CHAPTER 15

Minimalism and Beyond

INTRODUCTION
This chapter is concerned with minimalism and with other trends that came to the fore
even later. These later trends are known by an array of labels such as postminimalism,
the new romanticism, the new tonality, totalism, eclecticism, and polystylistics. All of
these categories, which are for the most part fuzzily defined and overlapping, share at
least one characteristic with each other as well as with minimalism: to some extent,
at least, the music that they represent is pitch-centric and occasionally even tonal in the
traditional sense of the term.

MINIMALISM
Minimal music, also called process music, phase music, pulse music, systemic
music, and repetitive music, may have had its roots in some of the works that Cage,
Wolff, and Feldman composed in the 1950s, but the first important example of what
has become known as minimalism was Terry Riley’s In C (1964). This composition,
still well known today, exemplifies most of the characteristics of the minimalist style,
and we will discuss it in some detail.
In C is a composition of unspecified duration to be performed by an unspecified
ensemble. The score consists of 53 figures—most of them quite short—that are to be
performed in order. Each motive is repeated as often as the individual performer desires,
except that the performer has an obligation to contribute to the overall ensemble effect.
This means that the performers more or less randomly follow each other through the
score, sometimes leading the rest of the ensemble, at other times lagging behind, so that
several motives may be heard simultaneously, even though gradual progress is being
made toward ending the piece. This process, sometimes called phasing, resembles that
of a traditional canon, which is why In C was discussed in Chapter 7 under the heading
“Canon and Fugue” (see p. 139).
The pitch material of the figures is extremely limited, very different from the complex
motivic material of the serial composers of the same period. They begin by establishing
C major (see figures 1 and 2 in Example 15-1). A half-cadence on the dominant is
reached at figure 15 (see figures 14 and 15), followed by an E minor section in figures
300 MINIMALISM AND BEYOND

18 to 28 (see figure 22). After a return to C in 29 to 34 (see figure 29), a tonally ambiguous
climax is reached at 35 (see figure 35). The remainder of the piece seems
to return to C for a while but ends in G minor (see figures 52 and 53). Superimposed
over this modulating canon is a constant pulse, or ostinato, provided by a pianist playing
the two highest Cs on the instrument in steady 8th notes.
In all, the work employs only nine of the 12 pitch classes, and the nine are intro-
duced gradually:

Figure New Pitch Class

1 C, E
2 F
4 G
9 B
14 F≥
22 A
35 B≤
45 D

EXAMPLE 15-1 Riley: In C (1964), Figures 1, 2, 14, 15, 22, 29, 35, 52, 53
Used by permission of the composer.

Because it occurs so rarely, the introduction of a new pitch class, or of a new register,
becomes a major event in the piece. Even without mentally cataloguing the pitch material
used up to that point, the listener is immediately affected, even shocked, by the
appearance of a previously unheard pitch class.
Many of the characteristics of minimalism have been encountered in our discussion
of In C. These characteristics would include the following:
 MINIMALISM AND BEYOND 301

restricted pitch and rhythm materials

pitch-centricity
pandiatonicism
use of repetition
phasing
drones or ostinatos
steady pulse
static harmony
indeterminacy
long duration

Many of these aspects are also found in some kinds of Eastern music, as is the meditative
quality characteristic of many minimalist works. Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass,
the three Americans most closely associated with minimalism, all studied Eastern music,
with Glass’s study of the improvisations of Ravi Shankar being especially important to
the development of his mature style.1
Reich’s Come Out (1966) was mentioned in Chapter 12 in reference to the tape
loops that were used to construct the piece (see p. 243). Come Out concentrates on the
phasing aspect of minimalism, taking it much further than In C does. Incidentally, it
also illustrates the interest that some post-tonal composers have had in mixing their music
with politics. In this case, a victim of police violence during the 1964 Harlem riots
wanted to prove that he was injured so that he would be taken to the hospital. He
explains, “I had to, like, open the bruise up and let some of the bruise blood come out
to show them.” The words “come out to show them” were transferred to two loops
and played simultaneously, but since no two tape players operate at precisely the same
speed, the words move gradually out of phase. A recording of that process was in turn
converted into two loops, and so on, building up the texture of the work to a dense
and complex level.2
Notice that the phasing process in Come Out is different from that used in In C,
because in Come Out the part that takes the lead keeps it and pulls ever farther ahead of
the follower. Reich used the same approach for live performers in Piano Phase (1967).
In this work the two pianists repeat in unison the pattern seen in Example 15-2, but soon
piano II increases the tempo slightly until the two instruments are one 16th note apart.
This process is repeated until piano II completes the “loop” and rejoins piano I in unison.

EXAMPLE 15-2 Reich: Piano Phase (1967), m. 1

Copyright © 1980 by Universal Edition (London) Ltd., London. All rights reserved. Used by permission of European American
Music Distributors Corporation, sole U.S. and Canadian agent for Universal Edition (London) Ltd., London.

Gradually moving out of phase as in Piano Phase is difficult for performers to

accomplish. Reich employs a simpler solution in Clapping Music (1972). Here the two
302 MINIMALISM AND BEYOND

performers clap the first measure in unison 12 times. They then move on to the second
measure, in which the pattern in the Clap 2 part has been shifted one 8th note to the
left. After 12 times through this measure, the performers move on to the next, where
Clap 2 is shifted one more 8th note, and so on, until they are once more in unison.
A variation on the phasing technique was introduced by Reich in Drumming (1971)
and Six Pianos (1973) (rescored as Six Marimbas in 1986). Six Pianos begins with four
of the pianists playing a repeated rhythmic pattern in unison (rhythmic unison, not pitch
unison). The two “out-of-phase” pianists, in unison with each other, gradually introduce
a rhythmic pattern that, when completed, turns out to be the same as the original one,
but two beats out of phase with it. Similar techniques are used in Reich’s Sextet (1985).
An important difference between this technique and the earlier phase pieces is that in
this case the relationship between the two out-of-phase parts does not change through
time.
Reich’s New York Counterpoint (1985) makes extensive use of pulsing and various
kinds of phasing. It is written for 11 clarinets, but ten of the clarinet parts are usually
prerecorded by a single clarinetist, who then plays the “Live Cl” part along with the
tape. The first movement begins with several minutes of pulsing chords, all diatonic to
A≤ major, with the various parts fading in and out. Melodic patterns later appear that
are phased as in Example 15-3. The three parts here are in a strict rhythmic canon, but
the pitch material, while identical, is slightly reordered in each part. Similar techniques
are used throughout the composition. Comparable works are Vermont Counterpoint (1982)
and Electric Counterpoint (1987) for flute and guitar, respectively.

EXAMPLE 15-3 Reich: New York Counterpoint (1985), I, rehearsal 17

Copyright © 1985 by Hendon Music, Inc., a Boosey & Hawkes Company. Reprinted by permission.

Another more recent work by Reich, Different Trains (1988), recalls his interest
in the recorded human voice in Come Out, discussed earlier in this chapter. Here, though,
the recorded voice is not looped but instead provides the basic motivic material for the
string quartet that plays along with the taped voices and train sounds.
Though phasing is important in many of Reich’s pieces, this is not true of all mini-
malist music.3 Frederic Rzewski’s Coming Together (1972), for example, another work
with political overtones, is for a narrator accompanied by a single musical line, so phasing
 MINIMALISM AND BEYOND 303

is impossible. Glass’s Strung Out (1967) is for a single amplified violin, which begins by
stating the central motive of the piece, seen in Example 15-4. Like In C, it gradually
introduces pitches, in this case all diatonic to C major, until the climax of the piece is
reached about 10′ 30′′ into the performance, after which the entire piece is repeated.
Though the gradual introduction of pitches is important, the listener’s attention is also
drawn to the variation of the original motive, as well as to the two startling changes of
bow technique (at about 2′ 50′′ and 6′ 25′′).

EXAMPLE 15-4 Glass: Strung Out (1967), opening five notes

Copyright © 1976 by Dunvagen Music Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of G. Schirmer, Inc.

Nor is phasing a factor in Glass’s ensemble works. Instead, the focus is on repetition,
pulse, and triadic harmony. His music is insistently pitch-centric, with harmonic
progressions that range from banal to surprising. An example on the banal side is Modern
Love Waltz (1977), where the harmony alternates throughout between an A major triad
or an A dominant 7th chord and a B≤ dominant 7th chord.
Glass’s Wichita Vortex Sutra (1988) consists of 136 measures, almost all of them
repeated, in the key of F major. This lack of tonal variety is tiresome to some, but
obviously not to all. The excerpt in Example 15-5 is typical of the work.

EXAMPLE 15-5 Glass: Wichita Vortex Sutra (1988), mm. 35–37

Copyright © 1988 by Dunvagen Music Publishers, Inc. International copyright secured. All rights reserved. Reprinted by
permission of G. Schirmer, Inc. (ASCAP).

The usual approach that Glass takes in his more recent music is to establish a tempo
through a pulsating background chord, over which various accompanimental figurations
are laid. Changes of harmony follow, without disturbing the pulse or the accompani-
mental figures. After some time, an abrupt shift of tonal center, while maintaining the
original pulse, announces a new section with new accompanimental figures. Melody in
the traditional sense is absent. Glass frequently uses a singer in his works, but the vocalist
usually has no text and instead is treated as an instrument.
Glass has achieved substantial popular success, enabling him to embark on larger
projects. In fact, as of mid 2010, he has composed five string quartets, eight symphonies,
13 concertos, 24 operas, and 39 film scores.
304 MINIMALISM AND BEYOND

John Adams’s Short Ride in a Fast Machine (1986) is a good (and exhilarating) example
of minimalism. Example 15-6 illustrates a primary motive of the piece, a motive that is
heard unchanged throughout much of the work. Notice that the two clarinet parts (which
sound a minor third lower) are phased one 8th note apart. Although the tonal center
of the work is clearly D Mixolydian, it contains a good deal of chromaticism, including
the final cadence: ≤II–≤V–I. The use of nondiatonic pitch material is one characteristic
that distinguishes Adams’s minimalist style from that of most other minimalists. In The
Wound Dresser (1988), for example, the first 19 measures consist of a single hexatonic
[014589] pitch-class set that unfolds mostly in triadic patterns. The other six pitch classes
enter rather rapidly after that, completing the aggregate (all 12 pitch classes) by m. 27.

EXAMPLE 15-6 Adams: Short Ride in a Fast Machine (1986), mm. 1–4
Copyright 1986 by Hendon Music, Inc., a Boosey & Hawkes Company. Reprinted by permission.

Morton Feldman is a composer who is often credited with providing the model for
the minimalist movement, although little of his music is truly minimalist as defined in
this chapter. However, Piano and String Quartet (1985) and For Samuel Beckett (1987) are
good examples of late minimalism. Both feature slowly changing textures and pitch
material and much repetition, but not of the insistent, pulsating variety that led some
critics of minimalism to refer to it as “wallpaper music.”
 MINIMALISM AND BEYOND 305

EXAMPLE 15-7 Reich: Double Sextet (2007), mm. 33–37

Copyright © 2007 by Hendon Music, Inc., a Boosey and Hawkes company. Reprinted by permission.
306 MINIMALISM AND BEYOND

Minimalism began to lose its appeal in the 1980s, and most composers have moved
on to other things or have at least branched out. For example, while several of the best
known minimalist works were composed by John Adams, including Shaker Loops (1978)
and Nixon in China (1987), there is very little even remotely minimalist about Adams’s
Violin Concerto (1993), and, in fact, much of it is atonal. On the other hand, his
minimalist background is much more apparent in Hoodoo Zephyr, which dates from the
same year, especially in the track titled “Bump.” The term postminimalism is often
used in connection with works that have a minimalist underpinning but that have a more
complex surface and in which the compositional process is less transparent than in the
minimalist works of the 1960s and 1970s. An excerpt from a more recent postminimal
work is seen in Example 15-7. The Double Sextet consists of three movements, per-
formed without a pause between them. The outer movements have a tempo of quarter
note = 164, the middle movement exactly half that, and there is an attack on virtually
every 8th note in the piece. In the first movement, from which Example 15-7 is excerpted,
the meter signatures alternate almost every measure between 68, 24, 58, and 68, so the performers
have to think in terms of the 8th note = 328 rather than quarter note = 164. Notice in
Example 15-7 the constant 8ths, which are typical of minimalism, but also the additive
rhythm and the departures from the prevailing D major scale, which are not.
The influence of the minimalists has been considerable. In the United States this
can be seen in the music of Laurie Anderson, a performance artist whose work lies
somewhere between the traditionally popular and traditionally serious, and in rock music
in groups such as Tirez Tirez. In Europe, minimalism has had an influence on the music
of a large number of composers and experimental rock groups.4 Unfortunately, the student
of this music will find that much of it is available only in recorded form, although scores
are gradually becoming more available.

BEYOND MINIMALISM
The music of the last two decades of the twentieth century and the first decade of the
twenty-first presents a dizzying array of compositional approaches and techniques,
and this is reflected in the titles of the final chapters of two books on contemporary
music: David Cope’s Techniques of the Contemporary Composer ends with a chapter titled
“Decategorization,” and Paul Griffiths’s Modern Music and After ends with a nearly
90-page discussion called “Strings and Knots.” Of course, post-tonal music has always
been a study in contrasts, and that is one thing that makes the study of it so fascinating—
and sometimes frustrating. It has been a period in which very disparate composers such
as Rachmaninoff (1873–1943) and Webern (1883–1945) could come out of Europe
and one in which Copland (1900–1990) and Cage (1912–1992) were produced in the
United States. What is different about the period we are talking about is that so many
composers felt free to work in a number of styles, often combining contrasting
compositional approaches—tonality and atonality, for example—within the same work
and even within the same movement. This is what is meant by the terms totalism,
eclecticism, and polystylistics that were mentioned in the introduction to this chapter.
You will encounter many instances of eclecticism in the works discussed later.
In Chapter 8 we discussed the use of musical quotations in post-tonal music, especially
in music composed in the mid 1960s and later. In most cases these fragments were quoted