| bjeanneb 2006-02-08, 12:22 am |
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> But I think it all started when I was about fourteen, had the real
> flu with high fever, and kept playing Ravel's Bolero... knew each
> turn by heart after that and my brain took a liking to repeat
> patterns :-) The Bolero may well be one of the first steps towards
> minimal music, I don't know.
I wonder if Bolero increased or decreased the fever? I'm sure you know it
was in the film "10." It's much loved but Ravel would be surprised. The
story is that he wrote it as an exercise in crescendo. It gets continually
louder and louder.
> Dance knows minimalism too, but to be honest I've never searched for
> it in graphic art.
How about the artist Paul Klee?
> A bit of video dance for the weekend, not minimal but certainly
> interesting:
> http://www.avroklassiek.nl/avplayer.../bamboo2_bb.wmv
> or http://tinyurl.com/atdjk
> This is the Taiwanese Cloud Gate Dance Theatre dancing on music by
> Arvo Pärt.
Anyone who is tuned into modern dance would love this. It does have
elements of minimalism, certainly in the set and costumes! I especially
like the segment toward the end in which all but one of the dancers line up
behind trees while the soloist continues dancing. It's an excellent
performance.
> And especially for you, an excerpt of Canto Ostinato by the very
> aged but lively minimal piano music composer Simeon Ten Holt. My
> favorite piece.
> http://www.simeontenholt.com/audio/thema.mp3
I like it too. Ostinato comes from the word obstinate and refers to the
pattern that won't go away. It reminds me of a solo piano piece in the
repertoire of a friend. I can't recall the composer or name of the piece at
the moment but it was actually a piece of "chance" music. Minimalist in
continuously repeated patterns, evolving with subtle changes. Chance in the
respect that it was printed on separate sheets and the instructions to the
pianist were to play the pages as she happened to pick them up. It was the
students' favorite piece on the program when she performed at my school!
I looked up the composers and found that Part is Estonian and Ten Holt
Dutch. Is it proper to say "Dutch?" Maybe Netherlandish? Thanks for the
enjoyable tidbits!
Jeanne
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