Minimal Music, Maximal Impact
I apologize for the incompleteness, and for people and CDs inadvertently omitted. Some of the CDs I use and listen to most often are the very ones I misplace and subsequently forget about when it’s time to make a list, so if you think your CD should have been here and it’s not, that may be a compliment. It does not follow that any insult is intended to the discs listed here. I listen to them, too. Also, the boundaries between postminimal and totalist music are pretty porous, and it could be arguable which side of that line some of these should be on. No value judgment is intended. Just chill out. And please don’t ask me how to order or find these discs. People send ‘em to me.
RARE MINIMALISM
(no Reich, Glass, Young, Riley, Oliveros, Meredith Monk, or Harold Budd here – their CDs are too numerous and easy to find except for Young’s, which are impossible to find)
Early Minimalism, Volume One (Table of the Elements 33)
Slapping Pythagoras (Table of the Elements 23)
Outside the Dream Syndicate {with Faust} (Table of the Elements 3)
Inside the Dream Syndicate, Volume 1: Day of Niagara (1965)
{with John Cale, Angus Maclise, La Monte Young, and Marian Zazeela}
(Table of the Elements 74)
40 Years and One: Philip Corner Plays the Piano (XI 125)
Animal Magnetism (Tzadik TZ 7004)
The Sound of One String (Table of the Elements 44)
Body Music (XI 109)
In Good Company (Point 434 873-2)
Two Solo Pieces (New Tone nt 6756 2)
Visitations I & II + Thirties (New Tone nt 6747 2)
The Chord Catalogue (XI 123)
Rational Melodies (hat ART CD 6133)
Music for 88 (XI 106)
Failing, on Bang on a Can Live Volume 1 (CRI CD 628)
The Oak of the Golden Dreams (New World 80555-2)
Four Full Flutes (XI 101)
Music by Phill Niblock (XI 111)
A Young Person’s Guide to Phill Niblock (Blast First BFFP102CD)
Touch Works, for Hurdy Gurdy and Voice (Touch TO 49)
Ghosts and Others (Sedimental SEDCD 029)
Four Manifestations on Six Elements (Barooni BAR 014)
Godbear (Barooni BAR 019)
Strumming Music (New Tone nt 6742 2)
Schlingen-Blangen (New World 80578-2)
Songs of Milarepa (Lovely Music LCD 2001)
Trilogie de la Mort (XI 119)
Kyema, Intermediate States (XI 103)
Milarepa’s Journey Inspired by a Dream (Lovely Music LCD 2002)
POSTMINIMALISM
JOHN COOLIDGE ADAMS (postminimal works only)
Nixon in China (Elektra Nonesuch 9 79177-2)
Grand Pianola Music (EMI CDC-7 47331 2)
The Chairman Dances (Elektra Nonesuch 9 79144-2)
The Terrain of Possibilities (Electronic Music Foundation EMF CD 002)
“September Swale” on Chilli Con Tango (Antes/Bella Musica BM/CD31.9153)
“Net Work and Trio: dream in ‘d’” on Two by Three: Music by Women
(North/South N/SR 101)
“Minnesota Swale” on New Music for Orchestra (Opus One CD156)
Places, Times, & People (Cuneiform Rune 58)
The Continuing Story of Counterpoint, Parts 1-4, 8 (Cuneiform Rune 28 CD)
The Continuing Story of Counterpoint, Parts 5-8 (Cuneiform Rune 21 CD)
The Continuing Story of Counterpoint, Parts 9-12 (Cuneiform Rune 16 CD)
“All Set” and “C-A-G-E Part II” on
Mother Mallard’s Portable Masterpiece Co.: Like a Duck to Water
(Cuneiform Rune 147)
Farewell to Philosophy (Point 454 126-2)
Music of Nights Without Moon or Pearl (Cold Blue CB0002)
Kilter (XI 114)
Common Sense
(music by Dan Becker, Ed Harsh, Carolyn Yarnell, John Halle, Marc Mellits, Melissa Hui, Belinda Reynolds, Randall Woolf)
Photo-Op (CRI CD 627)
Dark Blue Circumstance (New Albion NA053CD)
Casa Vecchia (Starkland ST-204)
“Other Fire” on Another Coast (New Works from the West)
(Music and Arts Programs of America, Inc. CD-276)
The Time Curve Preludes (Lovely Music LCD 2031)
Southern Harmony (Lovely Music LCD 2033)
Thirty-One Days (Lovely Music LCD 2032)
“Mysterious Numbers” on Cleveland Chamber Symphony: The New American Scene III
(Albany Troy 342)
“Imaginary Dances” on Lois Svard: With and Without Memory
(Lovely Music LCD 3051)
ROBERT EEN
Big Joe (Een Records 1001)
Your Life Is Not Your Own (Buzzbox 1111)
Walk in Beauty (New Albion NA 052 CD)
Border Music (What Next? Recordings WN0008)
Nana + Victorio (Avant AVAN 012)
The Days Run Away (Tzadik 7053)
Breathing Songs from a Turning Sky (Mode 14)
Home (Revisited) (New Albion NA054)
“Agrarian Chants” on Paul Taub: Oo-ee (Periplum P0070)
Tunnel-Funnel (Tzadik TZ 7029)
Clarinet Songs (XI 113)
Kinkh (Visible Music VM-CD 101)
GUY KLUCEVSEK
Transylvanian Software (Starkland ST-207)
Transylvanian Software (John Marks Records JMR 4)
Free Range Accordion (Starkland ST-209)
Ain’t Nothin’ but a Polka Band (Eva WWCX 2036)
Stolen Memories (Tzadik TZ 7018)
Citrus, My Love (RecRec ReCDec 54)
Manhattan Cascade (CRI CD 626)
Flying Vegetables of the Apocalypse (XI 104)
Who Stole the Polka? (Eva 33009)
Five Compositions (Leonarda LE 332)
Expressed in Units (Northeastern NR 246-CD)
Homebrew (Bridge BCD 9035)
More Than Idle Chatter (Bridge BCD 9050)
Fantasies and Tableaux (CRI CD 683)
Ride (Bridge 9103)
Things She Carried (Bridge 9076)
Conversation Pieces (Bridge 9083)
“As If” on CDCM Computer Music Series Volume 10 (Centaur CRC 2110)
Blue Rhythms (Cat Collectors CT 787)
Tronik Involutions (O.O. Discs)
Inscapes from Exile (New Tone fy 7004)
The Deus Ex Machina Cycle (4tay CD 4013)
“Variations on the Orange Cycle” on Lois Svard: Other Places (Lovely Music LCD 3052)
Celestial Fires (XI 107)
Ariadne’s Lament (New World 80525-2)
“Xantippe’s Revenge” on The Aerial Six: A Journal in Sound (Nonsequitur AER 1994/6)
The Crack in the Bell (EMI CDC-7 49180-2)
Apologetica (New Albion na 097 CD)
Voices (Aeode AR 101)
WolfMASS (Aeode AR 103)
Wild Turkeys (Aeode AR 102)
Collection (Aeode AR 108)
Point Conception (Aeode AR 104)
huit ou neuf pieces (Aeode AR 106)
b. e. comings (Rhizome sketch RZF1008)
48 Variations for Two Pianos (Largo 5108)
Alcatraz (New Albion NA 040 CD)
Fog Tropes / Gradual Requiem / Gambuh I (New Albion NA 002 CD)
Dark Waters (New Albion NA 112 CD)
Evensongs (New Albion NA 092 CD)
Ikon and Other Early Works (New World 80577-2)
Three Penitential Visions / Hidden Voices (Elektra Nonesuch 9 79227-2)
Steel Chords (Audioquest AQ-CD1013)
Range of Light / The Fifth Lake (New Albion NA 091 CD)
Perigee and Apogee (Albany Troy426)
HANS OTTE
Das Buch der Klange (The Book of Sounds) (Kuckuck CD 069/070)
Crystal (Lovely Music LCD 2061)
“Airwaves” on Another Coast (New Works from the West)
(Music and Arts Programs of America, Inc. CD-276)
North South East West (New Tone NT 6748 2)
New Music for Bowed Piano (New Albion NA107 CD)
Minerva’s Web / The Tears of Niobe (New Albion NA026 CD)
Vikings of the Sunrise (New Albion NA084 CD)
Piano Works (CRI CD 869)
Devil’s Golf Course (Marco Polo / Dacapo 8.224069)
GIOVANNI SOLLIMA
Aquilarco (Point Music 289 462 546-2)
Spasimo (Giungla NR 4218-2)
BERNADETTE SPEACH
Without Borders (Mode 16)
Dualities {Schanzer-Speach Duo} (Mode Avant 02)
Four Pieces (Electro-Acoustic Music EAM Discs 201)
Mom’s (New Albion NA 049 CD)
Kamiya Bar (New Tone NT 6739 2)
Nyala (em:t 1196)
“Wall Me Do, Hop Ken,” on Another Coast (New Works from the West)
(Music and Arts Programs of America, Inc. CD-276)
“Chromatic Canon” on Double Edge: U. S. Choice (CRI CD 637)
“Tableaux Vivants” on Sound Pressure: Pressure Points (Soundprints SP9301)
Free Delivery (Lovely Music LCD 1064)
Country Boy, Country Dog (Lovely Music LCD 1065)
Go, Blue (O.O. Discs OO64)
“Nocturne with and without Memory” on Lois Svard: With and Without Memory
(Lovely Music LCD 3051)
String Quartets 2 & 3 (Argo 440 687-2)
Hunting: Gathering (Elektra-Nonesuch 9 79253-2)
Cover Him with Grass (Landor CTLCD 111)
Cicada (Black Box BBM1029)
“White Man Sleeps Nos. 1 & 5″ on Kronos Quartet: White Man Sleeps
(Elektra Nonesuch 9 79163-2) 0
“Anamorphoses” on CDCM Computer Music Series Volume 9 (Centaur CRC 2078)
“Dulcimer Dream” on CDCM Computer Music Series Volume 1 (Centaur CRC 2029)
Wes York (New World 80439-2)
TOTALISM
The Far Country (New Albion NA061CD)
Clouds of Forgetting, Clouds of Unknowing (New World 80500-2)
Earth and the Great Weather (New World 80459-2)
Overstepping (O.O. Discs OO33)
Twisted Tutu: Play Nice (O.O. Discs OO66)
Lesson No. 1 (New Tone rdc 5032 2)
Songs ’77-’79: The Static and Theoretical Girls (Atavistic ALP43)
Symphony No. 1 (Tonal Plexus) (Roir RUSCD8245)
Symphony No. 2 (The Peak of the Sacred) (Atavistic ALP05)
Symphony No. 3 (Gloria) (Atavistic ALP08)
Symphony No. 5 (Describing Planes of an Expanding Hypersphere)
(Atavistic ALP15CD)
Symphony No. 9 (L’Eve Future) (Point 446-505-2)
Symphonies Nos. 8 & 10 (Atavistic ALP 12)
The World Upside Down (Les Disques du Crepuscule TWI 960-2)
“Movement Within” on Bang on a Can: Renegade Heaven (Cantaloupe CA 21001)
Raw Sangudo (XI 112)
“Two Bits” on Bang on a Can Live Volume 1 (CRI CD 628)
Septile {with Jonathan Kane and DJ Elated System} (Ntone CDS28)
Neon {with Martin Wheeler} (Ntone CDS 15)
“An Angel Moves Too Fast to See} on Century XXI Electric/Acoustic USA 2
(New Tone nt 6731)
NICK DIDKOVSKY (Most with his group DOCTOR NERVE):
Skin (Cuneiform Rune 70)
Ereia (Cuneiform Rune 126)
Beta 14 ok (Cuneiform Rune 26)
Did Sprinting Die? (Wayside Music Archive Series WMAS2)
Every Screaming Ear (Cuneiform Rune 88)
Binky Boy (Punos Music PM0003)
“The Twittering Machine” on Flies in the Face of Logic (Pogus 21008-2)
“Flykiller” on New York Guitars (CRI CD 698)
Resolver (O.O. Discs OO5)
The Good Book’s (Accurate) Jail of Escape Dust Coordinates (O.O. Discs OO23)
“Jade Perches for Silvia” on New York Guitars (CRI CD 698)
Custer’s Ghost (Monroe Street msm 60104)
“Hesapa ki Lakhota ki Thawapi” on Relâche: Give It Up (Monroe Street msm 60102)
“Snake Dance No. 2″ on Essential Music: Ten Years of Essential Music
(Monroe Street msm 60101)
“Desert Sonata” on Lois Svard: Other Places (Lovely Music LCD 3052)
“Ghost Town” on Century XXI USA 1 – Electronics (New Tone nt 6730)
Edible Black Ink (O.O. Discs OO28)
Erase the Fake (O.O. Discs OO48)
“Egyptian Two-Step” on The California EAR Unit (New Albion NA 019 CD)
Glow in the Dark (CRI CD 801)
“Exquisite Corpses” on Bang on a Can: Renegade Heaven (Cantaloupe CA 21001)
Chrysalis (Haro Street Records MM0500)
Short History of Lounge (Haro Street Records MM0500)
Back-Engineering a Clined Hoola-Hoop (Haro Street Records MM1099)
JOHN MYERS
Blastula (Atavistic ALP40CD)
Mainspring (Ear-Rational ECD 1002)
“678 Streams” on Century XXI USA 1 – Electronics (New Tone nt 6730)
Simple Harmonic Motion (Artifact ART 1011)
The Theory of Impossible Melody (Artifact ART 1004)
Lonesome Road (The Crawford Variations) (New World 80566-2)
“Study: Anna, the Long and the Short of It” on The Aerial Six: A Journal in Sound
(Nonsequitur AER 1994/6)
Failing Kansas (New Tone NT 6740 2)
Dennis Cleveland (New World 80506-2)
Living Inside Design (New Tone NT 6724)
Soul Menu (New Tone NT 6716)
The American Dream (Exitmusic 4 1001 7)
Return (Exitmusic 4 1002 6)
Funding (Exitmusic 4 11004 4)
Made to Measure Vol. 3 & 6: Colorado Suite / A Walk in the Woods
(Made to Measure MTM 3 + 6 CD)
“Autorequiem” on Century XXI USA 1 – Electronics (New Tone nt 6730)
PAUL STURM
The Diplomat’s Shadow (Turnstyle Media 69047-00003-2-9)
Simoom (XI 102)
River Beneath the River (Tzadik TZ 7056)
“Go Guitars” on Seth Josel: Go Guitars (O.O. Discs OO36)
“Timberline” on Relâche: Outcome Inevitable (O.O. Discs OO17)
See? It’s an awful lot of CDs for two musical movements that don’t officially exist.
From Minimal Music, Maximal Impact
by Kyle Gann
© 2001 NewMusicBox
Happy Birthday!
[...] complexity, and overt spirituality, Young has had a profound influence on the development on minimalism, which is seen in a variety of music today. We sat down with music scholar Jeremy Grimshaw, author [...]
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