About playing and Writing minimalist music

So I play piano, and I am 20th Century Classical taught (as in, I don't really play Mozart, Beety, Bach, Handel, etc...). I mostly play Jazz, Contemporary Classical, and accompanist for Choirs.

Well. Here's my dilemma. I am playing through Glass's Mad Rush (cause I am REALLY into minimalist music currently) and I am even writing a Minimalist Piano Sonata (is that an oxymoron?). And, I cannot figure out for the life of me whether to play it with the mechanical motion with which it was written, or with a musicality that is unearthly. Reason I ask. I have been youtubing and I have heard Glass play Mad Rush and he does it with a grandiose amount of phrasing. And I think I have discovered that maybe in an attempt to make the listener lulled, he plays it almost like an ocean. With lots of waves and backs and forths.

So. Is it strictly necessary to always be musical in minimalist music? Or is it ok to have contrasting sections in which one is being very musical, and other places where it isn't. Or is that too contradictory?

I think there are many schools of performance practice for Minimalism - especially since Minimalism isn't one clear-cut thing. I mean, the minimalist music of Terry Riley, John Adams (post-minimalist, really, but he has his influences), and David Lang are all very different. You could ARGUE that Mort Feldman was an experimental minimalist, because of how he wrote his scores... Glass's music, I have found, runs the gamut, depending on a) what the performing instrument is, and b) when it was written.

So I play piano, and I am 20th Century Classical taught (as in, I don't really play Mozart, Beety, Bach, Handel, etc...). I mostly play Jazz, Contemporary Classical, and accompanist for Choirs.

Well. Here's my dilemma. I am playing through Glass's Mad Rush (cause I am REALLY into minimalist music currently) and I am even writing a Minimalist Piano Sonata (is that an oxymoron?). And, I cannot figure out for the life of me whether to play it with the mechanical motion with which it was written, or with a musicality that is unearthly. Reason I ask. I have been youtubing and I have heard Glass play Mad Rush and he does it with a grandiose amount of phrasing. And I think I have discovered that maybe in an attempt to make the listener lulled, he plays it almost like an ocean. With lots of waves and backs and forths.

So. Is it strictly necessary to always be musical in minimalist music? Or is it ok to have contrasting sections in which one is being very musical, and other places where it isn't. Or is that too contradictory?

Always be musical :P

Minimalist music tends to contain slow transformations of a few musical elements, making it conducive to repetition. There is no reason why you can't have contrasting sections (moving from mechanical and rigid to more rubato, or the other way around), and contrast is a good way to keep repetition interesting!

Ok. I understand. Makes sense.

Ok. I understand. Makes sense.

Did you start learning Mad Rush before hearing a performance? Now that I've listened to Glass on YouTube I think I'd have a hard time moving away from his reflective interpretation if I were performing the piece.

I learned Mad Rush after hearing his Metamorphosis. After learning it, I watched the video of him playing it. Hence my confusion.