Two responses to modernism: minimalism and new complexity in solo flute repertoire

• Main Author: Bakker, Twila Dawn
• Other Authors: Goldman, Jonathan
• Language: English; en
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: flute; music; musicology; Unity Capsule; Valentine Piece; Carceri d'invenzione IIb; Vermont Counterpoint; Arabesque in Memoriam; Ende; Andriessen; Sgothan; Superscripto; minimalism; new complexity; Gorecki; Glass; Reich; Dillon; Ferneyhough; post-modern; modern; contemporary; avant-garde; wind repertoire
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1828/3260

Wind repertoire, especially for flute, has received little focused attention in the musicological world especially when compared with other instruments. This gap in scholarship is further exacerbated when the scope of time is narrowed to the last quarter of the twentieth century. Although Minimalism and New Complexity are – at least superficially – highly divergent styles of composition, they both exhibit aspects of a response to modernism. An examination of emblematic examples from the repertoire for solo flute (or recorder), specifically focusing on: Louis Andriessen’s Ende (1981); James Dillon’s Sgothan (1984), Brian Ferneyhough’s Carceri d’Invenzione IIb (1984), Superscripto (1981), and Unity Capsule (1975); Philip Glass’s Arabesque in Memoriam (1988); Henryk Górecki’s Valentine Piece (1996); and Steve Reich’s Vermont Counterpoint (1982), allows for the similarities in both genre’s response to modernism to be highlighted. These works are situated historically and characteristics of both styles are highlighted with particular regard to Late or Post-Modernism. === Graduate