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The Post-Minimal Punk:

A Study of Rhys Chatham and A Crimson Grail

Lawrence Jay Rizzuto

University at Buffalo SUNY

Abstract: This article explores the intersection of post-minimalism and the burgeoning New York City punk scene by examining the music of Rhys
Chatham. Chatham was part of a generation that crafted a distinct aesthetic within the downtown music scene. Recent scholarship and criticism have
ignited a musical discourse regarding the breakdown of musical barriers during the 1970s–80s. Caroline Polk O’Meara notes in her dissertation New York
Noise that punk was an “aesthetic strategy of disruption, dissonance, and disorder,” and Bernard Gendron wrote in his book Between Montmartre and the
Mudd Club that the post-minimalists had adopted the codes of punk and thus, “stressed pure musicality at the expense of extra-musical aggression and
antics.” While scholars have examined the music of other post-minimalists such as Glenn Branca and Laurie Anderson, few have focused on the ways in
which Chatham forged an aesthetic that combined the aggressive musical tendencies of punk with post-minimalism specific to his unconventional
adaptation and use of the electric guitar. I argue that Chatham’s merger of post-minimalism and punk fused the smooth and linear comprehensibility of
post-minimalism with the discord and amateur sensibility of punk music, and is intensified by the performance venue, namely sacred spaces, through
which his work is realized.
Chatham had studied just-intonation with La Monte Young and electronic music with Morton Subotnick. In 1976, Chatham’s interests turned to the
electric guitar after listening to The Ramones perform at CBGB. In 1977, Chatham composed his first work for electric guitar entitled Guitar Trio, and he
currently composes large-scale works for guitar orchestras. I will demonstrate how Chatham’s guitar orchestrations combined the musical idioms of post-
minimalism with the aesthetics of punk rock. His most recent work A Crimson Grail (2005) was originally composed for 400 guitars, 16 basses, percussion,
and 5 conductors. The immense performance considerations and collaborative details induce an altogether visceral experience for his target audience of
experimental music devotees and amateur guitar heroes. As a result, Chatham has widened the landscape of American experimental music while cleverly
engaging participants and listeners in his distinct musical blend of post-minimalism and punk.
Keywords: Rhys Chatham, A Crimson Grail, minimalism, post-minimalism, punk, guitar orchestra

T his article examines the music and aesthetics of the post-minimalist composer Rhys Chatham and
highlights his relationship to minimalism and the bourgeoning punk rock scene in New York City during
the mid–late 1970s. Chatham was part of a generation that crafted a distinct aesthetic within the
downtown music scene1 and recent criticism has ignited a discourse regarding the breakdown of musical barriers
during the 1970s–80s. Caroline Polk O’Meara notes in her dissertation New York Noise that punk was an “aesthetic
strategy of disruption, dissonance, and disorder,”2 and Bernard Gendron wrote in his book Between Montmartre and
the Mudd Club that the post-minimalists had adopted the codes of punk and thus, “stressed pure musicality at the
expense of extra-musical aggression and antics.”3 While scholars have examined the music of other post-minimalists4
such as Glenn Branca and Laurie Anderson, there has been limited scholarly research written on Chatham. In an
effort to address Chatham’s musical aesthetic in more detail this article will focus on the ways in which Chatham
combined the aggressive musical tendencies of punk with post-minimalism specific to his unconventional adaptation
and use of the electric guitar. I intend to argue that Chatham widened the landscape of American experimental music
while cleverly engaging participants and listeners in his distinct musical blend of punk and post-minimalism. The first
part of this article addresses the historical influences of minimalism and punk music in the development of Chatham’s
music. The second part of the article will demonstrate how Chatham fused the linear comprehensibility of post-
minimalism with the discord and amateur sensibility of punk music in one of his more recent compositions, A
Crimson Grail.

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1
Here I am referring to Gann’s definition of downtown music that was specific to art music happening below 20th Street in Manhattan (although he
admits that downtown music was not entirely geographically specific to lower Manhattan). Kyle Gann, “Breaking The Chain Letter: An Essay on
Downtown Music,” www.kylegann.com/downtown.html (accessed, August 25, 2013).
2
Caroline Polk O’Meara, “New York Noise: Music in the Post-Industrial, 1978–85” (PhD diss., University of California Los Angeles, 2006).
3
Bernard Gendron, Between Montmartre and the Mudd Club: Popular Music and the Avant-Garde (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002), 293.
4
As opposed to second stream minimalism, post-minimalism looked to adopt the codes of other popular music (namely punk) in combination with
innovations in the visual arts to form a new musical language.
Rizzuto | The Post-Minimal Punk: A Study of Rhys Chatham and A Crimson Grail

[2] First, I will briefly discuss the early stirrings of minimalism and Chatham’s relationship to minimalism and his
mentor, La Monte Young, who had a profound influence on Chatham’s early musical development. What is striking
about Young is the manner by which he diverged from the trajectory of American experimental music exemplified by
the New York School. John Cage often proclaimed that along with new music came new rules: “New music: new
listening. Not an attempt to understand something that is being said, for if something were being said, the sounds
would be given the shapes of words. Just an attention to the activity of sounds.”5 Perhaps more so, it was Young’s
music that fittingly embodied an “attention to the activity of sounds,” which is curious considering how minimalism
parted from the New York School, forging their own aesthetic in response to indeterminacy. A quote from Michael
Nyman’s book, Experimental Music: Cage and Beyond, helps frame a context from which the minimalist response had
grown:

Perhaps a reaction against indeterminacy was inevitable: the music of La Monte Young and Terry Riley, Steve Reich
and Philip Glass—the three other American composers most closely associated with Young’s minimal ‘alternative’—
shows a many-sided retrenchment from the music that has grown from indeterminacy, and draws on sources hitherto
neglected by experimental music.6

[3] While Nyman highlights the counteractions of minimalism, it is also vital to understand the complexities and
contradictions of the minimalist aesthetic. For instance, Young’s definition of minimalism, “that which is created
with a minimum of means,” 7 is problematic for minimalism and post-minimalism, especially when examining
Chatham’s massive guitar orchestras, which require something more than “a minimum of means.” In addition, the
“process music” of Steve Reich set into motion a new compositional aesthetic with new rules for interpretation. In a
sense, Chatham’s music, which includes the punk aesthetics of electric guitars, distortion, and loud amplification, is
an offshoot of process music, and while traits of Young’s and Reich’s musical sentimentality are inherent in post-
minimalism, Chatham’s aesthetic embodies two seemingly disparate genres, minimalism and punk rock. To be sure,
Chatham!and others following in the footsteps of minimalists such as Anderson, Branca, and Julius Eastman to
name a few!experienced a crisis of identity during the mid–late seventies; such was the immense footprint of
minimalism that composers consciously sought out other artistic sources in popular music and the visual arts to draw
upon for their inspiration.

[4] Chatham’s musical relationship with La Monte Young began in 1971. Prior to meeting Young, Chatham had
studied electronic music with Morton Subotnick at New York University. While at NYU, Chatham connected with
other composers such as Maryanne Amacher and Charlemagne Palestine who introduced him to music of long
duration. As the first musical director of The Kitchen in lower Manhattan, Chatham was eager to produce a concert
of Young’s work. While meeting to discuss the program Young performed The Well-Tuned Piano for Chatham and,
although he admitted his fondness for the work, Chatham remarked that his piano sounded out of tune and he could
fix it for him. This humorous comment resonated well with Young and he agreed to teach lessons in exchange for
Chatham tuning his piano.8 In an interview with journalist Rob Young, Chatham recounts his lesson experiences and
draws attention to Young’s influence. He states:

La Monte taught me how to tune in just intonation as well as his special way of tuning very small intervals like 63/64 or
the comma of Pythagoras, 83/84. Also higher intervals like 126/127. We would refer to these intervals as “keys” and I

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5
John Cage, Silence: Lectures and Writings By John Cage (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1961), 10.
6
Michael Nyman, Experimental Music: Cage and Beyond, 2nd ed. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 139.
7
La Monte Young, “On Minimalism,” www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoUoxy2FOdw (accessed July 23, 2014).
8
For a time during the seventies, Chatham made his living as a professional instrument tuner working for other notable musicians including Albert Fuller,
Glenn Gould, Paul Jacobs, and Gustav Leonhardt.

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Mosaic: Journal of Music Research 3 (2014)

would tune a series of pitches in the “key” of 83 and another set of pitches in the key of 84. The difference in sound was
almost felt rather than heard. All this influenced my work with electric guitar of course.9

[5] The lessons with Young combined with Chatham’s experience seeing the punk progenitors, The Ramones, play at
CBGB’s persuaded him to explore the alluring intersection of minimalism and punk, whose shared musical traits
included repetition, drones, just intonation, and an intensification of sound through amplification, distortion, and
performance venue. Further on in the same interview Rob Young asks Chatham to recount his experience seeing The
Ramones play live:

Young: You say The Ramones at CBGB’s woke you up to the raw power of minimalist rock, and turned you onto the
path that saw you play in groups like Arsenal for a while. […]

Chatham: When I first heard The Ramones play, it was a revelation to me. I had never seen a rock band play live before
(it was at CBGBs). I thought, “Hey, these guys are playing only three chords!” That might have been one or two more
chords than I was using in my music at the time, but I could see the similarities and thought that maybe I had more in
common with this music than I thought.10

[6] Afterwards, Chatham borrowed his friend’s Fender Telecaster and turned his energies toward leaning how to play
the electric guitar, playing mostly barre chords. That was a pivotal moment in Chatham’s career, the epiphany when
he turned on the electric guitar and tuned into punk rock. At first glance, The Ramones, aurally and visually, might
not have a lot in common with minimalist music. However, if you begin to peel back the layers one can see why The
Ramones fascinated Chatham. Foremost, is the appropriation of power chords, repetition, and simple song form by
infusing the typical I–IV–V–I progression characterizing almost every early Ramones song. The Ramones were
championing a new brand of music, a hybrid punk-pop with searing power chords and a hammering rhythm section
fronted with monotone vocals and repetitive verses. These features highlight a vital musical aesthetic of punk rock’s
reaction to progressive rock music of the 1970s. Punk rock’s response to prog-rock (bands such as King Crimson,
Mahavishnu Orchestra, and arena rockers like Led Zeppelin) is similar to the “retrenchment” that Nyman describes
concerning minimalism. Ideologically, the simplicity of form, content, and harmonic language resonated with
Chatham and provided an outlet through which his previous musical training could be appropriated and further
examined. In this regard, Chatham was appropriating minimalism and punk to forge a new post-minimal language.

[7] Kyle Gann’s essay “A Forest from the Seeds of Minimalism,” helps to contextualize the post-minimalist aesthetic
in our discussion of Chatham’s music:

…the postminimalists sought a consistent musical language, a cohesive syntax within which to compose. But where
serialist syntax was abrupt, discontinuous, angular, arrhythmic, and opaque, postminimalists syntax was precisely the
opposite: smooth, linear, melodic, gently rhythmic, comprehensible.11

As we shall see, these latter qualities are inherent in Chatham’s recent works for the electric guitar, including A
Crimson Grail. However, Chatham’s earlier fusion of punk and minimalism was abrasive, abrupt, and angular as in his
Guitar Trio (1977) and Drastic Classicism (1982). In these works Chatham’s use of the guitar accords with the musical
aesthetics of punk, typified by dissonant tunings, higher overtones, the high-pitched wails of single coil pickups, loud
amplification, dead-panned drums, trashy cymbals, and little bass guitar in the mix. However, the form of these

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9
Rob Young, “Rhys Chatham Interview for Wire,” Rhys Chatham: Official Website of Composer Rhys Chatham, www.rhyschatham.net/ninties
RCwebsite/wire.html (accessed August 25, 2013).
10
Ibid.
11
Kyle Gann, “A Forest from the Seeds of Minimalism: An Essay on Post-Minimalism and Totalist Music,” www.kylegann.com/postminimalism.html
(accessed August 25, 2013).
Rizzuto | The Post-Minimal Punk: A Study of Rhys Chatham and A Crimson Grail

works, Drastic Classicism in particular, exude an unpredictable nature as the angular rhythms and abrupt shifts in
dynamics crescendo into intense moments of high volumes for long periods of time.12 Further on in the essay, Gann
explains why the post-minimalists held onto codes of serialism in their compositions: “The postminimalist generation,
most of them born in the 1940s, had grown up studying serialism, and had internalized many of its values.
Minimalism [emphasis added] inspired them to seek a more audience-friendly music than serialism.” 13 In fact,
Chatham studied counterpoint, harmony, and serialism with the acclaimed composer, conductor, and educator Tom
Manoff. Of course, all of this helped cultivate Chatham’s musical personae—as one with his finger on the pulse of
experimental music in lower Manhattan.

[8] The following narratives extracted from Chatham’s biography and “Composer’s Notebook” solidifies Chatham’s
punk personae describing his active fieldwork on the punk rock circuit. Specifically, I am drawing attention to
Chatham’s role as a “secret agent” in the punk scene, as his biography states, “Rather than simply appropriating rock
music, he worked as a kind of ‘secret agent’ in the field, becoming an active figure on the late-night rock scene in
New York City.”14 On the surface level, Chatham’s infiltration into punk has commonalities with the techniques and
hidden systems that preoccupied composers of serialist music whose musical training followed a similar trajectory to
Chatham’s music education. However, in this regard, I contend that Chatham is the hidden system, privately
engaged in a divided artistic community that was mid-1970s NYC and pledging little allegiance to either downtown,
uptown, art rock, or punk rock music. Secondly, the musical relationship between the composer, performer, and
audience reinforces Gann’s proclamation that “Minimalism inspired [post-minimalists] to seek a more audience-
friendly music than serialism.”15 Post-minimalism not only retrenched musical traits exploited by minimalism—such
as long duration, repetition, drone, and process—but also infiltrated other artistic economies, disrupting the divide in
performance venues, art lofts, and rock clubs. For Chatham, infiltration was vital to his aesthetic, as he riffs on the
following idea:

The breakdown of barriers separating the genres of art music, improvised music, and rock was complete…art music
composers such as myself were playing at CBGB’s and the Mudd Club; we had rock composers such as Brian Eno
making sound installations for art galleries. To use the three of us as examples, each operating in our secondary context
at this time as a kind of “secret agent”: there was a definite feeling that we were transgressing in some way when we
effected a switch of context. It was still necessary for us to “infiltrate” the venues of our secondary context.16

[9] This integration created a unique environment for the intersection, networking, and collaboration of ideas.
Bernard Gendron notes in his chapter entitled “No Wave” that Chatham represented a new affiliation of composers
who crafted a distinct musical aesthetic within the downtown music scene, a group he refers to as borderliners:

In effect, the new downtown presented itself in triangular opposition both to the old downtown and to no wave. Against
the first-generation downtown but on the side of no wave, the new downtown altogether committed itself to a
borderline aesthetic. But with its downtown fore parents and in contrast with no wave, the new downtown stressed pure
musicality and experimentalism at the expense of extra-musical aggression and antics.17

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12
These works would influence other guitarists of the punk avant-garde including Glenn Branca, and Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth.
13
Gann, “A Forest from the Seeds of Minimalism.”
14
Chatham, “Rhys Chatham Short Biography,” www.rhyschatham.net/nintiesRCwebsite/RCshortbio.html (accessed August 25, 2013).
15
Gann, “A Forest from the Seeds of Minimalism.”
16
Chatham, “Composer’s Notebook 1990: Towards a Musical Agenda for the Nineties,” www.rhyschatham.net/nintiesRCwebsite/Essay_1970-90.html
(accessed August 25, 2013).
17
Gendron, 291–92.

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Mosaic: Journal of Music Research 3 (2014)

As Chatham and others were discovering their artistic identity they found company with other reactionary artists,
such as Patti Smith, Talking Heads, and The Ramones. The phenomenon that was mid-1970s NYC was, in simple
terms, a melting pot. Moreover, it was a furious blend of seemingly disparate cultural authorities whose aggressive
artistry was amplified by the mingling of musical aesthetics.

[10] The recent inquiry in O’Meara’s dissertation examines the aforementioned phenomena as “the manifestation of
noises in the music of a single time and place.”18 Her introduction highlights the rippling effects of NYC noise
specific to the music of Glenn Branca, Chatham’s contemporary and noted rival of guitar orchestrations. O’Meara
frames punk music describing an “aesthetic strategy of disruption, dissonance, and disorder.”19 The relationship of
disruption, dissonance, and disorder in punk rock and the retrenched post-minimal language of smoothness, linearity,
and melodic and rhythmic comprehensibility are central to Chatham’s works for the electric guitar. While his works
support a post-minimal aesthetic, they are also firmly entrenched in the tradition of punk rock music.

[11] O’Meara also describes the environment in which punk rock and art music intersected in “neighborhoods where
the previous decade’s physical and social disintegration had taken the greatest toll,” areas that, eventually became
coveted hotbeds of creativity. 20 While recent criticism has tended to romanticize the squalor-like living and
performing conditions for artists in 1970s New York City,21 it is important to briefly acknowledge the working
relationships that artists developed within the performance venues of lower Manhattan. Interestingly, a complex
symbiosis evolved that connected the compositional process and realizations of works—with respect to downtown
music or punk rock—to the actual performance space, whether it was an art loft or rock club. These are
establishments that I call indeterminate venues for the performance of art music.

[12] The important role that architecture plays in Western classical music is well documented. Similarly, the
performance venue was a key component to the musical aesthetics of punk and new wave bands such as Talking
Heads. In 2010, David Byrne, the lead singer and guitarist of Talking Heads, gave a lecture at the TED Talks
entitled “How Architecture Helped Music Evolve.” In his discourse cum exploration about music and architecture
Byrne raises valid questions about the creative process and music in relation to architecture!ranging from the concert
hall tradition to the dive bar rock club. Specifically, he describes how the room at CBGB’s shaped the sound of
Talking Heads; he states: “The nature of the room meant that words could be understood. The lyrics of the song
could be pretty much understood. The sound system was kind of decent and there wasn’t a lot of reverberation in the
room so the rhythms could be pretty intact too, pretty concise.”22 Early recordings of Talking Heads reinforce this
sentiment: their sound resembles a live performance with its dry, deadpanned sonic space, modest production, and
little to no enhanced effects such as reverb, echo, distortion, and delay on the instrumentation and vocals.

[13] As he continues his discussion he mentions his experience at more esteemed performance venues including
Carnegie Hall, noting that, while the engagements were “exciting,” the performances “didn’t sound all that great.”23

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18
O’Meara, abstract.
19
Ibid, 1.
20
Ibid.
21
Will Hermes book Love Goes to Buildings on Fire: Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever provides an introspective account of the NYC
music scene between 1973–77 outlining the intersection of rock, punk, jazz, Latin music, and early hip-hop.
22
David Bryne, TED Talks, “How Architecture Helped Music Evolve,” www.ted.com/talks/david_byrne_how_architecture_helped_music_ evolve.html
(accessed August 25, 2013).
23
Ibid.
Rizzuto | The Post-Minimal Punk: A Study of Rhys Chatham and A Crimson Grail

Byrne then raises his concerns: “So I asked myself: ‘Do I write stuff for specific rooms? Do I have a place, a venue, in
mind when I write? Is that a kind of model for creativity? Do we all make things with a venue, a context, in mind?” 24

[14] The question of creativity and context is one that steers composers in a certain innovative direction and can
complicate the matter of music being composed with its own intents and purposes, which is not the debate of this
article. However, composers certainly have an ideal space in mind for which their music is to be realized. In this
regard, the sheer size and volume of Chatham’s most recent guitar orchestration, A Crimson Grail (2005), is ideally
suited for the grandiose architecture of large cathedrals, which naturally enhance the work with cavernous acoustics
and stunning visuals that impose a distinct spatial and spiritual aesthetic..25 An abstract for the composition and
performance details of A Crimson Grail are provided on Chatham’s website:

Rhys Chatham and his team come to the city of the performance and teach the music of A Crimson Grail to between
108–216 locally recruited musicians. The music is taught over three days, culminating in a performance. The number of
musicians needed for a realization of A Crimson Grail depends on the size of the space the work will be presented in.
Antiphonal in nature, the musicians are divided into four sub-groups, who surround the audience in a “U” shape in order
to exploit a “quad” effect, passing sounds from section to section, musician to musician.26

[15] Due to the immense performance requirements of this work, there have only been three realizations of A Crimson
Grail, which include the Basilique Sacré Coeur in Paris (2005), the Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival (2009), and
most recently the Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool (2012). In the final section of this article I will describe Chatham’s
most recent performance of A Crimson Grail for 200 electric guitars, 16 basses, one percussionist, and five conductors
at the Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool. A Crimson Grail is a work that exemplifies Chatham’s fusion of the musical
aesthetics of minimalism, post-minimalism, and punk music that have been discussed in this article so far. The intent
of the following section is to highlight Chatham’s distinct blend of post-minimalism and punk, and his
unconventional appropriation and orchestration for the electric guitar.

[16] The work is performed in three movements with time approximations of I – 29' II – 14' III – 23'. Each
movement develops repeated thematic material fixated on blurred tonal centers of E and A major. There are extended
guitar techniques employed throughout, including string swipes; various plucking and strumming methods near the
bridge, the nut, and the tuning pegs; and varying intensities of tremolo. Peter Guy, critic for the Liverpool Echo,
provides an account of the third movement finale:

It builds and gradually shifts away from this dreamlike state, and as it builds the sound of 108 guitars seems to rise up
around like a tidal wave with you in the middle. Among the tremolo-ing guitars you can almost hear things that aren’t
actually there such is the depth of the sound.27

[17] Guy’s review highlights an overriding characteristic of the entire work, which is to say that the resonant overtones
in A Crimson Grail can, at times, overwhelm the senses with the guitars’ subtle and crushing moments that induce a
“dreamlike” atmosphere. The acoustical phenomenon, produced by the mass layering of overtones, lends itself to
hearing “things that aren’t actually there” and is magnified by the configuration, orchestration, and tuning of the

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24
Ibid.
25
The original commission of A Crimson Grail was written for a Paris commission specifically for the architecture of the Sacré Coure Cathedral. As noted
from Chatham’s website discography: “It was created to work with the specific architecture of the basilica, making use of its natural 15-second
reverberation time.” Chatham, www.rhyschatham.net/discography/crimson-grail (accessed August 25, 2013).
26
Chatham, www.rhyschatham.net/projects/crimson-grail (accessed August 25, 2013).
27
Peter Guy, “Rhys Chatham: Liverpool Cathedral – A Crimson Grail,” Peter Guy’s Getintothis: Beats, Drones, and Rock & Roll (blog), Liverpool Echo,
September 15, 2012, www.peterguy.merseyblogs.co.uk/2012/09/rhys-chatham-liverpool-cathedr.html (accessed August 25, 2013).

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guitars.28 Indeed, A Crimson Grail is a distinct musical event that needs to be experienced live in order to absorb the
true complexities of the work’s dynamics and contour. For that reason, and the time and space allotted, I am limiting
my description to segments within the first, second, and third movements that highlight the fusion of post-minimal
and punk tendencies.29

Figure 1: Congregation Gathering for A Crimson Grail 30

[18] The first movement begins with rapid guitar tremolos, establishing a soft harmonic drone between E and A,
which continues for approximately six minutes until the bass guitars and hi-hat enter as quarter-note timekeepers.
The sound revolves antiphonally, ping-ponging effects of slap-back delay, feedback, overtones, strums, and swipes on
the guitar strings. This group activity continues as new subgroups of tremolos are introduced, producing sitar-like
timbres enhanced by the plucks near the tuning pegs and bridges of the guitars. These extended techniques produce a
smooth ethereal quality that is developed throughout the entire piece, with the guitars entering and exiting in waves
of sound. Until now, the alterations between E and A have dominated the work, and it is not until the eighteen
minute mark that there is a break in the activity of sound and individual pitches are introduced: B5, C#5, A5, A4, E4,
which are, incidentally, the only notes encountered as a unison solo in the first movement. At this point new
subgroups of rapid tremolos on E-flat and A-flat are introduced, pulling the tonal center and harmonic drone away
from E and A. D-flat and D also enter as tremolo subgroups. These groups contract and expand with swells of
crescendos, communicating as a polyphonic hive. Then, with little indication, the first movement concludes.

[19] The second movement differs from the first movement in regard to form and motive, and also expands on the
extended guitar techniques that define the note-to-note activity. The overall character of the second movement is a
continuous transformation of harmonic colors and glassy textures, with varying degrees of intensity in dynamics and
duration. Although it is the shortest of the three movements, the transformations of the harmonic swells continuously
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28
The score calls for the lower two strings of the guitar to be tuned to E and the upper four in unison. Robert Carol writes about the sensations of
overtones in his review of A Crimson Grail: “The result is that of an enormous single overtone series resonating. The unison tunings also create a certain
degree of natural chorusing that fattens the sound the way a violin section’s numbers enlarge a unison line.” Carl Robert, “A Crimson Grail.” Fanfare: The
Magazine For Serious Record Collectors 34, no. 3 (2011), 253–54.
29
It should be noted that the following descriptive outline is based upon a recording from the Liverpool concert. For a brief time after the Liverpool
performance Chatham permitted downloads of a bootleg recording of the concert on his website.
30
Note the placement of the four conductors and the subgroups of guitars in U shape configuration. “A Crimson Grail” © September 12, 2012, Tony
Lavender, www.rhys chatham.net/news/2012-sep-22-crimson-grail-liverpool-biennial-smashing-success (Used with permission)
Rizzuto | The Post-Minimal Punk: A Study of Rhys Chatham and A Crimson Grail

overlap in gentle rhythmic pulsations, which, in turn, heighten the temporal displacement and sensation of real-time.
The initial harmonic swells are divided into approximate half-minute segments with a moment of silence between
segments. At the beginning of the movement the first swell begins with rapid tremolos on E with an ascending
motion toward F-sharp. (When they stop they produce a decay effect similar to that of a pipe organ heard in large
cathedrals.) The first group goes though a series of transformations down a half step to E-flat, blurring the pitch
center between E-flat and B. The harmonic movement is gearing toward A and the resonant overtones obfuscate the
pitch center until the guitars crescendo and tremolo on D-sharp at the 3' 00" mark. This begins a new series of
harmonic transformations in A with the swells interrupted, again, by a brief moment of silence. It is not until the 8'
45" mark that the guitar swells are seamless and overlap into one another; producing a falling effect enhanced by the
cathedral’s acoustics. The seamless transformation of guitar sounds suspends the gravitational pull of the movement
that creates a floating sensation.31

Figure 2: Attendees in Ecstasy32

[20] In conclusion of this descriptive outline I would like to draw attention to the finale of the third movement. The
climax of the piece arrives after a lengthy development of thematic material and interplay between the guitars and a
repeated four measure quarter-note ostinato on the hi-hat. The four-bar phrase of the hi-hat is accented on the
downbeat of each measure and is slightly altered in the fourth bar with an added eighth note on the upbeat of beat
four. Upon introduction of the 12-bar melodic motive a 3:2 hemiola is produced by the combination of the guitars’
thematic material and the hi-hat ostinato. Example 1a is repeated three times and resolves to the theme in Example
1b, which then metrically realigns the guitars and hi-hat, thereby beginning a new cycle of metric displacement
compounded by a crescendo of guitar overtones and the shimmering effect of the hi-hat ostinato.

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31
Admittedly this comment is rather speculative. However, given the experience I have invested through repetitive listening, the sensation of floatation
enhanced by the acoustics of the cathedral cannot be understated. In pictures taken of audience members many attendees have their eyes closed, as if they
are transfixed on the experience of pure ecstasy in sound.
32
“Listeners take in the experience in their own unique fashion inside the cathedral” © September 12, 2012, John Johnson, www.peterguy.merseyblogs.
co.uk/2012/09/rhys-chatham-liverpool-cathedr-1.html (Used with permission)

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Example 1: Guitars’ Thematic Material

[21] Up until this point in the work there have been numerous mild transformations with long sustained periods of
melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic subtleties, which are comparable to the smooth and linear comprehensibility of
post-minimalism. The work’s overall thematic development is disrupted at the 15' 30" mark when the guitars begin to
coalesce into notes forming an ascending E-major scale by combining rapid alterations of tremolos beginning a
continuous chord progression, a harmonic arch that continues for seven minutes. The perception of where guitar
phrases begin and end is distorted and the resolution of the E-major scale is suspended and left unresolved. The
physical sensation of displacement and the harmonic pull effect is heightened by overtones and reverberation. It is at
this point where the aggressive tendencies and amateur sensibilities of punk are fronted as Chatham’s guitar orchestra
climaxes with spirited abandon. The piece ends with light patters of alternating harmonic plucks on the guitar strings.

[22] Chatham’s massive guitar orchestration for A Crimson Grail highlights the inherent complexities of fusing the
musical aesthetics of minimalism, post-minimalism, and punk; in as much as there is nothing “minimal” about two
hundred guitars strumming in unison, a significant question arises concerning how and why A Crimson Grail
maintains its amateur spirit despite the immense performance considerations. The complexities of Chatham’s piece
are also amplified by the performance venues in which the work is realized. Two of the three performances were
realized in sacred spaces. Although there is much owed to the musical aesthetics of post minimalism and punk,33 it is
apparent that the spiritual qualities of A Crimson Grail are heightened through the interaction between the ensemble
and audience, and the music and performance venue. Perhaps, even further, the Zen-like characteristics of the Suzuki
teaching method are adapted in his piece. The musicologist and cultural theorist Robert Fink has written extensively
about minimalist practices and he deftly ties American minimalism, Suzuki method, and Buddhism together,
highlighting their interrelationship. Fink asserts,

The crucial phenomenon that American minimal music, the Suzuki Method, and Zen Buddhism all share is an
emphasis on practice, the raw experience of repetition, up to and seemingly beyond the limits of human endurance. A
Zen-like insistence on “pure” repetition would seem to make tiny Suzuki students the ideal performers of Glass’s
modular music, which, after all, depends more on mental discipline in the face of repetition than mastery of notation or
traditional technique.34

[23] The “limits of human endurance” are certainly tested in A Crimson Grail as the intensive three-day rehearsal in
preparation for the performance—combined with the repetitive nature of the piece—heightens the demands of
mental and physical endurance. There is immense stamina required by the guitar players to repeat the tremolos for
long stretches of time. Although the alterations of tremolos are passed from subgroup to subgroup, and individual
players do drop out of the mix, ten to fifteen minutes of continuous tremolos requires an intense focus and awareness.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
33
Surface level considerations, including the immensity of musicians playing inside sacred spaces, also intensify the extra-musical aesthetics of post-
minimalist and punk tendencies.
34
Robert Fink, Repeating Ourselves: American Minimal Music as Cultural Practice (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2005), 226.
Rizzuto | The Post-Minimal Punk: A Study of Rhys Chatham and A Crimson Grail

By applying Fink’s terminology, Chatham’s music is an ideal match for a Suzuki Method hybrid, and the target
participants for Chatham’s guitar ensembles appropriately fit the description that Fink outlines as requiring more
“mental discipline” than “mastery of notation or traditional technique.”

[24] Lastly, the intricate relationship between the performer and the composer, and the performer and the
composition is magnified. The players involved in realizations of A Crimson Grail are not necessarily virtuosos but
rather amateur guitar heroes whose boundless energy and eager participation is an embodiment of Chatham’s
aesthetics, which is certainly worn as a badge of honor on the ragged denim of punk rock. By fusing the tranquil
styling of post-minimalism’s drones, repetition, duration, and just intonation with punk’s aggressive antics, musical
artistry, extended guitar techniques, and loud amplification—in combination with the heightened performance
requirements—A Crimson Grail serves as a model for new experimental music in America and throughout Europe. It
is music realized by guitar devotees and marveled at by adoring congregations!unified through harmonious waves of
sound and spiritualized in time and space.

Figure 3: Chatham Conducts A Crimson Grail 35

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Rizzuto | The Post-Minimal Punk: A Study of Rhys Chatham and A Crimson Grail

About the Author

Lawrence Jay Rizzuto is a PhD candidate in Historical Musicology at the University at Buffalo, The State
University of New York. He received his BM in Music Education from Michigan State University and his MA in
Musicology from San Diego State University. His research for his Master’s Thesis What Is All That Noise: Mike
Patton and The Presence of Italian Futurism was recognized for a Dean’s Award at the San Diego State University
Student Research symposium in 2010 and he was awarded the Outstanding Graduate in Service by SDSU in
2011. His primary musical interests include the early avant-garde and minimalism to popular music and heavy
metal. He currently teaches at UB and private music instruction through his business Rizzuto Music. Lawrence is
also a percussionist and accompanist for the UB Department of Theater and Dance and has been a professional
educator and active musician for 20 years with several recording, publications, and photography credits to his
name. You can go listen to examples of his music at: www.soundcloud.com/rizzuto-music.