Music From Other Minds

Program 726: European Minimalism

KALW Broadcast Date: January 22, 2023 | Host: Joseph Bohigian

This program features minimalist music from Europe. Minimalist music began as a distinctly American style of composition in the 1960s concentrated in California and downtown New York with composers such as Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and La Monte Young. As its stature grew, this new style, which Michael Nyman describes as “anti-European,” began to have a profound effect on European composers throughout the 70s and 80s and was reinterpreted in many ways by composers across the continent. The different offshoots of minimalism in Europe have varying degrees of similarity to the works of the early American minimalists. The composers who adopted minimalist techniques often did so in ways that supported their preexisting aesthetic or political views, resulting in a variety of interpretations. This program includes English composer Michael Nyman’s String Quartet No. 2, Dutch composer Louis Andriessen’s De Staat, Belgian composer Karel Goeyvaerts’ Litanie V, and Polish composer Hanna Kulenty’s A Fourth Circle.

Program Audio

30-Second Spot