Steve Reich: Tehillim / The Desert Music

Rate It! (0 ratings)
Sample Album
Steve Reich: Tehillim / The Desert Music album cover
Album Information

Total Tracks: 11   Total Length: 74:38

eMusic Review 0

Avatar Image
John Schaefer

eMusic Contributor

01.18.11
Alan Pierson, Steve Reich: Tehillim / The Desert Music
Label: Cantaloupe Music

Tehillim and The Desert Music are two scores from the '80s that show Reich entering the musical mainstream without losing his distinctive voice or his radical approach to harmony and orchestration. The Desert Music (with poems by William Carlos Williams) is a bit of an oddity — a work for full orchestra and chorus from a composer who generally prefers smaller ensembles with more "bite." Tehillim, although it exists in a full orchestra version, is meant to be played with only a few strings, meaning that Reich's beloved mallet percussion instruments get to drive. Using Psalm texts in Hebrew, it is one of Reich's most accessible and exciting scores.

Write a Review 0 Member Reviews

Please register before you review a release. Register

Recommended Albums

eMusic Features

Composers in the Industrial Age
0

Composers in the Industrial Age

By Justin Davidson, eMusic Contributor

For those who hadn't grasped the fact before, the final spasms of World War I made it impossible to ignore how completely the modern machine had altered human existence. It lofted people into the skies, sped them from city to city, put shoes on the barefoot, housed the homeless, and automated mass death on the battlefield. Composers reacted to this rush of electrically generated change with admiration and fear, and with a fresh appreciation for… more »

They Say All Music Guide

Collected together, these two of composer Steve Reich’s most ambitious pieces written for orchestra are stunning recordings, played with great depth of feeling and color while adhering to the precision acrobatics in the scores. Performed by Alarm Will Sound and Ossia, both under the direction of conductor Alan Pierson, these performances are far more dramatic and atmospheric than the ones Reich recorded with his own ensemble in the 1980s. That verve and flair, which gives away nothing in terms of crisp dynamic, together with a deeply focused adherence to tempo and intonation, make for a stellar album at the very least. On record, these are the definitive performances of these works. – Thom Jurek

more »