STEVE REICH — Music for 18 Musicians
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STEVE REICH Music for 18 Musicians Ensemble LINKS Rémi Durupt © Jay Blakesberg Steve Reich (*1936) Music for 18 Musicians (1976) 1 Pulses 04:36 Ensemble LINKS 2 Section I 03:33 Manon Bautian, voice 3 Sandrine Carpentier, voice Section II 04:35 Juliette Demassy, voice 4 Section IIIA 03:21 Camille Merckx, voice 5 Section IIIB 03:35 Laurent Durupt, piano Trami Nguyen, piano 6 Section IV 04:54 Haga Ratovo, piano 7 Section V 05:52 Alvise Sinivia, piano 8 Section VI 03:42 Maxime Penard, clarinets 9 Section VII 03:18 Coralie Ordulu, clarinets 10 Stan Delannoy, marimba and maracas Section VIII 02:42 Clément Delmas, marimba and piano 11 Section IX 04:45 Nicolas Didier, marimba 12 Section X 01:21 Luca Genas, marimba 13 Maxime Guillouet, xylophone Section XI 04:22 Guillaume Lantonnet, marimba 14 Pulses 03:56 Vincent Martin, xylophone and piano Elodie Gaudet, violin Anne Mousserion, cello TT 54:33 Rémi Durupt, conductor, vibraphone, piano 3 Music for 18 Musicians There is more harmonic movement in the first 5 minutes ofMusic for 18 Musicians than in any other complete work of mine to date. Though the movement from chord to chord is of- ten just a re-voicing, inversion or rela- tive minor or major of a previous chord, usually staying within the key signa- ture of three shapes at all times, nev- ertheless, within these limits harmonic movement plays a more important role in this piece than in any other I have written. Rhythmically, there are two basical- Music for 18 Musicians is approximate- ly different kinds of time occurring si- ly 55 min utes long. The first sketches multaneously in Music for 18 Musicians. were made for it in May 1974 and it was The first is that of a regular rhyth- completed in March 1976. Although its mic pulse in the pianos and mallet in- steady pulse and rhythmic energy re- struments that continues throughout late to many of my earlier works, its in- the piece. The second is the rhythm strumentation, structure and harmony of the human breath in the voices and are new. wind instruments. The entire open- ing and closing sections plus part of As to instrumentation, Music for 18 all sections in between contain puls- Musicians is new in the number and es by the voice and winds. They take distribution of instruments: violin, cel- a full breath and sing or play pulses lo, 2 clarinets doubling bass clarinet, of particular notes for as long as their 4 women’s voices, 4 pianos, 3 marim- breath will comfortably sustain them. bas, 2 xylophones and metallophone The breath is the measure of the du- (vibraphone with no motor). All instru- ration of their pulsing. This combina- ments are acoustical. The use of elec- tion of one breath after another grad- tronics is limited to microphones for ually washing up like waves against the voices and some of the instruments. constant rhythm of the pianos and mal- 4 let instruments is something I have not tin might be stretched out for several blances between members of a family. heard before and would like to investi- minutes as the harmonic centre for a Certain characteristics will be shared, gate further. section of the Organum. The opening but others will be unique. eleven chord cycle of Music for 18 Mu- The structure of Music for 18 Musicians sicians is a kind of pulsing cantus for Changes from one section to the next, is based on a cycle of eleven chords the entire piece. as well as changes within each section played at the very beginning of the are cued by the metallophone (vibra- piece and repeated at the end. All the On each pulsing chord one or, on the phone with no motor) whose patterns instruments and voices play or sing the third chord, two small pieces are built. are played once only to call for move- pulsating notes with each chord. In- These pieces or sections are basically ments to the next bar, much as in Ba- struments like the strings which to not either in form of an arch (ABCDCBA), linese Gamelan a drummer will audibly have to breath nevertheless follow the or in the form of a musical process, call for changes of pattern in West Af- rise and fall of the breath by following like that of substituting beats for rests, rican Music. This is in contrast to the the breathing patterns of the bass clar- working itself out from beginning to visual nods of the head used in earli- inet. Each chord is held for the dura- end. Elements appearing in one sec- er pieces of mine to call for chang- tion of two breaths, and the next chord tion will appear in another but sur- es and in contrast also to the general is gradually introduced, and so on, un- rounded by different harmony and in- Western practice of having a non-per- til all eleven are played and the ensem- strumentation. For instance the pulse forming conductor for large ensem- ble returns to the first chord. The first in pianos and marimbas in sections 1 bles. Audible cues become part of the pulsing chord is then maintained by and 2 changes to marimbas and xy- music and allow the musicians to keep two pianos and two marimbas. While lophones in section 3A, and to xylo- listening. this pulsing chord is held for about five phones and maracas in sections 6 and minutes a small piece is construct- 7. The low piano pulsing harmonies of ed on it. When this piece is completed section 3A reappear in section 6 sup- there is a sudden change to the sec- porting a different melody played by ond chord, and a second small piece different instruments. The process of or section is constructed. This means building up a canon, or phase relation, that each chord that might have tak- between two xylophones and two pia- en fifteen or twenty seconds to play in nos which first occurs in section 2, oc- the opening section is then stretched curs again in section 9 but building up out as the basic pulsing melody for a to another overall pattern in a differ- five minute piece very much as a single ent harmonic context. The relationship note in a cantus firmus, or chant melo- between the different sections is thus dy of a 12th century Organum by Pero- best understood in terms of resem- Steve Reich 5 Steve Reich ied at the Juilliard School of Music with William Bergsma and Vincent Persi- chetti. Reich received his master’s de- gree in music from Mills College in 1963, where he worked with Luciano Berio and Darius Milhaud. His studies have also included Balinese gamelan, African drumming (at the University of Ghana), and traditional forms of chant- ing of the Hebrew scriptures. Different Trains and Music for 18 Mu- Steve Reich has been called “Ameri- sicians, as well as an album of his per- ca’s greatest living composer” (Village cussion works, have earned Grammy Voice), “the most original musical think- Awards, and Double Sextet won the er of our time” (The New Yorker), and Pulitzer Prize in 2009. “among the great composers of the century” (The New York Times). Reich’s documentary video opera works – The Cave and Three Tales, Reich’s musical legacy has been influ- done in collaboration with video artist ential on composers and mainstream Beryl Korot – have pushed the bound- musicians all over the world. His music aries of the operatic medium and have is known for steady pulse, repetition, been presented on four continents. and a fascination with canons; it com- bines rigorous structures with propul- Reich’s music has been performed sive rhythms and seductive harmony by major orchestras and ensembles and instrumental color. around the world, including the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics; Born in New York and raised there London, Sydney, San Francisco, Bos- and in California, Reich graduated with ton, and BBC Symphony Orchestras, honors in philosophy from Cornell Uni- London Sinfonietta, Kronos Quartet, versity in 1957. For the next two years, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble intercon- he studied composition with Hall Over- temporain, Ensemble Signal, Interna- ton, and from 1958 to 1961, he stud- tional Contemporary Ensemble, Bang 6 on a Can All-Stars, Alarm Will Sound, In November 2018, Susanna Mälkki led and eighth blackbird. Several noted the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the choreographers have created dances world premiere of Reich’s Music for En- to his music, such as Anne Teresa de semble and Orchestra. His first orches- Keersmaeker, Jirí Kylián, Jerome Rob- tral work in over 30 years, the piece is bins, Justin Peck, Wayne McGregor, an extension of the Baroque concerto Benjamin Millepied, and Christopher grosso, featuring a group of 20 soloists Wheeldon. pulled from the orchestra’s ranks. In the current season, the work continues Reich was awarded the Gold Med- to tour to Europe and stateside, includ- al in Music by the American Acade- ing the New York premiere performed my of Arts and Letters in 2012. He by the New York Philharmonic and was named Commandeur de l’Ordre Jaap van Zweden in December. Anoth- des Arts et des Lettres in France, as er recent work, Reich/Richter – Reich’s well as member in the Bavarian Acad- music for a film by Gerhard Richter and emy of Fine Arts. His honors include Corinna Belz – tours across the UK and the Grand Prix artistique de la Fonda- Europe this season, with performances tion Simone et Cino Del Duca in Paris, by the Britten Sinfonia, Ensemble inter- Praemium Imperiale in Tokyo, the Po- contemporain, Estonian National Sym- lar Music Prize in Stockholm, the BB- phony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic.