Howard Who?

Steve Reich’s birthday is only two days away. The man is turning 70! It’s hard to see him as the elder statesman of composition the way other composers have become over time. That’s partly because his ideas remain confounding to more mainstream composers. For one thing, Reich categorically does not like the Romantics or Mozart, which is basically the music that is the bulk of the classical repertoire. For another, his music purposefully remains without music affectation or sentimentality, which is unnerving to most composers who want to be spectacular in really conventional ways.

So as everyone is focused on Mozart year, I wonder why we aren’t also interested in Reich year. A quick look at the concerts offered on October 3rd, Reich’s birthday, from Reich’s website reveals concerts in the UK, Austria, Germany, Finland, and the USA. Sadly none of those concerts will be in LA…apparently we’re all minimalismed-out from the landmark concerts last March.

On Oct. 21, there will be probably the great Steve Reich concert in recent history. The program is Electric Counterpoint played by Pat Metheny, Different Trains played by the Kronos Quartet, and Music for 18 Musicians played by Steve Reich and musicians at Carnegie Hall in New York no less. Any one of the pieces on a concert program would immediately have my money, but here we get three all-time great classics played by some of the best musicians in the world. It’s times like these I think I belong on the other coast.

If some of you are wondering what Pat Metheny (above) the jazz guitarist has to do with Steve Reich, well, Electric Counterpoint was originally written for and recorded by Pat Metheny in 1987. And as you would expect from such a collaboration, the music has a jazzy cool feel to it. Actually, it was even cool enough to get sampled on the popular dance track Little Fluffy Clouds by the Orb, which later appeared in a Volkwagen commercial. And more interestingly, it would lead indirectly to the Reich Remixed album, which Nonesuch commissioned from various electronic artists with Reich’s blessing.

The guy may be pushing 70, but his music remains for the kids (i.e. relevant).

Electric Counterpoint, 3. fast (mp3) - Steve Reich featuring Pat Metheny Buy

Little Fluffy Clouds (mp3) - The Orb Buy

Piano Phase from Reich Remixed (mp3) - D*Note Buy

This entry was posted on Monday, October 2nd, 2006 at 9:02 am and is filed under Uncategorized, Classical Music, Pop Music, Minimalism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.