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What understanding of compositional practice and the listening experience is to be gained from regarding the distinction between minimalism and post-minimalism as significant? Answer with detailed reference to ONE work of your own choice.
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What understanding of compositional practice and the listening experience is to be
gained from regarding the distinction between minimalism and post-minimalism as
significant? Answer with detailed reference to ONE work of your own choice.
The term 'minimalism' is typically understood in two ways. In the general accepted sense, it is
known as when contemporary American classical composers in the 60s and 70s (such as
Steve Reich and Philip Glass) returned to simple tonal music, repetitive arpeggios and
constrained dynamics. On the other hand, the term in particular in its adjectival form
‘minimalist’, is sometimes thrown around as a near synonym for 'sparse' or 'simple'. In many
music reviews one can find 'minimalist' applied to everything from a solo saxophone
improvisation to a solo singer/songwriter on-stage with an acoustic guitar to a four-piece
country band recording without the benefit of overdubs. Implementing these ideas that
minimalism can mean many things, this essay will initially discuss the complicated field of
minimalism and how this further affects our understanding of post-minimalism. Let us then
analyse a post-minimalism piece by Louis Andriessen in order to distinguish and recognise
the difference between minimalistic and post-minimalistic compositional practice.
American minimalism is considered and accepted widely as the alternative to the
overly atonal and difficult music of the mid-century avant-garde. It was a movement against
‘complicated’ music such as Serialism and Experimental music to bring back 'serious' music
into the American public. In the words of David Lang, 'as being just the battleground that was
necessary to remove those forces from power: not to obliterate them or destroy them, but to
remove them from power.’1 However, the music known as minimalism (or more specifically,
American minimalism) is extremely broad and complicated and the movement is most
1 David Lang in interview with Keith Potter, November 1993
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probably one of the most misunderstood musical movements in history.2 It cannot really be
completely described in such a single idea especially when the term is used also for Europe at
the similar time. When minimalism made its appearance on the European continent, it took
on a very different aesthetic which was influenced by the generally darker tone of European
music in the postwar period. Therefore the music by composers such as Karel Goeyvaerts is
very much different in musical style to the American composers. The difference and of course
the similarities will be very obvious in the analysis of Andriessen later in the essay.
Before we discuss the actual music in matter, one must realize that the two
understandings of the term ‘minimalism’ are not exactly two separate notions. Furthermore,
as already discussed with the history, the two ways of understanding minimalism are not that
straight forward or clear. Obviously, the adjectival form of the word came about due to and
after the simple tonal music which the composers began to write at that time. In other words,
the use of the word in description of any ‘simple’ musical context came about after the
historical movement. In fact, the later genre of post-minimalism only relates to the earlier
minimalism with its musical rather than historical influences. Furthermore, it is the other
musical styles which are incorporated into the latter music which makes the significant
difference between the two genres. This will be discussed later on. Nevertheless, the
definition of the adjectival form of the term in itself is still very vague and is difficult to
really say what it exactly is. Even among musicians and musicologists, there is disagreement
and debate which is clearly shown in Jonathan Bernard’s article ‘Minimalism, Post-
minimalism, and the Resurgence Tonality in Recent American Music’.3 Furthermore,
minimalism is frequently used with negative terminology. It is sometimes meant to describe
2 A. G. Niren, 'An Examination of Minimalist Tendencies in Two Early Works by Terry Riley' in First International Conference on Music and Minimalism (University of Wales, Bangor August 31, 2007) 13Jonathan W. Bernard, ‘Minimalism, Postminimalism, and the Resurgence of Tonality in Recent American Music’ in American Music 21/1 (Spring 2003): 112-133.
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‘music with practically no substance’ or ‘music where nothing happens.’4 For example,
although Steve Reich is one of the significant composers representing the American
movement, his works has been excessively neglected by serious American researchers and
scholarly American journals.5 In fact, it is the Europeans (particularly the British and the
Germans) who write about Reich’s music with the respect it deserves.
Nevertheless, the very much complicated matter of the musical definition of
minimalism is in fact quite simply summarised in an interesting, single article by Tom
Johnson. In the article, he cleverly explores the different ideas on what minimalism is really
about and how to describe it.6 He begins to try and define the music in six different ways but
in the end, comes up with again a confusing but at the same time somewhat accurate
conclusion. The first answer he gives is ‘it has a lot to do with repetition’. Then he follows on
with five other generalisations: It has a lot to do with tiny variations’, ‘it has something to do
with hyper-clarity’, ‘it has something to do with encouraging more subtle perceptions’, ‘it has
something to do with making music less dramatic’ and finally ‘it stems partly from certain
Asian and African attitudes’.7 As Johnson then tries to explain, all of these ‘definitions’ of
minimalism are correct only up to a certain point. In other words, these notions cannot be a
complete definition to the music by themselves as it is with any kind of music. In the words
of Johnson, ‘it isn’t really about ideas, and it can’t really be explained in words. It can only
be demonstrated. And even then, every demonstration is going to be a little different, and no
one demonstration will ever be definitive’.8
4 H. Wiley Hitchcock, ‘Minimalism in Art and Music: Origins and Aesthetics’ in Classic Essays on Twentieth-Century Music, Selected and annotated by Richard Kostelanetz and Joseph Darby (New York, 1996) 3185 K. R. Schwarz, 'Steve Reich: Music as a Gradual Process: Part I' in Perspectives of New Music, 19/1-2 (Autumn, 1980 - Summer, 1981) 3746 Tom Johnson, ‘What Is Minimalism Really About?’, in Tom Johnson The Voice Of New Music New Yokr City 1972-1982 (Village Voice, 1989) 2967 Johnson, ‘What is Minimalism?’ 296-2988 Johnson, ‘What is minimalism?’ 298
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The complications of both historical and musical definitions of minimalism are
demonstrated by the various pieces we have today composed by the many composers who are
considered as minimalists. The music in fact is very broad considering all the different
composers with different styles to minimalism in both America and Europe of which we have
already discussed. In American minimalism alone, we have the cinematic ear-candy of Philip
Glass to the mind-blowing of Terry Riley and the symphonic affectation of John Adams. All
demonstrate some of the general ideas of minimalism but also have distinct different colours
and styles of their own.
The problem with the three main composers or representatives of the American
Minimalism movement (Reich, Glass and Riley) are all continuously known as ‘minimalists’
despite their later music which suggest other styles also. For example, Glassworks by Glass is
at the same time still very much like his cinematic works which one can find in his earlier
works but is moreover very different with the influences of pop-oriented styles. As a result,
this six-movement piece released in 1982 is in fact therefore considered as music of post-
minimalism. In the words of the composer himself, ‘Glassworks was intended to introduce
my music to a more general audience that had been familiar with it up to then.’9 Incidentally,
Reich was also influenced hugely by Jazz in later works. What's more, this also questions the
debatable matter of defining post-minimalism. This then leads into the question of how to
understand and define the distinction between the two genres.
Bernard, in his article suggests two criteria by which a composer can be qualified to
be called a post-minimalist. The first is ‘began as a minimalist and is now writing music that,
however different from those beginnings, can be plausibly traced back to them’ and the
second ‘developed after minimalism’s most abundant flowering, but principally in response
9 Philip Glass.com music:glassworks
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to it’.10 In my view, I think Bernard’s proposal is most sensible but still again do not think
that all the composers could simply fall into one criterion or the other. There will be
exceptions. Nevertheless, the understanding of Philip Glass’ Glassworks definitely fits nicely
into the first and composers such as Louise Andriessen in the second. On the other hand,
(perhaps more relevant to the first criterion) due to the unclear definition of minimalism and
the various music which is considered as the genre, one could easily argue that Glassworks as
a variant of minimalism; not a post-minimalist piece. This could also be a plausible
interpretation of the work and neither is really right or wrong in answer. However, there will
always be exceptions such as this but one must also realise that there are many pieces which
are more easily labelled as minimalism or post-minimalism if we consider the dissimilarities
of the two genres as significant.
In other words, the musical distinctions which are generally made between the two in
fact give us some guidance to understand and recognize a piece to be either minimalist or
post-minimalist. It is the similarities (the minimalistic elements of post-minimalism) which
generate the debate and disagreement. Therefore, by considering the differences as more
significant than the similarities, one can gain a much clearer idea of what the two genres
mean and represent. Apart from the minimalism influences of the later genre, there are more
influences of many other genres which are combined into single pieces of works. This links
onto the idea of eclecticism in modern music. Therefore, besides the repetitious and less
dramatic elements in the music, the incorporations of other musical styles create richer
harmonies and different musical colours. For example, many composers include rock, jazz,
world music, folk, sound art or even the classical western art music within the minimalist
foundation.11
10 Bernard, ‘Minimalism’ 12711 Dave Lynch & François Couture, ‘Post-Minimalism’ in Allmusic.com
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To demonstrate these ideas, let us now concentrate on a particular composer who is a
key figure of post-minimalism or more specifically, European post-minimalism. Louis
Andriessen (born in 1939) is a Dutch composer who is renowned for his excellent post-
minimalistic music. However, his early music show influences of many other genres and he
experimented with a few contemporary styles such as serialism. It is only the composer’s
mature music which is described as post-minimalist which varies from large to small scaled
ensemble pieces. One could understand Andriessen as suited in the second criterion by
Bernard. The interesting point about Andriessen’s music (and many other European
composers) is that their music is rather considered as a variant of post-minimalism. In other
words, despite the fact that they are influenced by the American genre, their works are
considered more to towards their own culture; creating their own personal contemporary
Dutch music. His piece De Staat is considered as ‘Standard-bearer for contemporary Dutch
music’.12 De Staat (‘The Republic’) by was composed in 1976 and was a breakthrough in the
composer’s career. The foundation of minimalism is clear but the music also undoubtedly
shows the influences of jazz and even art music such as Stravinsky which I will discuss in
detail.
First of all, the resonance of American minimalist composers such as Reich is evident
in De Staat. He had made acquaintances with these composers and their music during 1970 to
1971.13 Andriessen met Steve Reich in 1971 and also came to be known to the music by
Glass and Riley such as Music in Twelve Parts and In C during those years. Andriessen also
was influenced greatly by the music of Frederic Rzewski.14 Although Rzwski is also
American by birth, he spent much of his time in Europe and is quite different in character to
12 Robert Adlington, Louis Andriessen: De Staat (University of Nottingham UK, 2004) 113 Adlington, De Staat 4114 Adlington, De Staat 42
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the others too. One may consider him also as a post-minimalist. His works uses a non-
diatonic harmony and is much more energetic than the music by Reich or Glass. Robert
Adlington suggests in his book completely dedicated to the piece De Staat that the content of
the piece can be explained simply in terms of four loose basic categories- each which recur
several time in the piece: the Repetitive, mostly diatonic (very much resonance of American
minimalism), frenetic unison melody, rhythmic, low-register chromatic brass music and
harshly dissonant chord sequences.15 Due to the strong foundation of American minimalism
De Staat suffers with no exception in the debate about the music being minimalist or post-
minimalist.
Nevertheless, there are so many other musical styles involved in the 35 minutes piece;
it is far from being ‘simple’ music. One of the prominent influences in Andriessen’s music is
jazz. From a young age he was exposed to the music and had made many Jazz musician
friends.16 In the field of jazz, the composer’s influences range across boogie-woogie, big band
and bebop which can be heard not only in De Staat but many of his other works such as De
Stijl (1985) which resembles styles of boogie-woogie and bebop style in Facing Death
(1990).17 The features of big band such as the use of brass, homophonic texture and sudden
hurried gestures can be found in De Staat. Adlington gives a few examples including the
noisy brass entry at bar 403 and the homophonic scoring from bar 823.18 However, the same
features also resemble the Russian contemporary music of Stravinsky which I will talk about
later.
Other element of the piece which can be linked to jazz is Andriessen’s use of the
voice. The text to De Staat is Plato’s Politeia (The Republic) which is scored for four female
15 Adlington, De Staat 6916 Adlington, De Staat 3317 Adlington, De Staat 3518 Adlington, De Staat 37
Page 7
voices.19 The voices are amplified and sung with no vibrato.20 It is definitely far from the
classical music domain such as opera but much closer to jazz. Furthermore, the use of
amplification allows the voices to be heard within the instrumental texture of the ensemble
piece. Perhaps this element is a unique style of Andriessen. In other words, the voice acts like
an instrument. Attached with the score, there is a diagram of the seating arrangement in
which one can see that the vocalists are seated at the ear of the stage; virtually hidden. (See
figure 1) As you can see, the voices are even behind the two pianos and harps. This can be
compared to the typical staging of opera singers as they stand in front of the orchestra.
Figure 1
The final influence which I will talk about is the music of Igor Stravinsky. I found this
the most striking of all and the music is evident from the very opening. Moreover, I believe
that these influences are what really make De Staat stand out as a European post-minimalist
piece. When I first heard the work, it immediately reminded me of Stravinsky’s most famous
19 Plato- Classical Greek writer of philosophical dialogues 20 Maja Trochimczyk, ‘The Man and His Music: A Portrait’ in The Music of Louis Andriessen (New York, 2002) 51
Page 8
piece The Rite of Spring (1913). Similarities include: the tetrachordal (B-C-E-F) meanderings
of the woodwind in the start can be compared to the bassoon solo in opening of The Rite (see
figure 2), the sudden homophonic and fortissimo brass sections with asymmetrical
accentuations (see figure 3) and the dissonant harmonies which can be compared to the style
of Russian folklore in Stravinsky.21 Adlington in fact summarises the harmonic progression of
the whole piece in his chapter ‘De Staat: The music’ and a score can be found on pages 64 to
67. Through this, one can find easily the types of chords used in the piece which are
influenced by several genres. For example, there are many modal harmonies such as the use
of the Mixolydian at bar 105 and the Aeolian chord at bar 201.22 Furthermore, there is
evidence of Indonesian music in the sections which use the Pelog scale in bar 503.23
Figure 2
Figure 3
21 Trochimczky, ‘A Portrait’ 5122 Adlington, De Staat 6423 Adlington, De Staat 65
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Andriessen, the composer himself was very open about his passion for the music of
Stravinsky. He said, ‘I cannot remember a time when I did not love the music of
Stravinsky.’24 He also felt that The Rite was ‘the most important and historical and
revolutionary piece for the next two hundred years’.25 It is therefore no wonder that the
resonance of Stravinsky is so passionately evident in De Staat and in many other pieces such
as Hymne to the Memory of Darius Milhaud (1974).
Apart from the three styles I have discussed in the essay, there are many more styles
and genres which influenced the works of Louis Andriessen. I believe that the eclecticism of
his music is a fine example of how it can allow us to understand the difference between the
two genres of minimalism and post-minimalism. In the words of Michael Zbyszyƒski, ‘it is
the quotation of and subsequent dialogue between disparate musical styles that distinguishes
24 Robert Enright, 'Notes towards anarchy: an interview with Louis Andriessen' in Border Crossings 15/1 (1996) 3725 Adlington, De Staat 48
Page 10
the music of Andriessen’.26 However, a thing that one must realize here is that the earlier
minimalist pieces may not be as eclectic as post-minimalist pieces, but they sure will also
have influences from other musical genres. As already mentioned, there will always be
exceptions and any ideas made in musicology, there can always be an opposing argument and
further different points of views on the matter. It is more about how you reason the answer
which supports the validity of the idea proposed.
Bibliography
26 Michael F. Zbyszyƒski, 'Aesthetic issues in De Staat, De Tijd, and. De Materie' in Music 202: The Sinfonia of Berio and Contemporary Music in Europe and America, 1945-1972, (December 1996) 12
Page 11
Adlington, Robert, Louis Andriessen: De Staat (University of Nottingham UK, 2004)
Bernard, Jonathan W., ‘Minimalism, Postminimalism, and the Resurgence of Tonality
in Recent American Music’ in American Music 21/1 (Spring 2003): 112-133
Enright, Robert, 'Notes towards anarchy: an interview with Louis Andriessen' in
Border Crossings 15/1 (1996)
Hitchcock, H. Wiley, ‘Minimalism in Art and Music: Origins and Aesthetics’ in
Classic Essays on Twentieth-Century Music, Selected and annotated by Richard
Kostelanetz and Joseph Darby (New York, 1996)
Johnson, Tom, ‘What Is Minimalism Really About?’, in Tom Johnson The Voice Of
New Music New Yokr City 1972-1982 (Village Voice, 1989)
Lynch, Dave and François Couture, ‘Post-Minimalism’ in Allmusic.com
Niren, A. G., 'An Examination of Minimalist Tendencies in Two Early Works by
Terry Riley' in First International Conference on Music and Minimalism (University
of Wales, Bangor August 31, 2007)
Schwarz, K. R., 'Steve Reich: Music as a Gradual Process: Part I' in Perspectives of
New Music, 19/1-2 (Autumn, 1980 - Summer, 1981) 373-392
Trochimczyk, Maja, ‘The Man and His Music: A Portrait’ in The Music of Louis
Andriessen (New York, 2002) 47-68
Zbyszyƒski, Michael F., 'Aesthetic issues in De Staat, De Tijd, and. De Materie' in
Music 202: The Sinfonia of Berio and Contemporary Music in Europe and America,
1945-1972, (December 1996)
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