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Re: [microsound] minimalists:math




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Reichs "Music for 18 Musicians" is a very good example of hearing mathematics

OK Kim, but Reich has composed "Music for 18 Musicians" for acoustic instruments, and playing acoustic instruments always includes strong emotional input/output.

This is totally different then composing something with/for computer.


Not only that, but the opening pulse section played on woodwinds and the parts scored for the vocalists are designed to be played "to the limits of human breath"--hardly involving mathematics, and actually skirting the boundaries of incorporating chance/spontaneity into a rigorous composition.


"18" is also considered by most critics (and Reich himself) as his first truly non-minimalist work, the piece that finally broke him out of the cold systematic approach and saw him beginning to make purely aesthetic and emotional choices about how a composition should develop. Yes, there is a great degree of math involved, but there is just as much artistic decision making going on as well; 18 is hardly a "set up a system and let it play itself out" piece, unlike earlier works like 4 Organs or even Drumming.


john kannenberg http://www.stasisfield.com