American Minimal Music: LA Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass

by Wim Mertens

Book by Mertens, Wim

Genres: Music, Philosophy

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Born 14 May 1953 in Neerpelt, Belgium, Wim Mertens is a Flemish Belgian composer, countertenor vocalist, pianist, guitarist, and musicologist.

Reviews

[Stas]

Sitting here, listening to Mertens' CD Close Cover. The first track didn't impress. Or, likely, because I expected some NEW AGE soothing music, that's what I heard.
Track 4, Struggle for Pleasure, is a lot like Michael Nyman's film music. And indeed, Greenaway's
Belly of an Architect has Mertens' music, not Nyman as I thought until just now.

[Shane]

The musicological equivalent of "Chocolate... I remember chocolate, sweet sweet chocolate... I always HATED it!"

[Mike Zavorskas]

Good, quick read though I do not like his conclusions about “non-dialectical” music. His positioning of minimalism as part of the progression of the musical avant-garde is interesting, though perhaps underplays the importance of the non-dialectical achievement.

[Nikola]

An examination of American repetitive music and minimalism. La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass are positioned within the continuum of Western musical tradition.

My research on La Monte Young and John Cage found valuable depth through this read. Merci

[Samuel Cho]

I picked up this book wanting to understand minimal music in the why's, the where's and the how's and not only did I end up not understanding it, but I have more question marks now. Mertens ended up using Freud's ideas to explain minimal music in the context of a post-capitalist society. At one point he even goes to say that repetition in repetitive music is identical to that which appears in traditional music, only the context is different. Well, no shit, but to prove that by writing two pages about the libido first is not the most helpful thing.

Well, if you're like me just wanting to know the significance of Glass and Reich in western musical history, or the significance and precursors of minimal music, then this book only muddles. However, it is helpful in organizing thoughts. Now I know the next book I'm going to read is something by Adorno or Boulez. Geez.