[silence] Composers who use lots of silence

[David Badagnani]

There is a difference between use of "lots of silence" and very quiet music that has a bit (or more than a bit) of silence between the sounds.  One thinks of composers known for their sparseness such as Arvo Pärt, Pauline Oliveros, Daniel Goode, John Luther Adams, Somei Satoh, Zoltán Jeney, Jo Kondo, Giacinto Scelsi, Philip Corner, and the Fluxus composers, though for most of these it would just be some of their pieces that feature a lot of silence.  Many of these composers prefer performances of their music in resonant spaces, where tones are allowed to sound, echo, and die away before new ones are introduced.  There are probably a lot of others.  Even George Crumb's and Louis Andriessen's music has dramatic silences in some pieces, as does Messiaen's "Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum" (and Messiaen apparently specified that long silences be observed between that work's movements, I think at least one full minute).

Also, the "Monotone-Silence Symphony" of the French painter Yves Klein (1949) should not be forgotten (though it usually is).

--
David Badagnani
Kent, Ohio
USA



      
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