8 Tracks: Of Minimalism With Murcof & Vanessa Wagner

I discovered Scodanibio in Ensenada, Mexico, where I was living at the time, around mid 90’s. For some strange reason he did a concert there, at a re-purposed wine warehouse surrounded by huge wooden barrels with a natural reverberation of some 6 seconds, perfect for his beautiful harmonic work with the double bass. It was, and still is, pure magic, I still can’t believe all he uses is the bow and his fingers to create those otherworldly sounds.

I remember clearly when I was working as a DJ at a posh club in Mexico in the early 90’s, during slow days I used to put prerecorded music mixes for the clients while on headphones I listen to, among other things, Gorecki’s Miserere. This piece is immensely powerful, it’s been a huge influence on me, more noticeably on my Cosmos album.

I bought the CD with this piece many years ago because it was shared with Alfred Schnittke’s famous viola concerto, which I love. I didn’t know Kancheli’s work until then and was a revelation, his almost unbearable melancholy hurts so good, I became an instant fan of his work and have followed him since.

I discovered Cortini’s solo work just recently, about a year ago, and it was with this beautiful track, full of hope and a certain innocence that I love. I feel very close to his intentions as a musician, I love his treatment of sound and his focus on texture. He’s a clear example of how modular synthesizers ought to be used.

This is my favorite piece of Arvo Part. Part is a musician who I really love and listen to a lot. The mysticism, the mystery from his musical univers and his person, the simplicity melted with his in-depth writing style overwhelms me.

I discovered the Glass music through his film scores, and without really knowing why, while I find him less interesting musically than Part or Adams, his compoistions remain fascinating… equally melodic and captivating despite its ” easiness” to listen. He makes the perfect link between Art and popular music.

Adams ‘s composition for piano is quite difficult to play, because it´s very elaborate in tiny repetitions and constant changes.

because very tiny sought in rehearsals and permanent changes . His operas are some of greatest works of the 20th century. He is a major minimalist composer surprisingly slightly less popular than Glass.

This is because of Steve Reich that I “fell for” minimalist music. I discovered “Different Trains” and “Music for 18 musicians” in concert. These pieces have unfortunately not been written for solo piano. His music is very hypnotic and it is surely the composer who influenced electro music the most with his rhythm close to trance music.