Minimalism

I thought I would share some of my favorite music today. Okay so one of the best things I've gotten out of my education is repertoire. I've learned about too many composers to count. Some amazingly good, and others, well lots of others, that I just don't care for. However there was a movement in the 60s of minimalist music that produced some GORGEOUS stuff. The idea behind minimalist music is to take a very simple and short motive or idea, and slightly tweak it bit by bit throughout the entire piece. Now some minimalist music does get quite monotonous but sometimes little surprise slight changes will come in the music that make it so refreshing and make for some lovely pieces!

First off is the American composer, Steve Reich's Nagoya Marimbas. I love marimbas. They are so relaxing to listen to. Listen to the very slight changes that come throughout this piece that make it what it is. It gets better the further you get into the piece!


Next is John Adams. Hugely famous American composer if you don't know about him you should. He recently wrote a piece called On the Transmigration of Souls in memory of 9/11 and he won a Pulitzer Prize for it. But the piece I like is called Shaker Loops for string orchestra. He said he was trying to emulate rippling water with this piece. It has four movements and I couldn't decide which one to put on here. Here's the first movement, Shaking and Trembling but Hymning Slews is really good too.



Next is a movie composer that I'm sure is more well known to the general public. His name is Yann Tiersen, a French composer known for his Scores for the Amelie and Goodbye Lenin soundtracks. Beautiful stuff. This is Summer '78 from Goodbye Lenin but I also like Goodbye Lenin, First Rendez-vous, and Comptine d'un autre été from Amelie.



I can't talk about minimalism without mentioning Phillip Glass. An American Composer, he is a publicly popular composer even being an Art Music composer. Here is Sunday Afternoon.



Last but not least is my favorite, Arvo Pärt. He is an Estonian composer that is known for his sacred music. This piece is very popular, it has been featured in movies and it's performed at ASU on a regular basis. I like the arrangement for Cello and Piano best. The cello part is particularly difficult. I want to perform it so bad! Listen to it at least until the piano comes in. Gorgeousness!!