Ru
EnL. Vorotyntseva
Minimalism and the “new simplicity”: Ways of coupling in research discourses of the 1970s–2010s
In modern musicological discourse, researchers write about the vagueness of the concept of minimalism, which is why it is often identified with repetitiveness and “new simplicity”. In particular, the musicologists point out that minimalism refers primarily to material woven from musical elements such as sound, interval, chord, chant, etc. It is obvious that repetitiveness is a reflection of the technological side, and “new simplicity” is an aesthetic category. In this regard, the purpose of this study is to understand minimalism as one of the possible ways to achieve a “new simplicity” through the differentiation of these concepts.
According to its musical and technological settings, it was minimalism that turned out to be the closest to the “new simplicity”. In turn, repetitiveness has become the main technical resource of many authors’ solutions: V. Martynov, G. Peletsis, A. Rabinovich-Barakovsky, in a somewhat indirect form – J. Taverner, H. Guretsky, V. Silvestrov, A. Pyart, G. Tolstenko, etc.
The appeal to the “new simplicity” through minimalism has acquired purely individual forms. Each of the authors chooses a path that fully corresponds to the author’s concept: V. Silvestrov and A. Kovaleva turn to the rhythmic-intonation complexes of the Romantic era, G. Tolstenko – to the archaic. V. Martynov’s minimalism allows him to freely operate with semantic and sound narratives of the past. Tintinabuli of A. Pyart likened music to an act of worship, blurring the line between medieval and modern. All of the above is fully placed inside the concept of “new simplicity”.
In modern musicology, the identity between minimalism and the “new simplicity” has been erased. For the “new simplicity”, minimalism acted by simplifying musical vocabulary and returning the function of communication to musical art.
Key words
“new simplicity”, minimalism, repetitiveness, aesthetic concept, musical language, composer’s creative work.
For citation
Vorotyntseva L. Minimalism and the “new simplicity”: Ways of coupling in research discourses of the 1970s–2010s // South-Russian Musical Anthology. 2024. No. 1. Pp. 51-59.
