ABSTRACT
The trend noted by Robert Koehler in 1998 has only gained steam since that time. Though the presence of minimalist music in multimedia began in the 1960s with a handful of experimental and documentary films scored for friends and colleagues, the technique now appears in everything from Pepsi commercials to PBS documentaries, big-budget features like A Beautiful Mind (2001) and video games such as Grand Theft Auto IV (2008). By detailing the work of its major composers, this chapter traces the littleknown history of pulse-pattern minimalism’s use in the film score from its avant-garde origins to its more recent commercialization, and suggests several possible reasons for its current ubiquity. By design, this chapter does not deal with every film, as details on Philip Glass’s scores alone would fill several monographs. Rather, the trajectories of these composers’ film careers will be outlined, showing how they interact with those of their concert music.2
