New Simplicity
Compositional attitude in new music since the 1970s that stresses emotional intelligibility and traditional elements.
What it means
New Simplicity (German Neue Einfachheit) is an attitude in new music that arose from the 1970s, above all in Germany. It turned against the complexity of the post-1945 avant-garde, which was felt to be abstract and cerebral, and sought instead intelligibility, immediate expression and a return to traditional elements such as melody, consonance and clear forms.
Musical use
The composers associated with this trend include Wolfgang Rihm, Manfred Trojahn and Wolfgang von Schweinitz. The related term is New Inwardness (Neue Innerlichkeit). Simplicity here does not mean plain music but intelligibility of language and emotionality; the compositions can remain quite demanding.
New Simplicity should be distinguished from minimal music, which works with repetition and gradual change, and from serial music, which it criticised. The neoclassicism of the 1920s also pursued other aims.
Performance practice
When you play such works, listen to the emotional course: melodic lines and tonal allusions should be clearly shaped. Avoid playing them as a mere return to Romanticism, for the harmony often breaks expectation.