# 21st century works/composers in a minimalist/post-minimalist vein?



## fbjim (Mar 8, 2021)

Apologies if general recommendation threads are frowned upon, but- 

Some of my favorite 20th century works are from the likes of Reich and Glass - now I'm notoriously bad with having the energy to look at brand new works in any field of art, but as someone with no clue as to what the current trends are in 21st century music- are there any active minimalist composers past the Reich/Glass/Adams generation making music in that vein, or as an offshoot of that vein? (I don't know enough about contemporary art to know if minimalism is still considered a viable movement).


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

The "obvious" answer is David Lang, Michael Gordon and Julia Wolfe - the founders of Bang on a Can.

Plenty to listen to here:
https://davidlangmusic.bandcamp.com/
https://juliawolfemusic.bandcamp.com/
https://michaelgordonmusic.bandcamp.com/

If Pulitzer Prizes matter to you, Lang won it for _The Little Match Girl Passion,_ Wolfe won it for _Anthracite Fields_.

Note added with my moderator hat on: general recommendation threads are most definitely not frowned upon!


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Is this the sort of thing you mean?






Or this


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## fbjim (Mar 8, 2021)

Mandryka said:


> Is this the sort of thing you mean?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I'll give both of those a listen! I do really like solo piano for these kinds of works, though.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

fbjim said:


> I'll give both of those a listen! I do really like solo piano for these kinds of works, though.


Then how about this






But if not, there's a piano player called Jeroen van Veen who has made a speciality of recording Glass type piano music, he's someone to look into.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

See what you think of Jay Alan Yim's Shanti -- I've only just found it myself.


__
https://soundcloud.com/jay-alan-yim%2Fshanti


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## calvinpv (Apr 20, 2015)

John Luther Adams is a great minimalist. His brand of minimalism sounds like a throwback to Reich's, in a way, but for larger orchestral forces and developed over longer and slower time scales as opposed to the upbeat, more rhythmic nature of Reich. But I hear similar techniques. _In the White Silence_, _Become Ocean_ (which won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize), and _Become Desert_ are stunning pieces of music, but there's other good stuff too.

_In the White Silence_ playlist


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## calvinpv (Apr 20, 2015)

Michael Nyman is another minimalist, but I only know _Musique à grande vitesse_ ("High-Speed Music", commissioned for the opening of a French TGV train line). Yet, this is one of my favorite minimalist works by any composer:


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## calvinpv (Apr 20, 2015)

Donnacha Dennehy is really good and really underrated as well. There is a dance-like energy to his music that is irresistible (listen to _Bulb_ and _Stainless Staining_), and the instrumental colors just pop in vibrancy. Dennehy has a really good ear for timbre:

_That the Night Come_ playlist


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## calvinpv (Apr 20, 2015)

Some other composers not mentioned above that I'm familiar with:

Kyle Gann (he's also written a lot on minimalism)
Peter Garland
Gavin Bryars
Louis Andriessen
Ingram Marshall
Carl Stone

Some composers that I'm not familiar with, but I know the names of: 

William Duckworth
Larry Polansky
Kevin Volans
Jonathan Kramer
Rhys Chatham
Janice Giteck
Max Richter
Ludovico Einaudi

And then there are the so-called "holy minimalists" such as:

Arvo Pärt
Henryk Górecki
John Tavener
Giya Kancheli
Pēteris Vasks


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## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

I'll second Louis Andriessen who has already been mentioned. I really like the piece: De Staat.

Lost of other good suggestions have been mentioned as well.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

20centrfuge said:


> I'll second Louis Andriessen who has already been mentioned. I really like the piece: De Staat.
> 
> Lost of other good suggestions have been mentioned as well.


But so much of Andriessen isn't at all like American minimalism - De Tijd for example. I like it very much by the way.


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## tortkis (Jul 13, 2013)

Pavel Karmanov: Michael Music for piano quintet (2004)





Pavel Karmanov (b 1970) is a Russian composer. He released some nice melodic and rhythmic minimalist works on Fancy Music.


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## mark07 (May 26, 2021)

calvinpv said:


> John Luther Adams is a great minimalist. His brand of minimalism sounds like a throwback to Reich's, in a way, but for larger orchestral forces and developed over longer and slower time scales as opposed to the upbeat, more rhythmic nature of Reich.


John Luther Adams born January 23, 1953. His orchestral work Become Ocean was awarded the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Music. He is an American composer whose music is inspired by nature, especially the landscapes of Alaska, where he lived from 1978 to 2014.


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## mark07 (May 26, 2021)

I also like Michael Nyman's music.


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## Joe B (Aug 10, 2017)

fbjim said:


> Apologies if general recommendation threads are frowned upon, but-
> 
> Some of my favorite 20th century works are from the likes of Reich and Glass - now I'm notoriously bad with having the energy to look at brand new works in any field of art, but as someone with no clue as to what the current trends are in 21st century music- are there any active minimalist composers past the Reich/Glass/Adams generation making music in that vein, or as an offshoot of that vein? (I don't know enough about contemporary art to know if minimalism is still considered a viable movement).


You might enjoy the music of Terry Riley:


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Strangely enough I was talking to someone a few weeks ago who was at the Darmstadt summer school of 1984 or maybe 1983, he couldn't remember, and he was talking about the storm caused by Terry Riley who was there to promote Atlantis Nath

He said he went to a concert with this -- and the avant garde just didn't know what to say


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## fbjim (Mar 8, 2021)

Joe B said:


> You might enjoy the music of Terry Riley:


I love Riley, and this is something I've not heard by him yet. Thanks!


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## Andrew Kenneth (Feb 17, 2018)

Minimalistic sounding music from composer Nicholas Lens for his chamber opera Litanies
(libretto by Nick Cave)


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