Vlastimir Trajković, the (non-)minimalist

Minimalist intersections (2024) [pp. 88-104]

AUTHOR(S) / АУТОР(И):  Jelena Janković-Beguš

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DOI: 10.46793/MinInters.088JB

ABSTRACT / САЖЕТАК:

The opus of Vlastimir Trajković (1947–2017) presents a singular case in Serbian art music of the late 20th and early 21st century with respect to his approach to minimalism as a style and its techniques. Trajković was one of the first composers in Serbia to use minimalist techniques such as the repetition of models and drones, starting as early as 1976 with his Hymn No. 3 from the orchestra cycle Dan – Četiri himne Op. 6, and continuing in 1977 with his piece for organ Epimetej Op. 7 (all three movements are based almost exclusively on repetitive processes and drones). However, there are important characteristics of his individual style which place him outside the group of radical minimalists (or ‘integral minimalists’ – the term used by Marija Masnikosa) in Serbian music of the same period. Firstly, Trajković’s pieces are not based on drastic reduction of tone material (such as the use of the overtone row): instead, he freely chooses tones from the chromatic total (in Epimetej) to create ‘sound masses’ i.e. tone clusters of various thickness, or he creates a specific ‘modal’ harmonic surrounding (in Hymn No. 3). Secondly, his use of melodic themes clearly distinguishes his works from the athematic works of Serbian ‘integral minimalists.’ Therefore, even Trajković’s ‘purest’ minimalist works do not sound ‘minimalistic.’ In this chapter, I attempt to answer two questions: 1) was Trajković ever a ‘minimalist’ or ‘postminimalist’ composer (if the latter – what the prefix post- stands for, given the synchronicity of his ‘postminimalism’ with the ‘minimalism’ of his peers in Serbia); and 2) what was the origin of Trajković’s individual approach to minimalism, and how it continued to evolve in his later works.

KEYWORDS / КЉУЧНЕ РЕЧИ:

minimalism, postminimalism, Vlastimir Trajković, Epimetej, Dan – Četiri himne, repetitiveness, ostinato, synthetic minimalism, jazz-rock.

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