Quote:
"Come Out" was performed (um, played) at a Reich festival in London some years ago, and there was shouting from members of the audience in protest at it. I think that we tend to forget that the very repetitive music that was first identified with minimalism was deeply offensive, especially to listeners whose idea of classical music came from the Second Vienna School. Today, when composers use repetition, they tend to do it an apologetic "we grew out of this" sort of a way, and yet our ears have got used to minimalism everywhere.
I just think that with Arvo Part: well it sounds great. If you start off with minimalism by saying "Yeah, I really like this" then aren't you in some senses going wrong?
With other, originally shocking music (e.g. The Rite of Spring) it's impossible to recapture how mould-breaking it was ... with minimalism I still think that it's just about possible.
Originally Posted by tru blu /img/forum/go_quote.gif mightn't it be a little too "What?" for nascent listeners? |
"Come Out" was performed (um, played) at a Reich festival in London some years ago, and there was shouting from members of the audience in protest at it. I think that we tend to forget that the very repetitive music that was first identified with minimalism was deeply offensive, especially to listeners whose idea of classical music came from the Second Vienna School. Today, when composers use repetition, they tend to do it an apologetic "we grew out of this" sort of a way, and yet our ears have got used to minimalism everywhere.
I just think that with Arvo Part: well it sounds great. If you start off with minimalism by saying "Yeah, I really like this" then aren't you in some senses going wrong?
With other, originally shocking music (e.g. The Rite of Spring) it's impossible to recapture how mould-breaking it was ... with minimalism I still think that it's just about possible.