Great American Composers

[rojo]

Aw CD; you know I'm harmless. Note the goofy grin in my post...

[Corno Dolce]

Aloha Ms. RoJo,

Yes, you have a meek and tender spirit - I only wanted to be helpful so that sunwaiter would not feel so crest-fallen if he were put on the spot.

Humbly,

CD

[some guy]

No one has mentioned John Adams either; maybe we don't have all that many fans of minimalism here?

If there were, I don't think (m)any of them would mention John Adams. While he has used some of the licks of minimalism, he's not really a minimalist himself any more than Ravel or Honegger or Rouse. He's gotten lumped in with Glass, Riley, and Reich by the same people who have lumped Glass, Riley, and Reich together--three more different composers you could scarcely find. I know, that same thing's been done with Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven as well as with Berlioz, Liszt, and Wagner as well as with Bruckner and Mahler as well as with Ravel and Debussy. There are just a lot of lumpers in world, I guess!

Minimalism isn't just one thing, either, just by the way. But as it started in the U.S.,* we might as well give a nod to some American composers:

Tony Conrad
Tom Johnson (who may have been the first to apply the term to music, and who is one of the few who call themselves by that name)
LaMonte Young
Jim Fox
John Luther Adams
Pauline Oliveros
David Borden
Phill Niblock
Hal Budd
Meredith Monk
Frederic Rzewski

And Feldman, Lucier, and Cage--among others--have many compositions which have minimalist qualities.

*It travelled very well. To England, to the Netherlands, to the Baltics (where it's the most prominent now, I'd guess).

[rojo]

If there were, I don't think (m)any of them would mention John Adams. While he has used some of the licks of minimalism, he's not really a minimalist himself any more than Ravel or Honegger or Rouse. He's gotten lumped in with Glass, Riley, and Reich by the same people who have lumped Glass, Riley, and Reich together--three more different composers you could scarcely find. I know, that same thing's been done with Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven as well as with Berlioz, Liszt, and Wagner as well as with Bruckner and Mahler as well as with Ravel and Debussy. There are just a lot of lumpers in world, I guess!

I guess you should just lump me in with all those lumpers then... sorry 'bout that.

If only composers would stop using different styles and techniques, and just stick to one main one.

Kidding!

But it would make categorizing so much easier...

Wait; Rzewski is a minimalist?...

[some guy]

Wait; Rzewski is a minimalist?...

Are you calling me a lumper? Well?

(I'm gonna have to ask you to step outside, then.)

[rojo]

^^

Lumper!

[Introit]

I'll throw Daniel Pinkham into the mix fully aware that his body of work is not extensive. And only one mention of Philip Glass? I'm actually thankful for that. But after all, he would appreciate such minimal support.