Preview

ARTE

Advanced search

Minimalism in music: problems of definition

Abstract

This article is devoted to the topic of minimalism as a musical style and the problems of identifying its distinctive characteristics. Finding in history many examples of works using techniques similar to minimalist music, not all of them can be even indirectly attributed to this direction. Despite this, some of them became the forerunners of the emergence of minimalism in music. An important component of the work is the definition of difficulties in identifying patterns between the compositional parameters of a work and its belonging to the minimalist style, which becomes most obvious when considering specific examples and their historical context. The phenomenon of minimalism as a direction in music is its conceptual component, namely, working with time and movement within a musical work.

About the Authors

D. M. Lutsenko
Moscow State Conservatory named after P.I. Tchaikovsky
Russian Federation

Darya M. Lutsenko, Assistant­trainee of the Department of Contemporary Music

125009, Moscow



E. A. Izotova
Moscow State Conservatory named after P.I. Tchaikovsky
Russian Federation

Evgenia A. Izotova, Cand. Sc. (Art Criticism), Associate Professor

125009, Moscow



References

1. Veksler, Yu.S. (2023), “György Ligeti and Dadaism”, Journal of the Society of Music Theory, No. 2 (42), pp. 31–42. (In Russ.)

2. Wolfe, K. (2009), “On Form”, Anthology “Composers on Modern Composition”, Research Center “Moscow Conservatory”, Moscow, pp. 112–119. (In Russ.)

3. Katunyan, M.I. (2022), “Minimalism: Russian Version”, The Art of Music: Theory and History, No. 27, Available at: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/minimalizm­russkaya­versiya/ (Accessed 18 April 2025). (In Russ.)

4. Krom, A.E. (2017), “American Musical Minimalism: Problems of Reception and Interpretation”, Bulletin of the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet, No. 6 (53), pp. 75–84. (In Russ.)

5. Manulkina, O. (2010), Ot Ajvza do Adamsa: amerikanskaya muzy`ka XX veka [From Ives to Adams: American Music of the 20th Century], Ivan Limbach Publishing House, St.Petersburg, 784 p. (In Russ.)

6. Nedostupov, R.A. (2020), “Development of the Concept of Minimalism in the Works of Contemporary Foreign Designers and Architects”, Architecton: News of Universities [Electronic resource], UralGAKhA, Ekaterinburg, No. 1 (69), Available at: https://book.uraic.ru/project/conf/txt/005/archvuz26_pril/37/template_article-ar%3DK21-40-k29.htm (Accessed 18 April 2025). (In Russ.)

7. Christoph, Cox, Daniel, Warner (2017), “Audio Culture, Revised Edition (Antology)”, La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela “Conversation with Richard Kostelanetz”, Bloomsbury Publishing, pp. 183–218. (In Eng.)

8. Jonathan, W. Bernard (2003), “Minimalism, Postminimalism, and the Resurgence of Tonality in Recent American Music Author(s)”, American Music, Vol. 21, No. 1, pp. 112–113. (In Eng.)

9. Jonathan, W.Bernard (1993), “The Minimalist Aesthetic in the Plastic Arts and in Music”, Perspectives on New Music, Vol. 31, No. 1, pp. 86–132 (In Eng.)

10. Kerry, O’Brien, William Robin (2023), On Minimalism: Documenting a Musical Movement, University of California Press, 470 p. (In Eng.)

11. Michael, Nyman (1973), “Cage and Satie”, The Musical Times, Vol. 114, No. 1570, pp. 1227–1229. (In Eng.)

12. Pace, I. (2019), “The Historiography of Minimal Music and the Challenge of Andriessen to Narratives of American Exceptionalism (1)”, Dodd, R. (Ed.), Writing to Louis Andriessen: Commentaries on life in music, Eindhoven, the Netherlands: Lecturis, pp. 83–101. ISBN 9789462263079. (In Eng.)

13. Pauline, Oliveros (2005), Deep listening. A composer’s sound practice, Lincoln, New York,, Shanghai,128 p. (In Eng.)

14. Philip, Thomas (2019), Morton Feldman Piano, Recorded by Simon Reynell at St Paul’s Hall, The University of Huddersfield (In Eng.)

15. Potter, Keith; Gann, Kyle and ap Sion, Pwyll (2013), “Introduction: experimental, minimalist, postminimalist? Origins, definitions, communities”, Keith S.Potter; Kyle Gann and Pwyll ap Sion, eds, The Ashgate Research Companion to Minimalist and Postminimalist Music, Ashgate Farnham, pp. 1–16. (In Eng.)

16. Rose, Barbara (1965), “ABC Art”, Art in America, No. 53(5). (In Eng.)

17. Schwarz, K.Robert. (1980), “Steve Reich: Music as a Gradual Process: Part I.”, Perspectives on New Music, Vol. 19, No. 1/2, pp. 373–292. (In Eng.)

18. Strickland, E. (1947), Minimalism: origins, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 320 p. (In Eng.)

19. Wollheim, Richard (1965), “Minimal Art”, Arts Magazine, January, рр. 26–32. (In Eng.)


Review

For citations:


Lutsenko D.M., Izotova E.A. Minimalism in music: problems of definition. ARTE. 2025;(3):31-38. (In Russ.)

Views: 8


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.


ISSN 2687-1106 (Online)