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The term minimal music is derived from the concept of minimalismMinimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features. In other fields of art, it has been used to describe the plays of Samuel Beckett, the fil, which was earlier used for visual arts.
The word "minimalism" was first used in relation to music in 1968Events Undated Booker Prize for Fiction is established by Booker plc. 1968 is known as the year of the Prague Spring and also the year of the Paris riots. The ASCII character code is standardized as ANSI Standard X3. Nauru adopt his national anthem of the by Michael NymanMichael Nyman (born March 23, 1944) is a British minimalist composer, pianist, librettist and musicologist, many of whose works are associated with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway. Nyman's popularity increased significantly after he wrote the soundtrack to in a review of Cornelius CardewCornelius Cardew ( May 7, 1936 December 13, 1981) born in Winchcombe, Gloucester, was an English avant-garde composer, and founder (with Howard Skempton and Michael Parsons) of the Scratch Orchestra, an experimental performing ensemble. He is notable for's piece The Great Digest. Nyman later expanded his definition of minimalism in music in his 19741974 is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). Events January-February January 5 Dungeons & Dragons officially released. February 4 Patricia Hearst, the 19 year old granddaughter of publisher William Randolph Hearst, is kidnapped book Experimental Music: CageJohn Milton Cage ( September 5, 1912 August 12, 1992) was an experimental music composer and writer, possibly best known (some might say notorious) for his piece 4 33 often described (somewhat erroneously) as "four and a half minutes of silence. He was an and Beyond. Tom JohnsonAmerican composer and critic Tom Johnson (born 1939) is one of the few composers to self-identify as minimalist, in fact, he may have coined the term while serving as the new music critic for the Village Voice. He has since collected those articles in the, one of the few composers to self-identify as minimalist, also claims to have been first to use the word as new music critic for the Village Voice. He describes "minimalism" (1989, p. 5):
Many people, especially popular music fans, find minimalist music less difficult music to listen to than serialism and other current avant-garde classical music. For some, especially romantic and earlier music fans, it is easy music to find annoying, due to the repetition, perceived lack of complexity, or rigidity of process music. The most prominent minimalist composers are John Adams, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, and Terry Riley; while the less well known La Monte Young is generally credited as the "father" of minimalism.
There is much variety in the music called minimal, in every regard from instrumentation to structure to technique. The early compositions of Glass and Reich tended to be very austere, with little embellishment on the principal theme, and written for small instrumental ensembles (of which the composers were members), made up, in Glass' case, of organs, winds--particularly saxophones--and vocalists, in Reich's case with more emphasis on mallet and percussion instruments. (These works would be scored for any combination of such instruments: one piece by Reich, the aptly named Six Pianos, is scored just so.) Adams' works have most often been written for more traditional classical forces: orchestra, string quartet, even solo piano. (Though all four major minimalists have written symphonies and quartets etc, none have written them so exclusively as Adams.) His works tend also to be much more approachable for the classical ear; there is a minimalist core to his work, but there is also a more traditional philosophy and stylistic diversity behind his compositions, and a phrase in an Adams work is less likely to stay unchanged and in the same instrument(s) for a long time than in would be in another minimalist's work. Some of Adams' orchestral works have been described as "maximalist", although this is not a word that would be widely recognized by reviewers (serialist Charles Wuorinen self-identifies as a maximalist).
It should be noted that the minimalist movement in music bears only an occasional relationship to the movement of the same name in visual art. This connection is probably one reason why many minimalist composers dislike the term. Philip Glass, whose group initially performed at art galleries where his minimalist visual artist friends were showing, reportedly said of minimalism, "That word should be stamped out!"
Early minimalists include:
Other more current minimalists include:
Other composers who have been described as minimalists include:
See also post-minimalism, process music.