Postminimalism
From NetNewMusic Wiki
In its general musical usage, Postminimalism refers to music influenced by, but different from, Minimalism. Writer Kyle Gann has more strictly used the term to define a widespread style that flourished in the 1980s and '90s, characterized by
- 1. a steady pulse, usually continuing throughout a work or movement;
- 2. a diatonic pitch language, tonal in effect but avoiding traditional functional tonality;
- 3. general evenness of dynamics, without strong climaxes or nuanced emotionalism; and
- 4. unlike minimalism, an avoidance of obvious or linear formal design.
Despite this last, minimalist procedures such as additive/subtractive process and phase-shifting are common in postminimalism, though usually as underlying structure rather than surface effect. The style has also shown an omniverous capacity for absorbing influences from world and popular musics (Balinese gamelan, bluegrass, Jewish cantillation, and so on).
Important works in the development of postminimalism include:
- William Duckworth: The Time Curve Preludes and Southern Harmony
- Janice Giteck: Breathing Songs from a Turning Sky and Om Shanti
- Daniel Lentz: The Crack in the Bell, Wild Turkeys, and WOLFmass
- Elodie Lauten: The Death of Don Juan
Other postminimalist composers include Thomas Albert, Mary Ellen Childs, Paul Dresher, Paul Epstein, Peter Gena, Jeffrey Harrington, Dennis Kam, Jonathan Kramer (in his middle-period works), Joseph Koykkar, Mary Jane Leach, Ingram Marshall, David Toub, Phil Winsor, Wes York, and many others.
