Minimalists

20th-Century Composers

by K. Robert Schwartz

This study explores the minimalist style of music. It details its beginnings in the music of Terry Riley and La Monte Young, focuses on its major exponents, Steve Reich and Philip Glass, and reviews its broader influences both in the USA, with the work of John Adams and Meredith Monk, and in Europe, with the work of Michael Nyman, Louis Andriessen and Arvo Part. Musical discussion is contextualized within the lives and development of each major artist.

Genres: Music, Biography

240 pages, Paperback

First published May 30, 1996

Reviews

[David Scarratt · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author of Minimalists was a music journalist and scholar; this book is more journalism than scholarship. It reads like a collection of articles from Time magazine -- clear and engaging, full of interesting biographical information, yet neither incisive nor deep, especially in its analysis of the music. Arguably musical shallowness comes with the territory, particularly with some of the earlier, more truly "minimalist" works. Yet, for example, Reich has said more interesting things musically about even Four Organs than what Schwartz manages here: "the chord itself, a dominant eleventh that is common in rock, has a [sic] exuberant, bass-heavy quality." The thinking behind the music is typically presented in similarly brief layman's terms, though often usefully supplemented by paragraph-long quotations from the composers themselves. Occasional value judgments as to the relative merits of the works are welcome, but again they are expressed in a fairly banal, journalistic way, so you're not quite sure if it's the author's judgment or a sort of impressionistic summary of "critical opinion".

The book intends to be on overview of this small group of composers and some of their influence(s), and such traits as I have mentioned do not undermine but rather fulfil that aim. If you are seriously interested in the composers and their work, though, you will need to read further. A short list of further reading is provided as an appendix, together with a very useful classified list of works and a discography.

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine introduction to and overview of some of the most well known composers in the genre.

[Eli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Books and articles about modern music designed for the lay-reader can often be fraught with purple prose and simplistic analysis which undermine any real insight that can be drawn from the material presented. Thankfully, Mr. Schwartz does not fall into this trap by keeping his prose fairly informative and dealing largely with the historical and musical contexts surrounding the various minimalists with brief but sufficient analyses of their works along the way. As an overview of the history of musical minimalism, I much appreciate Schwartz's sensitivity to the fact that the style is not static and that its exponents' creative output has changed in very significant ways since the early days of the mid-60s. To talk about the early pre-1976 works of Steve Reich or Philip Glass is not the same as talking about their later works, in both cases marked by a shift from severe minimalism to a mature maximal aesthetic, and the sections on these two composers are appropriately divided into their "minimalist" and then "maximalist" periods. The content on the early founders and experimenters of minimalism, La Monte Young and Terry Riley, is excellent at illuminating the influence of a rural upbringing, spirituality and jazz on their musical development, and there are also two comparatively brief chapters on European minimalism and post-minimalism which although expository will leave the reader wanting more. Provided in an appendix is also a catalogue of works sorted by composer and date of composition, which I found to be particularly useful for getting a chronological overview of events.

Overall, Schwartz succeeds in navigating the convoluted and often parallel histories of minimalism's most famous composers and offers solid journalistic insight into the historical and musical context which surrounded their creative development. The book is accessible, enjoyable and informative, basically everything it set out to accomplish, and I would recommend it to anyone as an excellent introductory text into the world of the minimalists.

4/5 stars

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third or fourth book I've read in the Phaidon "20th Century Composers" series and it's also a success. They've created a series of books analyzing the work of various composers and included biography, but intended for the general reader. My only complaint with this volume is that the last two chapters feel kind of pieced together. The info in them is fine, but five composers are covered in the two chapters and it all just kind of runs together. That's a minor complaint though and I'd recommend this volume to fans of Steve Reich and Philip Glass in particular. There's also a chapter on Terry Riley and LaMonte Young.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty good introduction to American Minimalism. My one major issue is that the more commercially successful Minimalists like Glass and Reich get way more coverage than others, most criminally LaMonte Young. I'm very aware of Young's self-conscious distance from the other folks in this book (sans Terry Riley), but a bit more on Young's tuning methods, radical conceptions of time, etc would have been cool.

Though to be fair I think the author is primarily a Glass/Reich interpreter, if I'm not mistaken. So you get what you get.

[Aubrey heichemer · Rating 4 out of 5]

San franciscian musicianship and the articulation of sound as an asthetic. This book allows for a rational look at composition in the post modern sense pretty much meaning to me free range of all the tools of composition. composers such as terri riley, la monte young, and steve reich who where bold enough to demand attention to their compositional efforts as strange as they once seemed. A great book to read when attempting to relate to the experimental efforts of 20th century composers.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a breezy, almost chatty look at the major minimalist composers, covering Terry Riley, LaMonte Young, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass, with shorter sections on John Adams, Meredith Monk, Louis Andriessen, Michael Nyman, and Arvo Part. Minimalists is a decent overview and introduction to the genre and its main proponents, however, it doesn't go beyond that. It would be a decent place to start, but there is little depth or analysis here.

[Darren Murr · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well written but brief set of biographies on the main players in the development of minimalism. Schwarz gives the stories of each great narrative drive, esp. Reich, who the author obviously favours.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

the story itself started off great, but struggled to get through the end "we are the coolest" annoyingness.