At the end of last year, American composer Tom Johnson passed away in Paris at the age of 85.
Johnson is known for his unique minimal compositions, in which he combines mathematical principles with musical simplicity. Dry humour plays a key role in this.
In the 1970s, he was a music critic for The Village Voice, where he highlighted the work of various composers such as Philip Glass and Steve Reich. Johnson was the first to apply the term ‘minimal’ to music in his 1972 article “The Slow-Motion Minimal Approach.” Many of his reports are available online via The Voice of New Music.
The Thema broadcast on Wednesday, February 26th (8:00-10:00 PM) is dedicated to an In Memoriam for Tom Johnson. In addition to mathematical minimal classics such as Narayana’s Cows and Pascal’s Triangle, works for string quartet and saxophone will also be heard.
Thema broadcast February 26th
