers. The American composer Elliott Carter has repeatedly expressed its strong rejection of minimalism and more generally of repetition in music, considered the composer's death . It is particularly an analogy with the advertising , unsolicited, intrusive and repeated ad nauseum . The qualifier fascist has even been used explicitly, as well as comparing the use of repetition as a method of brainwashing as practiced in advertising or speeches of Hitler . A frequent criticism is to accuse the minimalist music of superficiality or even anti-intellectualism . It is not considered "leading nowhere", denying the language of music and being a "tapestry of sound" . Especially the music of Philip Glass that concentrates the critics sometimes call "lies" or "regression" . The qualifiers of "monotonous" or "boring" are often used in criticism vis--vis La Monte Young and Terry Riley . Critics are sharply divided and generally arise in "for" or "cons" . In France, the first reactions to the works of John Adams have not been very favorable. In 1990, the magazine Telerama writes about Nixon in China "is the degree zero of music. A kind of typical American products such as Coca-Cola , Disneyland , and the new international order " . The critique of minimalism is sometimes confused with that of postmodernism. The avant-garde composer Brian Ferneyhough rejects postmodernism, and critical especially John Adams , whom he denounced a lack of ethics related to the non-inclusion of musical culture . For some scholars, however, minimalism fits perfectly into modernity. Further influences some of serialism, particularly Schoenberg and Webern , on La Monte Young and Terry Riley , which led directly to the early works of Minimalism, as Trio for Strings ( 1958 ), the application of rigorous generation of music as those developed by Reich and Glass, may be placed in parallel with the constraints of serialism full or random processes of John Cage. In particular the acceptance of the results provided by the process of phasing (even if it is deterministic, the process escapes partially composer) can be compared directly to the acceptance of music products generated by chance in Cage . For the scholar Keith Potter, another argument for the modernity of minimalism is "defamiliarization", a term proposed by theorist formalist Victor Shklovsky to signify the loss of impact of common elements diminished in significance by habit. According to Shklovsky, the art would aim to make this meaning to things we would have too accustomed. Potter said that this rediscovery of familiar elements had already been performed by Cage and serialism, but the minimalist realize it very differently. Instead of the unheard, they go to a musical material extremely simple and familiar to study in depth through intensive use of repetition . The first parameter is studied and the rhythm , the systematic approach to producing parts close to the study, and give these first plays a real character of experimental music. This investigation subsequently expanded to other parameters ( heights , harmony ). Keith Potter said as well as: "Minimalism force listeners to reinterpret the familiar, not only through their own perceptions and sensations, but also by the energy generated by the same principles (regular pulse, and the feeling of moving towards a goal), who sub- tended the approach to Western tonal music over the centuries . " 
The "mystical minimalist"
Movie Musical
Between theory and intuition
Process audible composition
Music Features
Links with the visual arts
Dance
The fine arts
The audiovisual
In popular music
Recognition and popularity
A difficult start
Recognition and Success
Criticism and analysis
Essential Works
Notes
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