Steve Reich

Bobby Lee · From: Cloverdale, California, USA

I've been listening and enjoying Steve Reich's music for many years, but somehow the work that started it all never found its way into my collection. There's a new recording out of Reich's "Music for Eighteen Musicians" on Nonesuch, and it's been in heavy rotation in my car since I got it about a month ago.

In the late 60's, Steve Reich recorded some very interesting experiments of tape loops played at slightly different speeds. The sounds produced by the shifting phases of multiple copies of the loops were new and exciting to fans of modern music, but few could have predicted what would follow. Reich discovered that very good musicians could actually perform written music at slightly different tempos simultaneously.

"Music for Eighteen Musicians" (or "18" as it is usually called) sounds like electronic music when you first hear it. It's a little bit like the synth pulse at the beginning of The Who's "Tommy", but it's a lot more interesting. At first you think it's just a lot of repetition. Then it grabs you.

"18" is about an hour long. It ebbs and flows, builds tension and releases, but most of all it mesmerizes. Sometimes when it's playing I think of switching on the radio and then I think "Could radio sound better than this?" The answer is "no".

Some people will hate this music. They'll put it in the "That's not music, that's noise" category. But to me it's one of the best examples of 20th century classical music. I'm sure its influence will be felt for a long, long time.

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Martin Abend · From: Berlin, Germany

A few years ago I attended a concert with five or six musical pieces written by different 20th-century-composers, one of them John Cage.

There was one piece (unfortunately I can't remember the composer) where only one note was played for app. one hour by 20 or 30 violinists. Only few other concerts have touched me so deeply since. I nearly brought me to tears.

I read somewhere that Eno's "Music for Airports" has been recorded by a bunch of classial musicians. Has anybody heard it?

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Earnest Bovine · From: Los Angeles CA USA

I've tried (not very hard) to appreciate Steve Reich, but every time, I decide that this emperor has no clothes.

Music with some harmonic depth (i.e. interesting chord changes) is what appeals to me. The only exception I can think of is country music with good steel guitar. Still I should give Reich some more listening.

Jon Light (deceased) · From: Saugerties, NY

I've got a rough associating with Steve Reich. Suffice it to say that I was too long at the bar and in the home of the wrong woman (a bunch of years ago). The turntable played a Reich piece on repeat all night. All night. All night. All night. All night.

Kinda hard to hear it objectively today.
I spent much of the 70s and 80s involved with AACM type jazz/new music. Like Earnest, I found the Reich/Glass sound harmonically uninspiring. Somewhere along the line I had a revelation with Glass and have come to appreciate the micro-macro phasal development. I'll never sit down and listen to all of Einstein on the Beach (notice they use it in the background of a Pepsi or Coke commercial?--the Einstein one, of course) but portions of it (portains

) are great examples of the phase-effect composition.
As with excessive volume ensembles that create sonic effect based on sheer volume overwhelm-ment, this is music that, for better or worse, can't be done any other way than to just do it. If you need to repeat a phrase 500 times, altering it by one beat every 20 reps in order to create shifts over 20 minutes, then that's what you've got to do.

And if you've got the time and patience, by golly it works!

Bobby Lee · From: Cloverdale, California, USA

What impresses me about "18" is how it sounds repetitive with being repetitive. Lately even the repeating motifs of some 18th and 19th century music have been annoying me, and yet these pulses from Reich are a delight to my ears.

Bob Hoffnar · From: Austin, Tx

Reich is one of my favorites also. The phase idea comes from Africa as far as I know("Clapping Music" for example). That rythmic concept is one of the main elements in African music. Also you gotta check out "In C" by Terry Reilly(sp?).

Earnest,
My favorite composer that has taken the minimalist route to beautiful harmonic places is Arvo Part. His piece "Tabula Rasa" is worth checking out.

Bob

BTW: Steel is absolutly perfect for music like this. Its harmonic clarity, phrasing and tuning possibilities make it a fantastic tool for composers.

[This message was edited by Bob Hoffnar on 18 September 2000 at 06:23 AM.]

Martin Abend · From: Berlin, Germany

Arvo Pärt is also one my favourite composers. Alo a very interesting man, as far as I can tell.
There's this "Cantus in memoriam of Benjamin Britten" that's absolutely perfect. It reaches me every time.

It's not quite related, but does anyone know "Le Mystère Des Voix Bulagres"? It's traditional Bulgarian "Folk"-Music sung by women-choirs. They have a different tonal and harmonical concept in Bulgaria, working with quarter-tones (I have no idea how the expression is in English, sorry). They can create harmonics and intervalls that I couldn't imagine before, and though sometimes it sounds like music from outer space to wesern listeners, it's just striking beautiful. If you find one of their records, grab it. You won't regret it.

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Bob Hoffnar · From: Austin, Tx

Bob,
Could you post the lable # and all that for the Reich CD ? I want to make sure I buy the right one.

Bob

Bobby Lee · From: Cloverdale, California, USA

It's Nonesuch 79448, Bob. CDNOW has portions of most of the tracks online, if you want to preview it. Click here. It's really hard to get the full impact from one minute snippets, though, and the low fidelity of online audio masks a lot of the detail and creates odd artifacts.

Jon Light (deceased) · From: Saugerties, NY

Yeah. I will be buying this. I know what you mean about the illusion of electronic music. Glass also creates some timbres--soprano sax and vocals and whatever else blended to create surprising aural entities. He also plays electric organ so there is some oscillator action involved as well. Thanks for the heads up on this.

P Gleespen · From: Toledo, OH USA

"In C" is awesome. Some friends of mine put on a performance of that when I was in college. Very cool.

Dave Frye · From: Atwater, CA

His music is almost hypnotic! Cool stuff!

Dave Frye

Matt Hutchinson · From: London, UK

I got a boxed set of Steve Reich stuff a couple of years ago - 10 cds featuring most of his recorded output & I'm nowhere near to getting bored of it yet. I absolutely love the depth the music can take you to if you're in the right mood. The way he crosses rhythms & harmonies over until one becomes another without you noticing all the time is mesmeric.

Martin Abend · From: Berlin, Germany

Hey Matt,

is the Box-Set still available? And could you post the label and the name of it?

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Matt Hutchinson · From: London, UK

Hi Martin. The cd set is on Nonesuch & the number is 7559794512. It's called Works 1965-95 and contains pretty much everything (10 cds) from the early 'phase' pieces to City Life.

Amazon has the full listing :
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000005J4P/o/qid=969873105/sr=2-5/026-8057206-2712445

John Kavanagh · From: Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada * R.I.P.

I played in a performance of "In C" once. (not on steel; actually I played viola da gamba, which is just as weird)It's a much easier piece than "18", but it was fascinating to play. Trance-inducing.
SOrt of like improvising, without the improvisation part. (duhh...)

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Earnest Bovine · From: Los Angeles CA USA

I started to write a response to this thread, but I fell asleep.

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

I took the link, and went for a listen. Some of that stuff is strangely similar to the mid '50s work of Louis and Bebe Baron. I knew it (Krell music) would catch on eventually.