The American composer Philip Glass rose to prominence in the 1970s, when there were two main directions of modern composition, one was sequential music and integral sequence music that developed along Schoenberg's subversive path, and the other was the opportunity music invented by John Cage's fusion of Zen.
However, these two kinds of music are not welcomed by ordinary listeners, because after breaking the traditional structure of tonality, the music is extremely difficult to understand, not easy to hum, and difficult to penetrate the listener's heart, and many works at first sound like falling into the fog, not knowing what to do. At the same time, avant-garde experimental music (represented by electronic music) and popular music represented by rock music ushered in a period of vigorous development.
The minimalist musical style developed by Grass in the seventies returned to tonality, but did not have the complex structure of traditional classical music, but was repeated by several simple combinations of melodies, and was finely processed in sound, slowly transitioning between strength and weakness, producing an impressive sense of psychedelicism, which was exactly between atonal music and pop music.
Philip Glass
In 1975, Glass created his first film score, North Star, and was the first to attempt to apply the laws of minimalism in the soundtrack. However, he really began to receive worldwide attention until the 1980s with director Godfrey Reggio, who wrote music for the latter's Life Trilogy.
Riccione has devoted his life to service and dedication to the environment, street gang youth, the poor, and the community. His "Trilogy of Life" aims to record the devastating impact of the contemporary world on the environment in the form of visual and acoustic creation. Koyaanisqatsi (Unbalanced Life), Powaqqatsi and Naqoyqatsi (War Life) constitute a picture that goes straight to human existence.
Glass's music is more famous than the film itself, and in this series of works, Glass allows classical music, sacred music, gospel, and electronic synthesis to interact with each other without a trace. The electronic synthesis music symbolizing cutting-edge technology is infected with classical music that symbolizes the primitive natural environment, the melodic pulsation of electronic synthesis music and the solemn feelings of classical music compete in the uncoordinated melodic space, the emotional waves full of neuroticism stir up the holy and solemn movement, the beautiful music is sometimes overshadowed by obscure shadows, and Glass's musical creation writes the intricate psychology of human beings on the stave.
Poster of Life at War
Compared to the earlier Polaris, the melodic character of the Life Trilogy is clearer, and grass can be heard in many of its sections as a minimalist shell of classical and traditional film music, such as the use of brass and more textured vocal chanting, and in some sections the traditional evolution of orchestral music.
Glass of this period was particularly fond of composing music for films with environmentalist themes. By 1992, his soundtrack for Nature and Animals: Life was becoming more and more like "movie music."
In the early days, when Glass created film music, he mainly used short and thin musical elements for infinite repetition, and simple electronic sound effects were cold and difficult in simple repetition. By the time Nature and Animals: Life comes, while still full of cyclical structures, as individual units, the musical elements that are used to cycle have become distinctly more lively. Not only do they have longer independent evolution values, but they are also richer and more diverse in terms of orchestration, and the melody itself appears to be brightly colored and listened to.
This is a major breakthrough. Grass found a balance between cinematic music and minimalist style. That is, the melodic evolution is carried out in units with rich instrumentation, long time values and obvious melodic characteristics. This has been somewhat separate from the fundamentalist style of minimalism.
Throughout Glass's early works, short motifs were often used as circular units, and these short motifs were also repetitive internally. That is to say, the fundamentalism of minimalism is to use large loops to set small loops, advancing layer by layer in endless loops, thus forming a vertiginous musical atmosphere.
Glass then composed music for The Truman Show. At this time, he had a lot of experience in how to create picture-rich film music within the framework of minimalism. From the mid-to-late 1990s onwards, Glass undertook a large number of film scores, and his creative technique, unlike any hollywood soundtrack school, has a unique internalized temperament, especially for films that focus on the close connection between the inner activities of the characters and the ups and downs of fate.
Stills from Truman's World
Glass's culmination score was 2002's The Hours. About this soundtrack, we have to start with michael Corningham, the author of the original novel of the film. Because Corningham is a fan of Glass, and because when Corningham wrote this novel, he listened to Grasse's music in his ears, and while constructing this stream-of-consciousness novel, he floated in his mind The repeated and endless tunes of Grass.
This is the story of three women, who, although in different time and space, yearn for a more meaningful life all the time. Their stories are intertwined, and in every time and space, women are repressed, but more of a struggle and an expression of freedom. The film is quite faithful to the original, filming the endless moments that lurk under the consciousness. And this tragic tone, which is extremely heavy but light, is exactly what Corningham heard in Grass's music when he was writing.
Corningham and Glass inspired each other in their creations, Corningham used Glass's music to find the essence of the novel's narrative, and Glass found a suitable way of expression in this film full of the original novel temperament. Glass in "All the Time" is more traditional and introverted than ever, and he no longer likes the human voice that seems to be in the air, nor does he use synthesizers to create strange sounds. Everything goes back to tradition.
Stills from "All the Time"
Glass abandoned those ethereal voices and chose the piano as the main axis, slowly promoting the development of the film. Each piece is played in unison with strings, and under the beating music of the piano, although there is no catharsis in the mountains, the notes are still flowing endlessly.
"All the Time" is Glass's most graphic work. His piano partner Michelle Reisman's flowing piano sound, coupled with the orchestral movement with deep sense of destiny, the extremely delicate and modern interpretation, and the ingenious music, make the soundtrack of "All the Time" a humane life movement. The evolution of strings and pianos is deeply stream-of-consciousness, and the silent harmonic changes, like the lubricating melodic lines of the babbling water, can immediately capture the listener's heart.
If, in Nature and Animals: Life, Glass completed the refinement of the minimalist fundamentalism aimed at the formal level, then "All the Time" undoubtedly reflects Grass's potential to use improved minimalist notes to open up the deeper connotations of the picture.
Stills from Notes on Scandal
Later, Glass used "Moments" to complete classic soundtracks like Notes on a Scandal and "The Illusionist." In both works, Glass continued the traditional orchestral approach, many of which bear some resemblance to Moments of Time, but went a step further in creating dramatic tension.
In these two soundtracks, it is not difficult to hear that as the plot progresses, the orchestra progresses from weak to strong, and when the speed and sound reach the peak, it suddenly stops, or returns to the original state of peace.
This is the suspense-making method unique to Grasse's later works, in the repetitive melodic evolution, only the change of speed, strength and orchestration is used to advance the plot, create dramatic effects, and boost the audience's emotions. This technique is also often seen in the work of another minimalist soundtrack, Michael Nieman, who used the rules of minimalism to compose the piano lesson soundtrack, which is still the work of film music fans.