A Minimal Trip: notes

'My foray into the underground also led to the (not really new) conclusion that our current concert halls may be suitable for the classics, but not for some forms of new music that benefit from a more theatrical setting. [...] From Charlotte Moorman and Nam June Paik's performance at the ICA, I also deduced a recipe for a successful 'minimal music' happening. Simple idea, straightforward structure, intellectual control, theatrical presence and intensity in performance.'
- Michael Nyman (The Spectator, 11 October 1968)

In the above review, British music critic and composer Michael Nyman first stuck the term 'minimal music' on a musical movement that made its appearance in lofts, art galleries and clubs in New York and San Francisco in the early 1960s. The performances initially found a connection mainly with fans of the minimal art movement in visual art and contemporary dance - a link Nyman had rightly noted.

This new form of music saw the light as a counter-movement to serialism and other systematic movements, described by Philip Glass (1937) as "a wasteland, dominated by maniacs, trying to get everyone to write this crazy, creepy music. Figureheads such as Glass, La Monte Young (1935), Terry Riley (1935) and Steve Reich (1936) reduced music to its essence and sought direct communication between composer, performer and listener. Although the term 'minimal music' to this day harbours numerous different forms, techniques and intentions, it traces back to some common basic elements: simple musical building blocks and patterns spread over a relatively long time span, the use of repetition and subtle changes, and a tonal tonal language. Always the same, but always slightly different.