ABSTRACT
Michael Nyman's critique and ultimate rejection of the European avant-garde is most visibly demonstrated in his writings on Stockhausen and Boulez. The sheer proliferation of works produced by Stockhausen during the 1960s may explain his ubiquity in Nyman reviews from 1968 to 1971. Nyman and other classically trained composers later adopted the pragmatic approach of pop culture by forming their own 'bands' or ensembles rather than relying on state-supported orchestras or ensembles, shaping and sculpting their own distinctive sound. Nyman observes that 'one generation after Cage, have replaced silence by a completely unbroken continuum, improvisation and indeterminacy by freedoms within severely circumscribed limits, and the multi-sensory experience with a completely new experience of time'. Nyman's writings on vernacular music provide perhaps the clearest indication of an aesthetic shift away from modernism towards alternative expressive models, a middle-ground lying on the cusp between high art and popular culture.
