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Nothing to Hear, Move Along

March 1, 2004 By

David Patrick Stearns follows the Master Narrative in his piece on minimalism linked from Arts Journal. Minimalism is a dead style. Never mind that it started evolving into something else in the late 1970s. Never mind that hundreds of composers from Alaska to Florida and from Maine to Mexico have been heavily influenced by it and continue to write music evolved from it. Never mind that several generations of composers now have cited Riley’s In C and Reich’s Come Out as the pieces that first sparked their desire to become composers. Minimalism’s just dead, having left no trace behind, aside from the occasional pathetic wretch who hasn’t heard the news and it still writing it. It is, in fact, the first publicly successful musical style in history to have vanished after only 20 years without leaving the slightest residue. Apparently. According to the Master Narrative.

03/1/04 1:43 PM | filed under: main |

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