CDOTD 4/10/2023

 Simeon Ten Holt: Canto Ostinato XL (Brilliant Classics) disc two: two pianos

Purchased at Half Price Books

What makes a good or great minimalist composition? For that matter, what makes a minimalist composition?

It seems to me that the moment a general style was established, the era from Terry Riley's "In C" through the early Steve Reich, the Farfisa-organ period Philip Glass, that those composers best known for so-called "minimalism" moved on and sought to distance themselves from the word.

This is a dramatic simplification of history, but I believe tends to be true. 

So what do those pieces share in common? One thing would be a return to tonalism that followed the post-war avant garde experimentalism. My friend Nizan argued that it wasn't really tonalism as modalism, that the focus was on a particular scale without necessarily having harmonic progression and tensions. 

Repetition is an important element, repetition that reveals gradual processes. Rhythms are usually simple, clearly defined.

Is Steve Reich's "Music for 18 Musicians" a minimalist composition? If so, it pushes up against the limitations of minimalism. I cite that work because I consider it one of the great achievements in composition of the last fifty years (that I know). 

I came across this 12 CD set at Half Price Books, and wondered, what is this? I was unfamiliar with the work and composer. The piece dates to 1976, putting it right in that era when minimalism as a style was being established. There are nine performances of the piece for different combinations of keyboards and mallets. 

One thing is certainly true, it repeats itself. A LOT. It has that in common with minimalism proper. 

But what is this piece, I wonder? It has the drive of minimalism, but at times sounds like 19th century piano composing, played over and over and over.

At times I find it beautiful. At times I find it frustrating, that somehow it was a lost opportunity. 

Philip Glass came to speak at CMU a few years ago. A student asked what he thought about being identified with a certain set of composers, all branded with the word minimalism. He said, what he finds interesting is how different the music can sound, that he, Fred Rzewski, Louis Andriessen, John Adams, how they didn't sound anything alike.

I noticed he didn't mention Steve Reich's name. THAT I found to be interesting. 

As for Mr. Ten Holt's work, it's both lovely but something is missing for me. I hate to reduce it to just background music, but it runs the risk sometimes.