More minimalist/algorithmic/mesmerizing (piano) music please!
January 23, 2015 4:24 PM   Subscribe

I've been playing Canto Ostinato, a piece for four piano's by Dutch minimalist composer Simeon ten Holt on repeat for the past couple months. It makes air travel and long work days utterly pleasant. With more of both coming up, I'd love to find more similar music that's equally mesmerizing.. Any suggestions?
posted by Thisandthat to Media & Arts (17 answers total) 49 users marked this as a favorite
 
Anything by Arvo Part or John Tavener scratches that itch for me.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 4:26 PM on January 23, 2015 [1 favorite]


La Monte Young, the Well-Tuned Piano
posted by dilaudid at 5:18 PM on January 23, 2015 [2 favorites]


Philip Glass has many piano etudes in a similar vein. YouTube is filled with them, plus there are CDs.
posted by wackybrit at 5:32 PM on January 23, 2015 [1 favorite]


Piano Specific:

Nihls Frahm. Albums: Felt, Screws.

Ryuichi Sakamoto. Albums: Three.

Seconding Part. There's a new album of his piano music coming out in a few days (Fur Anna Maria) which should be incredible.

Steve Reich's piano music, like Piano Phase.

Satie.

And yes, of course Philip Glass. Solo Piano is a classic album.
posted by Lutoslawski at 5:34 PM on January 23, 2015 [3 favorites]


Check out Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians.

Or Gorecki's Symphony of Sorrowful Songs or Harpsichord Concerto. (Oh god that harpsichord concerto...)

Also, it isn't within the classical genre, but honestly the entire post rock subgenre I find to be similarly soothing and mesmerizing. These bands and groups tend to rely more on orchestral sounds in addition to the typical rock band instrumentation. They also have no vocals and are incredibly repetitive.

Some examples:

El Ten Eleven
Explosions in the Sky
Mogwai
posted by jph at 6:24 PM on January 23, 2015 [1 favorite]


Glenn Gould, The Goldberg Variations, maybe? Not sure if it's minimalist enough for you.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 6:55 PM on January 23, 2015 [1 favorite]


Previously on AskMe: More easy listening, non-classical piano music?
posted by Nelson at 7:34 PM on January 23, 2015 [1 favorite]


Frederic Mompou maybe
posted by falsedmitri at 8:32 PM on January 23, 2015 [1 favorite]


Dustin O'Halloran's Vorleben or Lumiere
posted by banterboy at 11:31 PM on January 23, 2015 [1 favorite]


Wim Mertens? Ludovico Einaudi?
posted by Jabberwocky at 12:47 AM on January 24, 2015 [1 favorite]


Steve Reich’s Six Pianos.
Lubomyr Melnyk.
Charlemagne Palestine.
posted by misteraitch at 1:25 AM on January 24, 2015 [1 favorite]


I tend to lean towards Ryuichi Sakamoto or Chilly Gonzales (Solo Piano albums)
posted by kup0 at 2:30 AM on January 24, 2015 [1 favorite]


I asked a similar question a few years back:

More minimal / postminimal composers
posted by mermaidcafe at 5:51 AM on January 24, 2015 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Amazing! Thanks everybody so much.
This is a wonderful collection!
I'm tempted to mark everybody's as a 'best answer'.

And thanks for the references to the other metafilter ask me's, I had trouble figuring out how to name exactly what I was looking for.
posted by Thisandthat at 8:36 AM on January 24, 2015


Tom Johnson
posted by dfan at 10:35 AM on January 24, 2015


Dawn of Midi
posted by speicus at 2:10 PM on January 24, 2015


Love this type of music and I've had A Winged Victory for the Sullen's "Atomos" on repeat since it's release. Listen to bits here.

Related: one of its members is Dustin O'Halloran, which is how I came to discover them. His stuff is excellent as well.
posted by sciencemandan at 3:22 PM on January 25, 2015


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