Steve Reich: Music for 18 Musician

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Total Track: 1   Total Length: 56:31

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John Schaefer

eMusic Contributor

11.06.08
The musical equivalent of a river — but never the same twice
2007 | Label: ECM New Series

Along with Terry Riley's In C and Philip Glass's Einstein On The Beach, Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians is usually considered to be one of the watershed moments in late 20th-century composition. A completely personal distillation of Reich's studies of Indonesian gamelan, Ghanaian drumming, the "phase" effects of his early tape pieces, and his own history with Terry Riley's groundbreaking minimalist music, this work is probably cited more than any other by younger composers as an influence and a musical touchstone.

Music for 18 Musicians contains, in its first four minutes, more harmonic movement than Reich had used in all of his earlier works put together. Propulsive and rhythmic, it lays out the harmonic sequence that the subsequent 11 sections will explore, until those harmonies come back together in the reprise that bookends the piece. Built on the sounds of multiple mallet percussion instruments, multiple pianos (used as tuned percussion instruments) and a handful of reeds, strings, and wordless voices, Music for 18 Musicians is the musical equivalent of a river — able to carry you along with its smooth flow, but constantly bubbling and changing under the surface. Never the same river twice, as the saying goes.

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Awesome, and 42p!

SamMartin

More pricing madness. This one in favour of consumers. Buy buy buy!

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Best Value download on eMusic, (but.....)

paddywack

(Has anyone noticed a very brief glitch/ hiccup in the quieter passage at 24'43"?) This composition is such a joy to listen to. Reich recently performed this in London - my second live experience of '18' - and it was an incredibly moving experience. Something in between the massed congregation of a sacred gathering and the collective union of an enormous rave. Extraordinary and visceral

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A rich multilayered cake ..

mudhopper

of assonant sounds - yum! - a real treat!

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If you like this, don't miss...

BigMartyn

...the version by Grand Valley State University's New Music Ensemble, which is by no means a poor second to this, the definitive recording of the piece.

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The best download ever

Levanticus

Perhaps the best piece of music ever written - certainly my favourite - in a single track. Perfect!

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Bargain!

HomoTerribilis

One of Reich's early meisterstüke, in the fine, original ECM recording, all for the price of one download.

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