Paul Bailey is a modern composer of “minimalist” music, though I think it’s best compared to the “theater music” of Philip Glass, who is the most popular modern composer because of his closeness to popular music. In fact, Bailey describes the group of performers that play his work as an “alternative-classical garage band” that “represents the marriage of rock idioms with traditional chamber music.”

Retrace Our Steps “is a four act vocal/instrumental spectacle based on texts by Gertrude Stein, Guy Debord and Jenny Bitner. The work explores the relationships between youthful idealism, consumerism and job security.” The repetition of “We do not retrace our steps” over cyclic patterns reminded me of Einstein on the Beach’s famous repetitions of “One two three four / one two three four five six / one two three four five six seven eight.” Think of it as a “mini nu-opera chamber piece.” Yeah, I made that up; like it? Retrace Our Steps’s simple beauty and emotional weight make it one of my personal favorites on this blog.

Music for Strings sounds like Glass’ less ambitious string quartets, or especially a string quartet tribute to a rock band heavily influenced by Glass. I’d really like to hear what Bailey’s music sounds like with a bigger ensemble.

If you like modern composition, Bailey also has a great list of modern music blogs linked from his Bloglines blogroll.

Music for Strings is available in 96kbps, Retrace Our Steps in 128kbps MP3. Several shorter pieces and incomplete works (Summerland) are available from Bailey’s MP3 page, so be sure to check that out!

Update: Music for Strings is no longer available, but you can still download Retrace Our Steps and other works at the link below.

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