Hearts of Space #1007 Time Lapse (03-22-2013)

Ambient - Classical



The timeless sound of humanized minimalism.
This is the one hour program from Hearts of Space Radio Show, which was broadcast on March 23, 2013. In MP3 format at VBR. Voice overs have been suppressed.

Program Notes by Stephen Hill, Producer
The perception of time is as elusive as a subatomic particle. As soon as you concentrate on it, it changes. Something similar happens in the contemporary music genre called Minimalism. Invented in the 1960's by composers looking for an escape from the bitter dissonances and static textures of academic Serialism, artists like LA MONTE YOUNG, TERRY RILEY, STEVE REICH, PHILIP GLASS and JOHN ADAMS created a new approach to composition that changes our sense of time.

Simplicity, silence, repetition, slowly changing phrases, continuous drones, modal tunings and hypnotic patterns created both flowing textures and a meditative quality that's influenced Classical and Electronic, Rap and Rock. And the foundations of Minimalism were absorbed by BRIAN ENO in the 1970s and applied to the new language of electronics to create Ambient music.

Today the characteristics of minimalism are so embedded in contemporary music that we hardly notice them. And since the turn of the century, there's been a move to "humanize" the strict forms of Minimalism by adding back the melodic and harmonic sensitivity of Classical music. No one has had more success at this than Italian composer and pianist LUDOVICO EINAUDI. As I said about him in 2008: "Like fine Italian food, fashion and design, Einaudi's music has a humanized opulence and sensual appeal. The elements are simple and often repetitive, but the effect is subtle, contemplative, satisfying, even profound." On this transmission of Hearts of Space...a humanized journey in the Minimalist soundscape, on a program called TIME LAPSE.