I believe that my favourite music is postmodernist music. Postmodernism references past eras, the art of which I find fascinating yet somewhat elusive in meaning. I am fond of Baroque music, but I can only fully appreciate it to a certain extent because I am a person of a different era, and the seventeenth century's art is separated from me by the vast passage of time.
Postmodernism is a complex, eclectic, and heterogeneous phenomenon that emerged in Western European culture in the last quarter of the 20th century. The initial postmodernist ideas came to the fore in the late 1960s, reflecting a critical examination of the sociocultural and philosophical contexts of contemporary civilisation. Postmodernism follows modernism and is associated with the interpretation of stylistic changes in European artistic culture.
Postmodernism is associated with a claim to shift philosophical paradigms, accompanied by a profound and multifaceted critique of panlogism, rationalism, objectivism, and historicism, which were characteristic of the preceding Western European tradition. The examination of what has been created, along with the illusions associated with it, has placed the understanding of how it was created at the centre of postmodernist concerns. This has brought to the forefront issues requiring clarification of the roles of signs, symbols, and language. Stylistic allusions and quotations have become not merely technical devices but essential aspects of music, evolving from a possibility into a necessity.
Postmodernism does not possess its own material; it lacks its own substance and can only present what exists or what has previously existed. In postmodern art, derivativeness becomes a necessary condition for existence, because postmodernism is not defined by any specific material, style, or language, but rather by simulacra of language, style, or symbolism, imitating previously established values.
Postmodernist music has become a sort of mirror, reflecting the evolution of human worldview and aesthetic consciousness through its non-verbal, sonic, and sensory language.
Prominent representatives of postmodernism in the musical culture of the 20th century include the American composer John Cage, whose work sparked considerable debate yet profoundly influenced 20th-century musical art. He is renowned for his famous piece "4'33"," which consists of 4 minutes and 33 seconds of silence. Through this concept, the composer draws the listener's attention to the ambient sounds heard throughout the performance, highlighting a communicative aspect of postmodernist art.
In music, the first postmodern style is considered to be minimalism. Minimalism in music is a compositional method based on the simplest pitch and rhythmic cells, or patterns. Among the early minimalists was Arnold Schoenberg's student La Monte Young, who incorporated elements of serialism in his early minimalist works, and Terry Riley, whose compositions show the influence of Indian music and rock music traditions. Serialism is a compositional technique that encompasses both Schoenberg's twelve-tone system and a range of sound parameters (rhythm, dynamics, articulation, timbre, etc.).
Minimalism reduces sound to its elemental form, free from systemic connections. In turn, sound as an elemental unit is placed within a system of spatial-temporal coordinates far removed from the European musical tradition. For minimalists, time is an objective, infinitely enduring process, akin to a perpetual motion machine: the dynamics of movement and the stasis of infinity.
The Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki is also considered one of the pioneers of musical postmodernism. In his composition "St Luke Passion" (1966), he employed the technique of the already familiar by repeating major triads in the final chord. His "Violin Concerto" (1976) marked a clear shift towards postmodernism. The work "TE DEUM" (1980) is fully postmodernist. It eclectically combines musical-sacred ritual with kitsch and advertising.
A special place in the development of musical postmodernism is occupied by the English composer Gavin Bryars. His symphony "The Sinking of the Titanic," created in the early 1970s, not only addressed the well-known tragic event but also heralded the demise of the musical avant-garde and the birth of a new direction in music—postmodernism. Bryars borrows ready-made musical forms from various composers belonging to different styles and cultural epochs. His works are imbued with humour and irony, which he sometimes takes to extremes. Some of Bryars' compositions are constructed in the manner of Arthur Conan Doyle, giving them a detective-like character or structure. Such is the case with a piece for piano four hands, where the performers play the roles of two detectives employing different methods in their work. One, playing in the low register of the left-hand side of the keyboard, embodies a strict, cold, scientific approach. The other, playing in the high register, represents a sensuous and intuitive method, filled with fantasy, imagination, and emotional impulses. All this aims to make the music light and accessible to the audience, to amuse and entertain them, and to provide them with pleasant enjoyment.
Postmodernism is an exceptionally complex phenomenon. Therefore, in one of Jean-François Lyotard's definitions, it is understood as "the uncontrolled increase in complexity." More significant aspects of this phenomenon are addressed when it is compared with modernism. In this regard, the definition given by the American sociologist Zygmunt Bauman appears most adequate and successful. In a slightly altered form, it can be formulated as follows