# Minimalism + Atonality?



## brucknerian (Dec 27, 2013)

I've seen minimalism touted as the 21st century alternative/reaction to atonality/serialism.

But it got me wondering, is there a genre of music which combines both together?

My first guess is, maybe "noise music"? Like the repetitive patterns of non-tonal sound heard in works by Varese or Xenakis?

Are there any other sub-genres/off-shoots which combine minimalism with atonality?


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## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

Atonality in the "strict" sense doesn't really work with minimalism in the "repetitive" or Philip Glass sense, as avoiding tonal centres and avoiding repetition are very much related. In a wide sense of non-tonal and strict sense of tonal, pretty much all minimalism is non-tonal. 

Webern's aesthetic is sort of "minimalistic" in a way, but in a completely different way from Glass etc.


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

Morton Feldman maybe?


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## Guest (Apr 4, 2016)

I don't consider him atonal or minimalist, but Bernhard Lang (especially the Differenz/Wiederholung series) is the best thing that comes to mind in terms of dissonance + repetition.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

atonality was something that happened when musicians started to think that they had to avoid repetition that was seen as something negative, minimalism is something that exalts the quality of repetition, so even the aesthetic behind are truly difficult to reconcile.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

You could easily create a form of 12-tone minimalism, by simply repeating a 12-tone row with, say, eighth notes, keeping it rhythmically static and robotic. All the permutations and inversions could be repeated until the piece is over. It would make a fiendishly difficult piano piece.


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## tortkis (Jul 13, 2013)

Maybe this?





Tom Johnson The Chord Catalogue II to IV ( 1985 ) by Nicolas Horvath

As for minimalism + 12-tone, there are La Monte Young's Trio for String, Paul A. Epstein's Piano Music, and some others.


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