Philip Glass’s “Music in twelve parts” and “Einstein on the beach” are two very prominent examples of minimal music. Philip Glass’s interpretation of minimalism in his art is however a little different from what I’d describe as minimalistic in music in the traditional meaning of the word. What society would normally perceive as minimalistic in music is, I guess, repetitive patterns and simplicity of the melody and sound in a piece. He’s got repetitive patterns to it as well but the way they develop in pieces is very unusual, they overlap and get new sound, becoming very different from what we hear in the beginning of the piece, in each preceding second and part. It’s fun to explore his music by listening to it many many times and discovering a new melody in the old one every time, a more sophisticated and complex one.
And it is hard to
say whether it is due to the motive that repeats itself over and over again or
due to the unrevealed complexity of the piece – the music has a hypnotising
effect on the listener. It also adds up to creating a feeling of listening to a
classical piece intertwined with a very modern sound of a rock or pop music
band. It is something in between, slightly covering both sides of the sound –
old and new.
Glass’s pieces keep you on the edge
of your seat, although it sounds paradoxical, keeping in mind it’s minimal
music. Every time I listen to “Einstein on the beach” for example, I feel like
there’s still something I haven’t heard yet in the previous times, something
that I am right about to hear now – and it happens, every time you listen, you
feel like the melody and the orchestra would be happy to take you to their
fairy-tale world, full of adventures and unexpected turns.
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