Totalism is a style of
art music
Art music (alternatively called classical music, cultivated music, serious music, and canonic music) is music considered to be of high culture, high phonoaesthetic value. It typically implies advanced structural and theoretical considerationsJa ...
that arose in the 1980s and 1990s as a response to
minimalism
In visual arts, music, and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in the post-war era in western art. The movement is often interpreted as a reaction to abstract expressionism and modernism; it anticipated contemporary post-mi ...
. It paralleled
postminimalism but involved a younger generation of creators, born in the 1950s. This term, invented by writer and composer
Kyle Gann, has not been adopted by contemporary musicology and generally still refers only to Gann's use of it in his writings.
Early 1980s
In the early 1980s, many young composers began writing music within the static confines of
minimalism
In visual arts, music, and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in the post-war era in western art. The movement is often interpreted as a reaction to abstract expressionism and modernism; it anticipated contemporary post-mi ...
, but using greater rhythmic complexity, often with two or more simultaneous tempos (or implied tempos) audible at once. The style acquired a name around 1990, when it became evident to composers working in New York City that a number of them, including
John Luther Adams
John Luther Adams (born January 23, 1953) is an American composer whose music is inspired by nature, especially the landscapes of Alaska, where he lived from 1978 to 2014. His orchestral work ''Become Ocean'' was awarded the 2014 Pulitzer Prize ...
,
Glenn Branca
Glenn Branca (October 6, 1948 – May 13, 2018) was an American avant-garde music, avant-garde composer, guitarist, and luthier. Known for his use of volume, scordatura, alternative guitar tunings, minimal music, repetition, drone (music), dronin ...
,
Rhys Chatham,
Kyle Gann,
Michael Gordon,
Arthur Jarvinen,
Bernadette Speach,
Ben Neill,
Larry Polansky,
Mikel Rouse, and
Evan Ziporyn, were employing similar types of global tempo structures in their music. Others include
Eve Beglarian,
Allison Cameron,
Nick Didkovsky,
David First
David First (born August 20, 1953) is an American composer and guitarist. His music most often deals with drones and interference beats, the latter aligning his music with that of Alvin Lucier. He has led the World Casio Quartet, Joy Buzz ...
,
Phil Kline, and
Lois V. Vierk.
[Gann, Kyle (2001).]
A Discography of Postminimal, Totalist, and Rare Minimalist Music
, ''KyleGann.com''. Accessed: July 6, 2017.
The term ''totalist'' refers to the aims of the music, in trying to have enough surface rhythmic energy, but also to contain enough background complexity. There is also an echo in the term of
serialism
In music, serialism is a method of composition using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though some of his contemporaries were also ...
's "total organization," here drawn not from the
12-tone row, but from
Henry Cowell's theories about using the same structuring devices for rhythm that have been traditionally used for pitch. For instance, the traditional ratio between frequencies of a major second interval is 9:8, and 9-against-8 is an important tempo contrast in many totalist pieces, achieved by having some instruments play dotted eighth notes while others play triplet half notes. In practice, totalist music can be consonant, dissonant, or both, but generally restricts itself to a small number of sonorities within any given piece.
Examples
Examples of works in the totalist idiom include:
[Gann, Kyle; ''American Music in the Twentieth Century'', 1997, Schirmer pp. 352–386]
*
Mikel Rouse: ''Quick Thrust'', ''Failing Kansas'', ''Dennis Cleveland'' (a talk-show opera),
''The End of Cinematics''
*
Glenn Branca
Glenn Branca (October 6, 1948 – May 13, 2018) was an American avant-garde music, avant-garde composer, guitarist, and luthier. Known for his use of volume, scordatura, alternative guitar tunings, minimal music, repetition, drone (music), dronin ...
: ''The Ascension''
*
Michael Gordon: ''Thou Shalt!/Thou Shalt Not!'', ''Acid Rain'', ''Four Kings Fight Five'', ''Van Gogh Video Opera'', ''Trance''
*
Rhys Chatham: ''An Angel Moves Too Fast to See''
*
John Luther Adams
John Luther Adams (born January 23, 1953) is an American composer whose music is inspired by nature, especially the landscapes of Alaska, where he lived from 1978 to 2014. His orchestral work ''Become Ocean'' was awarded the 2014 Pulitzer Prize ...
: ''Dream in White on White'', ''Clouds of Forgetting, Clouds of Unknowing'', ''In The White Silence''
*
Kyle Gann: ''Long Night'', ''Custer and Sitting Bull'', ''Unquiet Night''
*
Ben Neill: ''678 Streams'', ''ITSOFOMO''
*
Bernadette Speach: ''Telepathy Suite''
*
Larry Polansky: ''Lonesome Road''
Notes
References
*
Gann, Kyle, ''American Music in the Twentieth Century'', 1997, Schirmer
*
Gann, Kyle, ''Music Downtown: Writings from the Village Voice'', 2006, University of California Press
External links
Minimal Music, Maximal Impactby
Kyle Gann © 2001 NewMusicBox
{{Totalism
Contemporary classical music
Music of New York City