Steve Reich

[jkelman]

I'm a huge fan. I've reviewed a five-disc retrospective, as well as You Are (Variations) and Daniel Variations. You can read them all here.

[Troopers For Sound]

Mega fan!

I find the early DG and ECM recordings to be utterly magical...the Octet/Music for Large a Ensemble album in particular - there's a picture in that booklet of Manfred, Steve and the musicians all listening to a playback of Music for a Large Ensemble that I find really encapsulates that total focus of making music. I was lucky enough to see Steve play Music for 18 Musicians after the Daniel Variations premiere in London about 10 years ago.

Matt.

[Zeuhlmate]

The Desert Music !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5qOtXql-oI

[Svetonio]

I'm a big fan. My fav album by him is Tehillim

[Kcrimso]

Big fan. Some of my favorites are Music For 18 Musicians, Different Trains, Cello Counterpoint and Electric Counterpoint.

I just saw Reich in concert about a year ago in Helsinki. It was great!

[dropforge]

I was first exposed to Reich via The Desert Music, back in '88.

[interbellum]

Anyone know a good place to start with Max Richter?

Retrospective has four fine albums in a box.

[chalkpie]

Besides loving "18", I also really like a disc with "City Life" and "8 Lines" on it performed by the Ensemble Modern. REALLY great music. I have only heard "Three Tales" about 2 or 3 times, and to be honest I didn't really connect with it, but that may be more of my problem than the music/DVD.

I also like John Adams quite a bit, and back in '93 when I was studying at the (then) Birmingham Conservatoire in the UK, this American fellow shows up and conducted our orchestra, and we may have even attempted to sight-read one of his pieces. At the time, he could have been the guy making Fish 'n Chips at the local pub as far as i knew. Started chatting with him, I think we talked about Zappa and Copland, and it wasn't until many years later that i really figured out who he was Nice chap.

[Baribrotzer]

I also like John Adams quite a bit, and back in '93 when I was studying at the (then) Birmingham Conservatoire in the UK, this American fellow shows up and conducted our orchestra, and we may have even attempted to sight-read one of his pieces. At the time, he could have been the guy making Fish 'n Chips at the local pub as far as i knew. Started chatting with him, I think we talked about Zappa and Copland, and it wasn't until many years later that i really figured out who he was Nice chap.

He seems have fallen in to a minor secondary specialty of conducting Zappa, although he's also expressed some ambivalence concerning the actual quality of FZ's music.

And his being a "nice chap" may have a lot to do with his considerable success as a composer - he's easy to work with, can meet a deadline, and welcomes collaboration. Also, he understands orchestras, their instruments, and the people who play in them: According to his autobiography, he spent some time eking out a living as a classical "sub" on clarinet, saw quite a bit of both good and bad behavior on the part of conductors, and thus knows well how to conduct clearly, and how to get his interpretation across without fuss or hard feelings.

Incidentally, that autobiography is worth reading. Even if you're one of the true discerning aficionadi who consider his music the lowest of plagiarized hackery, his comments on music are quite interesting and intelligent.

[Gizmotron]

He seems have fallen in to a minor secondary specialty of conducting Zappa, although he's also expressed some ambivalence concerning the actual quality of FZ's music.

And his being a "nice chap" may have a lot to do with his considerable success as a composer - he's easy to work with, can meet a deadline, and welcomes collaboration. Also, he understands orchestras, their instruments, and the people who play in them: According to his autobiography, he spent some time eking out a living as a classical "sub" on clarinet, saw quite a bit of both good and bad behavior on the part of conductors, and thus knows well how to conduct clearly, and how to get his interpretation across without fuss or hard feelings.

Incidentally, that autobiography is worth reading. Even if you're one of the true discerning aficionadi who consider his music the lowest of plagiarized hackery, his comments on music are quite interesting and intelligent.

Excellent post!
Thank you!

[interbellum]

My first CD with music from John Adams was his electronic album "Hoodoo Zephyr", which is indeed a strange way to start.
But just like with Reich I managed to buy the fine box-set "Earbox", which includes a lot of his early works, including some parts of Hoodoo.
"On The Transmigration Of Souls" is quite daring, but I admire it:




I'll keep an eye on his autobiography. Although I enjoyed reading it, I thought the autobio of Glass could have been better if someone else had edited it.

Back on Reich: did someone listen to the "Remixed" album?

[chalkpie]

Excellent post!
Thank you!

John's posts are always good! Sometimes I need to dictionary to figure out what the hell he is saying at times, though

Adams has also made a recording conducting Ives 4th with the Ensemble Modern Orchestra. I had to special order that disc directly from the group in Frankfurt. Its really, really well performed and has excellent engineering, but it doesn't surpass my favorite go-to (MTT, Chicago SO, 1986 Sony Classical).

Sorry to detour from Reich, but here is Adams discussing "My Father Knew Charles Ives". Its a lovely piece. http://www.earbox.com/my-father-knew-charles-ives/

[Kavus Torabi]

My favourite John Adams piece is Naive And Sentimental Music.

I like his later stuff a lot more than his earlier minimalist pieces.

[Baribrotzer]

John's posts are always good! Sometimes I need to dictionary to figure out what the hell he is saying at times, though

Thanks for the compliment. Not always, though. Sometimes I really put my foot in it, same as most people.

Sorry to detour from Reich, but here is Adams discussing "My Father Knew Charles Ives". Its a lovely piece. http://www.earbox.com/my-father-knew-charles-ives/

Good discussion. I've heard the piece, but it's been a couple years. And that second mountain he mentions in his discussion, the one in California? It's called Mt. Eddy, it's across I-5 from Mt. Shasta, and I've climbed it myself and seen what he describes. Although "climb" is a bit of an overstatement for a straightforward, if longish hike up a marked and signed trail.

Here it is on Google Maps, if you're interested:
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.3198...!5m1!1e4?hl=en

My favourite John Adams piece is Naive And Sentimental Music.

I like his later stuff a lot more than his earlier minimalist pieces.

Adams has said - and I'm greatly paraphrasing - that formal Minimalism was a phase he passed through. But it had the effect of showing him a way to both go back to tonality and the whole classical tradition, and to yet make that return sound like something new, rather than a retreat back to the idiom of Mahler & Co. He also said - and I find this a perspicacious comment - that he sees his position in music history as similar to that of Brahms: Brahms used a musical language mostly developed by others, but brought together the various opposing threads of his era - the Romantic harmonic advances of Wagner and Berlioz, combined with the traditional Classical structures of Beethoven, Haydn, and Mozart. Adams, for his part, seems to combine Minimalism with Neo-Romanticism with a bit of jazz and an understated use of electronics. (He apparently loves jazz, but can't play it very well - he's tried, both on tenor sax and piano.)

[loosefish]

I've liked all the John Adams i've heard, which i think is Lollapalooza, A Short Ride In A Fast Machine, Shaker Loops and Naive and Sentimental Music. Wouldn't mind knowing what else i should listen to, especially if he has any other large scale orchestral works.

[rottersclub]

Yes, big fan here as well. My Reich phase burned very bright for quite a while, but has diminished a bit since then. My first Reich was You Are (Variations) and I was immediately enthralled. Favourites include: 18 Musicians, Octet, Sextet/Six Marimbas.

I picked up Adam's Hoodoo Zephyr but didn't really get into it. I really should explore his repertoire some more.

[Baribrotzer]

I've liked all the John Adams i've heard, which i think is Lollapalooza, A Short Ride In A Fast Machine, Shaker Loops and Naive and Sentimental Music. Wouldn't mind knowing what else i should listen to, especially if he has any other large scale orchestral works.

The aforementioned Harmonielehre, of which there are several recorded versions. It's essentially a three-movement symphony, and the first piece in his current, "mature" style, which evolved out of a year-and-a-half bout with writers' block. Here's a write-up on it: https://www.theguardian.com/music/to...re-tom-service

His Doctor Atomic opera is also good, if you don't mind operatic singing - although most of the vocal melodies wind and unfold and don't repeat, which makes them a bit hard to really get in your ear and follow. I think it's only available as a DVD.

[Steve F.]

I once saw a symphony perform Harmonielehre. It was ... fantastic.

[Baribrotzer]

I once saw a symphony perform Harmonielehre. It was ... fantastic.

Adams speaks of it at some length in his book - its composition was a turning point for him, and he gives it a commensurate amount of attention. One big point was that its composition was triggered by his rediscovery of Wagner: Yes, Wagner was an unlikable man with unpleasant politics, whose music has gained associations far worse than even he was - but that music also had an undeniable emotional power. And that was what Adams responded to and emulated in Harmonielehre.

[mogrooves]

Wouldn't mind knowing what else i should listen to, especially if he has any other large scale orchestral works.

Check his recent City Noir with the St. Louis Symphony; Saxophone Concerto is also nice.

his rediscovery of Wagner

Similarly, his (relatively) recent Son of Chamber Symphony is his paean to Schoenberg's Chamber Symphony Op.9

[Mister Triscuits]

I think the San Francisco Symphony has a rule that anytime they program a Stravinsky work--which means it's a show I'm likely to go to--they have to include a John Adams piece first or second on the program.

Edit: ...and I see they're doing a bunch of Reich stuff in September. Weird programming: usually they offer a given program three times. For this one, the Friday and Saturday programs are half Reich and half Copland, but the Sunday program is all Reich:

Six Marimbas
Electric Counterpoint
WTC 9/11
Double Sextet

[simon moon]

BIG Steve Reich fan here!

Adams too.

According to his autobiography, he spent some time eking out a living as a classical "sub" on clarinet

Philip Glass drove a taxi in NY until 1978. This after quite a few well known works, including "Einstein on the Beach" being performed.

Another "minimalist" that doesn't seem to get any attention, is Daniel Lentz. Although, he's trended more toward New Age in later materiel.

He's also done some work with Harold Budd.

[Baribrotzer]

I think the San Francisco Symphony has a rule that anytime they program a Stravinsky work--which means it's a show I'm likely to go to--they have to include a John Adams piece first or second on the program.

Well, Adams is effectively a local boy - even though he grew up in New England, he's lived in Marin Co. since the Seventies - and I think he's become a friend of Michael Tilson Thomas. Thomas programs him whenever it seems appropriate, and when his music won't scare off those who came for the rest of the program. Indeed, it's not beyond possibility that the SF high-society crowd, who have much to do with funding the orchestra, have at least some acquaintance with him and his music and have come to appreciate it.

[walt]

Daniel Lentz.

I picked up Wild Turkeys cd a couple of months ago.Is It Love? is an outstanding composition.I didn't know it was also on another record of Lentz.Live and learn.

[mogrooves]

Another "minimalist" that doesn't seem to get any attention, are ..

Dennis Johnson and Terry Jennings

More a postminimalist work.