We Have Always Been Minimalist: The Construction and Triumph of a Musical Style

273 Pages·2020·4.215 MB·English

by  Christophe Levaux

The publisher and the University of California Press Foundation
gratefully acknowledge the generous support of the Constance
and William Withey Endowment Fund
in History and Music.

We Have Always Been Minimalist

We Have Always
Been Minimalist
The ConsTruCTion and Triumph
of a musiCal sTyle
Christophe Levaux
Translated by Rose Vekony
universiTy of California press
University of California Press
Oakland, California
© 2020 by Christophe Levaux
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Levaux, Christophe, 1982– author. | Vekony, Rose, translator.
Title: We have always been minimalist : the construction and t riumph
of a musical style / Christophe Levaux ; translated by Rose Vekony.
Other titles: Nous avons toujours été minimalistes. English
Description: Oakland : University of California Press, [2020] | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020008789 | ISBN 9780520295261 (cloth) |
ISBN 9780520295278 (paperback) | ISBN 9780520968080 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Minimal music—History and criticism. | Music—20th
century—History and criticism.
Classification: LCC ML197 .L4413 2020 | DDC 781.68—dc23
LC record available at https:// lccn .loc .gov /2020008789
Manufactured in the United States of America
29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
1. 1960: Before Minimalism 12
2. Taking Root in Modernity: New Music 19
3. Transcribing Music: New York Avant-Gardists
and Monotonality 32
4. 1967: Giants? 37
5. Creating Genres: The Theatre of Mixed Means
and Dream Music 43
6. Taking Sides over a New Medium: Electronic Music 51
7. The New York Hypnotic School: Founding a Movement 58
8. Untying the Bonds: Process Music 63
9. Transfiguring Experimental Music: Minimal Music 67
10. 1975: The Emergence of Minimalism 79
vi contents
11. Fighting or Laying Down Arms: Music with Roots
in the Aether and Simplicity 92
12. Persevering: Systems 98
13. Giving Up Ground; Retaking It: Minimal Music 104
14. Subscribing to an Idea: A New Current
and Modern Music 111
15. Disrupting the Status Quo: American Minimal Music 118
16. Going beyond Modernity: Jameson and Lyotard 135
17. Opening the Borders: Popular Music 141
18. 1984: The Spread of Minimalism 157
19. Confirming an Established Fact:
Perspectives of New Music 162
20. Furthering the Fight: New Sounds 174
21. 1994: The Arrival of Minimalism 183
22. In Conquest of the Twenty-First Century 186
Epilogue 198
Notes 203
References 221
Index 255
Acknowledgments
My deepest thanks go to friends and colleagues who gave this book the
benefit of their attentive reading: Émilie Corswarem, Mark Delaere,
Michel Delville, Marc-Antoine Gavray, Bernard Gendron, Jérôme
Gierkens, Olivier Julien, Philippe Vendrix, and especially Christophe
Pirenne. I am indebted as well to those researchers who laid the ground-
work for an approach to music based on science and technology studies,
and actor-network theory in particular, and who kindly offered their per-
ceptive insights, especially Antoine Hennion and Benjamin Piekut.
Thanks also to several of the protagonists of this story for the invaluable
information they provided, as well as for their willingness to be part of a
study in which their work occasionally comes in for a bit of rough han-
dling: Larry Austin, Jonathan Bernard, David Cope, Henry Flynt, Paul
Griffiths, Richard Kostelanetz, John Perreault, Keith Potter, Eric Salzman,
Greg Sandow, Elliott Schwartz, and David Smith. I extend my gratitude to
Rose Vekony for her judicious advice and meticulous work in translating
this book, as well as to Kim Robinson and Raina Polivka at the University
of California Press for their patience and assistance during the final phase
of its writing.
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