Synopses & Reviews
This book offers the most detailed account so far of the early works of these four minimalist composers, putting extensive discussion of the music into a biographical perspective. The true musical minimalism of the 1960s and early 1970s is placed in the wider context of their music as a whole, and considered within the cultural conditions of the period, which saw not only the rise of minimalism in the fine arts but also crucial changes in the theory and practice of musical composition in the Western cultivated tradition.
Review
"...Potter's relatively comprehensive research of other primary and secondary literature [makes]Four Musical Minimalists a valuable and timely survey. I hope Four Musical Minimalists, for all its strengths, will be only the first of many important looks at the amazing phenomenon of musical minimalism." American Record Guide
Review
"...provides a wealth of previously unavailable information and engages in analyses to which future writers on minimalism will be obliged to respond." Journal of Musicological Research
Synopsis
This book offers a biographical and musical survey of four American composers--La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich and Philip Glass--who are widely regarded as the first musical minimalists. While attentive to cultural as well as biographical concerns, Keith Potter's main focus is the music of these composers during the period up to the mid-1970s and he discusses these works in greater detail than any previous publications have attempted.
About the Author
Keith Potter is a Senior Lecturer in Music at Goldsmiths College, University of London. He was the founding editor of Contact: A Journal of Contemporary Music, and is the author of many articles on twentieth-century musical topics. He currently contributes regularly to The Independent.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements; Preface; Introduction; 1. La Monte Young; 2. Terry Riley; 3. Steve Reich; 4. Philip Glass; Notes; Discography; Bibliography; Index.