Music for 18 musicians has already become one of my favorite pieces of music.
(Perfect choice to listen to when doing assignments!)
I first read the article and I was always wondering one specific question: What does he mean by musical processes? The only seemingly reasonable feature of musical processes given in the article is that musical processes can determine all note-to-note details and the overall form simultaneously.
This is one thing that catches my mind, and I started to think whether this is the core of minimalism, that everything gradually changes in a way that also affects the overall flow. I, on the other hand, changed this idea after listening to that masterpiece by Steve Reich.
My first impression was that this music is so beautiful. It is truly one of the most beautiful pieces that I have ever listened to and it appears to be indifferent to Wagner’s Die Walkure for me. The second thing I noticed was the musical process. The whole performance was a great musical process, completely controlled. There were only a small number of basic musical patterns existing in the whole music piece, but as time goes, different variations make the whole process complex, and at the same time, remain to be minimal.
I figured out at this moment what Steve means by note-to-note details and the overall form. The two are basically the same thing. Every note-to-note detail is like a fragment of the overall form. To start with, the overall form is constructed by the details, but on the other hand, there is not an order in such a process. Since the two things happen simultaneously, every detail is also the overall form. One can tell the overall form by looking at even one single detail. The musical process, in this case, is the integration of every perfectly controlled detail, delivering an overall flow.
I love this music.
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