Repetition, patterns, and the interplay of temporal structures form the cornerstones of human perception and communication, and are also responsible for the success and popularity of the “Minimal Music” movement, which explicitly addresses this phenomenon. Minimal Music emerged as a reaction to the highly complex serial music of Karlheinz Stockhausen and Pierre Boulez, which developed from Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique. It mostly uses simple melodies and modal harmonies, with the focus on rhythmic complexity and tonal diversity.
American composer Steve Reich is one of the founders of Minimal Music and has had a decisive influence on the genre for over 50 years. Characteristic of this genre are gradually changing rhythmic patterns, which also define the style of Balinese gamelan music. Hypnotically repetitive sounds, innovative rhythms, and harmonious structures in Reich's masterpiece “Double Sextet” (2007) explore the boundaries between space and time and inevitably captivate all listeners. In this work, two identical sextet formations face each other, each consisting of two woodwind instruments (flute and clarinet), two string instruments (violin and violoncello), two vibraphones, and two pianos. Reich first realised the idea of a dialogue between a live instrument and a pre-produced sound source recorded with the same instrument and similar musical material in 1967 with “Violin Phase” and continued to develop it throughout his life. In this group of works, there is the alternative option of replacing the tape with live instruments.
Until 2021, American composer and percussionist Sarah Hennies composed exclusively solo and chamber music works, the interplay of which was coordinated by a timecode. With the desire to use a conductor instead of a stopwatch, the Talea Ensemble commissioned Hennies to write a new composition in 2021. In “Clock Dies,” she explores the individual perception of time and the relationship between sound and silence, understanding time as a non-linear concept between music, everyday noises, moments of silence, “contemplation” and “listening within oneself.”
During a stay on the island of Itaparica in the Baía de Todos-os-Santos (All Saints Bay) near Salvador de Bahia (Brazil), American composer and environmental activist Gabriella Smith was inspired by the sound of the sea during the tides (Brazilian “maré”), the sound of the wind, and birdsong. In “maré,” she pours gentle waves and pulsating currents into musical form, creating a sensual and meaningful homage to the eternal recurrence of the sea, the beauty and inner power of water, which speaks from every note. Her music is less influenced by the pulsating rhythms of minimalists such as Reich or Philip Glass than by the soundscapes of Charlemagne Palestine or Phill Niblocks.
An evening presents “Minimal Music” in its purest form for eyes, ears, mind and body.
Tickets are CHF 15-35.

Website
garedunord.ch/en/calendar/3002/zeit-los-en (nov 8)

Where
Gare du Nord
Schwarzwaldallee 200
4058 Basel

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