Minimalism At 50
If you find yourself in London at the end of November, be sure to run, not walk, to the Minimalism At 50 festival taking place at Kings Point. The 3-day birthday bash, taking place Nov. 24-26, is being organized by the famous piano duo of Katia and Marielle Labeque (with their latest band) and produced by critic, curator, cultural commentator and film-maker Igor Toronyi-Lalic.The first night of the festival offers an echo of the 1960-61 series of concerts curated by La Monte Young in Yoko Ono's downtown New York loft, and includes such masterworks of early minimalism as Terry Riley's Mescalin Mix (1961-62), La Monte Young's Arabic Numeral [Any Integer] for H.F. (1960), and Steve Reich's It's Gonna Rain (1965). When have any of us ever heard any of these pieces in a live performance before? Fittingly, the night ends with an all-star performance of Terry's In C (1964), the piece Glamour magazine called “the global village's first ritual symphonic piece”.
The second night focuses on minimalism's European adherents and experimenters, from Brian Eno's Discreet Music (1975) and Gavin Bryars Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet (1971) to James Tenney's Postal Piece No. 10: Having Never Written A Note for Percussion (1971) and Phillip Glass' One plus One (1967).
The birthday bash ends with minimalism's influence on a new generation, and includes Glenn Branca's Lesson No 1 (1979), Michael Nyman's Bird List (1980), Sonic Youth's Free City Rhymes (2000), and Radiohead's Street Spirit (1995). Along the way, each night also includes several premieres of new works, plus a selection of piano music by Erik Satie, Terry Jennings, Howard Skempton, Cornelius Cardew, Aphex Twin, and, full disclosure, my Time Curve Preludes (thanks Igor).
Minimalism At 50 is the best looking festival I've seen in a decade. The right pieces, the right performers, and the right musical minds to make sense of it all. How can you miss it?