Minimalist music takes on many forms. It encompasses works made of short phrases that interlock and repeat, getting more complex with each reintroduction; compositions that observe sound’s gradual transformation; pieces that leave space for chance, interpretation, and the unexpected. But most minimalist music shares one guiding force: a search for presence. Michigan-based composer and multi-instrumentalist Erik Hall has the chance to join that continuous expedition on Solo Three, his latest album that revisits and retools minimalist classics into solo works. But his arrangements, however technically impressive, often fall short of realising the flow state that defines the genre.
Solo Three is Hall’s third album of minimalist interpretations following 2020’s Music for 18 Musicians (Steve Reich) and 2023’s Canto Ostinato (Simeon ten Holt). On these records, Hall showcased his penchant for exactitude, which was especially thrilling in transforming Music for 18 Musicians into a solo work. But precision is not enough to carry Solo Three, which presents music by Glenn Branca, Charlemagne Palestine, and Laurie Spiegel in addition to Steve Reich – three composers whose music requires an eye for the sweeping, hypnotic power of repetition as much as the details.
Hall’s interpretations are highly skilled but too timid for these works. Glenn Branca’s music is minimalism with a maximalist punch; his simple phrases are blown out of proportion by high-volume, high-speed, high-intensity performance. Even though Hall selects one of his most accessible movements, ‘Temple of Venus pt. 1’, to open this record, the piece still has a biting sense of urgency. Hall’s arrangement takes it down several notches, using a delicate touch that centres rhythmic interplay instead of creating the all-consuming flow that makes Branca’s music shine. A similar issue appears with Hall’s arrangement of Charlemagne Palestine’s ‘Strumming Music’, which strips down Palestine’s rich and mercurial chords into gossamer textures, and his take on Spiegel’s ‘A Folk Study’, in which a methodical approach removes the original’s sense of wonder.
But when Hall returns to Steve Reich, Solo Three finds its footing. He closes the record with ‘Music for a Large Ensemble’, which showcases his technical skill while finally achieving that flow state. Here, his carefully woven lattices and staccato notes propel the music toward a brilliant climax that foregrounds the grooviness hidden within these clear-cut patterns, leading to a real sense of immediacy. Minimalism is so many things, but it’s at its best when it becomes a place in which to become through the act of listening – a journey worth taking over and over again.
