American Minimal Music

Wim Mertens studied social and political science at the University of Leuven and musicology at Ghent University; he also studied music theory and piano at the Ghent Conservatory and the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. Known primarily as a composer, his style has continually evolved during the course of his prolific career, starting from the experimental and avant-garde, gravitating towards minimalism, but always preserving a melodic foundation.

• Preface by Michael Nyman, Part One: American Minimal Music: 1.1 La Monte Young, 1.2 Terry Riley, 1.3 Steve Reich, 1.4 Philip Glass, 1.5 Basic Concepts of Minimal Music, Part Two: The Historical Developments of Basic Concepts: 2.1 Arnold Schoenberg, 2.2 Webern and Post-serialism, 2.3 Stockhausen, 2.4 John Cage, Part Three: Ideology: 3.1 T W Adorno, 3.2 Libidinal Philosophy, Bibliography, Acknowledgements

'...Merten's book ...is both analytical and polemical, distant and personal, limited to the music itself and yet posiitoning that music in a wider aesthetic/ideological context than is customary' - Michael Nyman