My Top 5 Minimalism Picks - Page 4

Presently listening to Steve Reich and the album 'You Are'.

Quote:

Originally Posted by erythrophyte 

I consider some of the music I listen to "minimalist" but not in that strict sense. It's usually more light electronic music.

However, I have listened to one piece in particular that would fit that description, especially concerning the repetitious element.

Perpetuum Mobile - Penguin Cafe Orchestra

I think it was featured on a commercial, but can also find it on the link above on Youtube. Quite nice.

Cracking recommendation of minimalist influenced music. Their live album 'When in Rome' is a great starting point and most people will recognise

Music for a found harmonium

Air A Danser

Telephone and rubber band

A thread worth resurrecting

I heard a Reich piece for the first time that I loved, Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices & Organ.  I'm a sucker for anything played with mallets.

One of my top 5 is Philip Glass' North Star from 1977. I first head Philip Glass when Mike Oldfield sampled the track North Star on his 1979 Platinum album. I loved it and a couple of years later I saw Koyaanisqatsi and was well and truely hooked.

I had a similar experience.  One of my favorite Oldfield albums is Incantations which has a minimalist vibe.  I also saw Koyaanisqatsi shortly shortly after buying Incantations and I was hooked.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prog Rock Man 

Cracking recommendation of minimalist influenced music. Their live album 'When in Rome' is a great starting point and most people will reco

 

Music for a found harmonium

 

Air A Danser

 

Telephone and rubber band

Yeah, "Music For A Found Harmonium"…I had two of their albums in the '80s…don't know where those records got to…

…found my LP of Arvo Pärt's Arbos recently…been returning to the miniatures on side 1…

I have been working on this for a while and now have my top 5

North Star - Philip Glass

Double Sextet II Slow - Ensemble Modern

Bees in Trees - Michael Nyman

Chasing Sheep - Michael Nyman

Massman - Philip Glass

Minimalism is new to me. Will give a try of your picks.

Great Kevin, it is not easy listening so hopefully you will find minimalism very satisfying. If you don't, there is a crossover from minimalism into film sound tracks and that is another genre worthy of exploring.

Though not often acknowledged as such, I'd have to suggest Brian Eno's Music for Airports.  It's seen more as the forerunner of "ambient" music, but by definition, it's minimalism.  It's also very enjoyable.

My favorite Reich piece is Six Marimbas.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prog Rock Man 

Great Kevin, it is not easy listening so hopefully you will find minimalism very satisfying.

I dunno…think it depends on what you're listening to. I think the repetitions in things like Reich's Music for 18 Musicians and Morton Feldman's Triadic Memories aren't all that difficult to get into, especially if the new listener comes to them looking for music that's like nothing else out there. As for the soundtrack folks like Michael Nyman and Philip Glass, at this point their music has become accessible kinda by osmosis…the fact that you've probably heard it in a film even if you didn't know it was called minimalism. Also, I'm glad Eno's music was mentioned…quite a bit of the early ambient stuff works by the genre's principles, and the sounds also end up coursing through a pop single like David Bowie's "Heroes", which Eno collaborated on.

^ I agree. Most of Glass and Pärt f.ex. is very easy on the ear, which is ironically also the most common criticism agains their music, it can be a bit too 'dull'.

Now Karlheinz Stockhausen (who appears to have been left un-mentioned hitherto) is definitely of the more demanding kind, even though his Stimmung isn't all that intimidating, it's just a bit 'weird' for the uninitiated.

"Lento" by the British composer Howard Skempton is a fine orchestral piece.