Postmodernism

From DIMA

Postmodernism in music is a style of composition in which the composer reveals the influence of various musical periods and styles. The term is used especially to describe the music of certain composers of the 20th century. Igor Stravinsky is considered the first great postmodernist, his style combines perfectly the neoclassic and serialist language with the traditionally Russian one. Postmodernism will flourish after the integral serialist period of the 1950s, as a reaction of the composers against the rigidity of the restrictions imposed by this technique (establishing the parameters of each component: attack, rhythm, dynamics, and duration). A representative of the style is Peter Maxwell Davies, who adopted a writing manner ranging from the one proper to the maestros of the 16th century up to the modern techniques of the dodecaphonic system. Among his most notable compositions is Missa super l’homme armé (1968, revised in 1971 for narrator or singer and ensemble), Ave Maris Stella (1975, for chamber ensemble), Symphony no.1 (1976-77), Concert for violin and orchestra (1985, dedicated to Isaac Stern who performed it in 1986 at St. Magnus Festival in Orkney Islands), who adopts a manner of composition ranging from the one proper to the maestros of the 16th century up to the modern techniques of the dodecaphonic system. A replica of the Cluj School of composition is represented by the complex personality of the postmodern composer Ede Terényi (b.1935).