MINIMALIST AESTHETICS AND STEVE REICH'S APPROACH TO MUSIC

Steve Reich (1936), is one of the composers identified with the minimalist movement in music. There is a narrative in his music, based on the principles of "repetition" and "continuity". The composer strives to purify his music from the "complex" and "indirect" aspects of western art. It gravitates towards the primitive. However, minimalism in music, is a music movement that started to be seen since the 1960s and aims to reduce music to its basic elements; It is the adoption of a creative model based on reducing material. On the other hand, Minimalism, as an idea, puts forward a singular, determined and objective production in art, as opposed to the polysemous, random, and self-centered production model of American Abstract Expressionism; It emphasizes the basic elements of art, by avoiding complexity, ornamentation and details. In this article, Steve Reich's minimalist practices and his attitude towards Abstract Expressionism will be discussed. Steve Reich, one of the best-known composers of minimalist music, brought together different musical practices to develop a unique musical language, thus exhibiting an eclectic approach; The circular time concept of traditional African percussion music and the French electronic music school Musique Concrète were the starting points for the composer's early electronic music works. Thus, Steve Reich adopts a reduced and concretized form of expression in the face of Abstract Expressionism. In this expression, music manifests itself on a plane where all performance and composition processes are transparent and clearly perceptible.

Keywords

Minimalism, Abstract Expressionism, Steve Reich