The Ashgate Research Companion to Minimalist and Postminimalist Music

摘要

Searching for a pithy way to introduce this review, I find myself constrained by the idea of minimalism itself. I want to do minimalism and produce a minimalist or postminimalist review: this Companion is recommended for libraries supporting specialist music institutions and university programmes in twentieth century and contemporary music. In their Introduction, the editors' note that the names of only four minimalist composers are known to the general public: La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich and Philip Glass. This Research Companion, as one would expect, travels far beyond familiar names through the presentation of 22 chapters, which deepen and widen this developing area of study. The Introduction usefully situates and explains key terms of reference, most particularly what is understood by the terms "minimalist" and "postminimalist". These terms and practices are put into their historical and social contexts. This makes the Companion accessible to a range of readers; the research community that the volume's title suggests is its target audience but also for others approaching the subject from another discipline or as an interest. The chapters are grouped under six headings, presented as Parts, which curate individual approaches into broader themes.