I wondered if Bill was aware of the work of Steve Reich? A BBC 4 programme 'Tones, Drones and Arpeggios' named the album as seminal to the minimalist genre. My music listening at the moment seems centered around minimalism so I bought the CD. It is amazing! Probably the best piece of music I've heard in years!
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Re Steve Reich - i recommend music for mallet instruments & music for 18 musicians
Check out Ligeti's etudes - amazing!
I've been aware of Steve Reich's music for many years. He's a contemporary of Phillip Glass and Harold Budd. That kind of 'serialist minimalism' was established quite a while ago now. Repeating patterns that change slowly over time, both rhythmically and harmonically. Almost trance like...
Harold has moved beyond that, (if he ever was part of that movement in the first place,) and has developed a style somewhat more poetic and romantic, yet still rigorously austere.
I've been reading an autobiography by composer John Adams who cites Reich as an influence at one point in his career. I've not been a total fan of Adams music but, after reading his autobiography, feel the need to listen to it more carefully. If nothing else, some of Adams' titles ring bells with me....titles such such as 'Doctor Atomic' and 'Hoodoo Zephyr.'
Actually Yumi Morioka, who is both a friend of mine and a composer/musician, (we worked together on the 'Culture Mix' album,) was a student of John Adams at one point in her life when she studied music in America.