Minimalist pioneer Steve Reich turns 90 – and that calls for a celebration. The British percussion ensemble Colin Currie Group is among the foremost interpreters of Reich’s music, joined in this concert by guitarist Bryce Dessner, whose own musical language intertwines seamlessly with Reich’s minimalist universe.
Pulse is Reich’s hallmark: sounds in constant motion, much like the city where he was born: New York. It was rhythm, too, that first sparked his love of music as a teenager. From Igor Stravinsky and Charlie Parker to Johann Sebastian Bach and Miles Davis, these influences inspired him to become a percussionist and ultimately to compose his own works.
Many listeners have understood Reich’s hypnotic soundscapes as an invitation to meditation. Yet Reich never intended his music as a backdrop for drifting away, but rather as a call to listen closely to the intricate canonic techniques that continue to underpin his work. In »All Your Ways«, for example, short repeating motifs unfold into shifting and overlapping rhythmic layers. And in »Electric Counterpoint«, a captivating interplay of pulse and melody, the guitar engages in dialogue with precisely programmed electronic lines.
PERFORMERS
Colin Currie Group percussion ensemble
Bryce Dessner guitar
PROGRAM
Steve Reich
Clapping Music
Steve Reich
Two Pianos
Steve Reich
Radio Rewrite
Steve Reich
Double Sextet
- Interval -
Steve Reich
Electric Counterpoint
Steve Reich
Quartet for Two Pianos and Percussion
Steve Reich
In All Your Ways
